Flowers, Peas and Tomatoes!

We try growing different things each year; sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't. This year we have had some limited success with some wild flowers, peas, and tomatoes, for the first time.

Whilst the flowers that have emerged looked nice, there was plenty of room in the flowerbed for more to emerge:

We have tried to grow peas on a couple of occasions, and have never been particularly successful. Although they start off well, they soon get eaten (I think by birds). Nonetheless, this year has seen a couple of plants survive:

Until now the highlight of the year has been the courgettes, however they have now been superseded by the tomatoes. Whilst lots have grown, only a few have ripened (a problem everyone seems to be having):

Nonetheless, there is nothing quite like growing something you can eat there and then:

We have even managed to get some to grow in our front room!!

Today's Allotment

As promised in the last post, this post brings the user up-to-date with the current state of the allotment. Whilst we don't spend as much time on the allotment as we wish, and the weeds are continuing to be a struggle, we did bring home a large bag of veg today :-)

Section 1
Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, and some bits and pieces that refuse to show much in the way of life:


Section 2
Mostly onions (interspersed with annoying bits of grass), although at the top there are also 3 surviving butternut squash plants surrounded by lots of weeds (the rest were eaten by slugs).


Section 3
Cucumbers and courgettes...which we discovered were EXTREMELY tasty today.


Section 4
Broad beans, runner beans, some barely surviving peas and more tomatoes than you can shake a stick at:


Whilst the allotment is never as successful as we wish, it does seem to be becoming more successful with each passing year:

There is nothing quite as rewarding as eating your own vegetables.

Blogs are Great!

Blogs are a great record of things that change over time, unfortunately they are only really great if they are updated regularly! I have been too busy to update my allotment blog regularly, so here is a quick update of the last two months. Last time I blogged seedlings were growing, and a little green house had been put up. Since then most of the seedlings have been eaten and the greenhouse was blown over (and broken beyond repair). Such is the lot of the allotmenteer.

The squashes (see photo below), cucumbers and courgettes were all planted out.

Although they have since been battered by slugs and the weather. Only a couple of the courgettes seem to have survived so far, whilst it was a bit disappointing to discover yesterday that some of the cucumber plants that were beginning to show cucumbers had been broken by the weather. This is the largest this particular plant will get:


Nonetheless overall things seem to be improving with every passing year.

Hopefully we will have tomatoes this year for the first time:

Since this photo was taken we have planted out even more plants, and probably have about 70 in total. If we get just one tomato off of each we will probably be happy.

As always beans continue to be the lifeblood of our allotment, and last night we added some runner beans to our collection broad beans:


We even, occasionally get time for some more cosmetic work, such as the adding of borders around the flower beds:


Irregular blog postings don't really show all the highs and lows of the allotment life, so my next post will try to be a much more methodical catchup of everything that is going on. After which I will attempt to post more regularly.

So much to do!

The allotment is a joy at the moment. Whilst there is a lot to do, there are so many things happening it is all very exciting. A few of the bits and pieces from the last couple of weeks:
The propogators have been very successful, and the tomatoes were transplanted before they got too big.

We knocked-up a plastic greenhouse to keep our seedlings in.

And we had to deal with a rather angry wasp nest.

The next few weeks promise to be even more busy.

A very productive Tuesday

Following the extensive propagating work on the Monday, we managed an equally productive Tuesday resulting in numerous photographs of mud.
Mud covering peas and beans:

Mud covering lettuce seeds:

Mud covering carrot and parsnip seeds (can you tell Emma planted them in the wrong rows?):

Emma also planted a primrose:

Whilst I attacked the tree with a saw to stop its over-shadowing shenanigans:

Very productive and photogenic.

Propagating Again!

Last time we tried propagating it didn't quite go to plan, although that was almost 2 years ago and I am hopeful that this time we will be more successful.

We have started to propagate tomatoes, butternut squashes, cucumbers, and courgettes.

Whilst the planting all went to plan (with the help of our new ABC tablecloth), the lack of a sprinkling watering-can did cause blood to be shed. To provide the sprinkling effect holes were dug into the cap of a plastic bottle. Unfortunately the corkscrew also dug a hole in my finger:

Luckily there are few flesh wounds that a monster plaster can't cure.

Wild flowers...hopefully

Only a few hours after the last post showing a rectangle of mud on the allotment, another rectangle of mud:

Whilst it may look like Emma's shallow grave, it is actually a flower bed where Emma has been sowing wild flowers (if that is not a contradiction).

There seems to be loads to do on the allotment at the moment, and whilst we got some carrots and parsnips sowed there are loads of bits and pieces we need to start potting indoors (something that has not worked particularly well previously).

Everyone seems to be in the same situation, and the allotments were busy despite the rather miserable weather, so we chose to do the neighbourly thing and not play the radio. Really we should try to get up there earlier.

The world's laziest blogger?

To ease the process of blogging I have taken to sending photos of the plot directly to my email account via MMS, so that I don't have to worry about resizing the images or uploading them to the computer. Nonetheless I have still failed to blog last weeks work on the allotment, and I am therefore making a very short post before heading back to the allotment in a few minutes.

Whilst the picture may look like a square of mud, it actually represents a lot of digging and planting. In a few months this will represent a flood of Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes...possibly.

The Joys of the Allotment

I have had an extremely productive morning painting the allotment shed whilst listening to my new wind-up/solar powered radio:

Is there a more English way of spending a Sunday morning than listening to the Archer's omnibus, followed by Desert Island Discs?

The shed before:

The shed after:

A noticeable improvement.

Jerusalem artichokes...boiled

At last we have found a good way to cook the Jerusalem artichokes!

After we failed to have success with ether roasting or frying before Christmas, last night (and again tonight) we discovered that steaming for 15-20 mins is an extremely easy and tasty method...and there are still plenty left in the ground to dig up!

Saturday Snowdrops

You can always tell those weekends that we mean serious allotment business; we make it on the Saturday morning rather than putting it off until the Sunday. Hopefully it won't be too much longer before we can start to go in the evenings too (Emma looks remarkably un-thrilled at the prospect).

Today saw lots more digging, but there are also signs of life with the emergence of some snowdrops:

Whilst the appearance of anything new is always exciting, it is also a reminder that we have a million and one things still to do...so it will be back to the allotment again tomorrow.

New Year, same old digging

Sometimes it seems as though all we do on the allotment is digging over patches of earth. But the theory this year is that if we get it out of the way now it will be easier in a few weeks when we will start the planting. However, Emma failed to see the positive side as it drizzled constantly for the two hours we were there. In fact at one point she was so fed up with the situation she deliberately put mud in her eye so that she could have a bit of a break.

Catching up on Plot 13

Although we have been to the allotment over the last couple of weeks, I have not had time to update the blog. So here is a rather large, picture intensive, run down of what has been going on.

A couple of weeks ago we arrived at the allotment to find that the brambles at the back of our shed had been cut down:

It seems that the likely culprit is the council as the brambles disappearance has coincided with other allotmenteers being sent warnings about their allotments. We just find it annoying as they weren't in anyone else's way, enclosed our shed area, and offered potential of blackberries next year. Unfortunately they don't seem to put the same gusto into providing my flat with a recycling box, the topic of at least a million pleading emails to the council....but this is not the place for such discussions...

The allotment has also seen the sudden, and now regular, appearance of a cat:

Whilst this may not be worthy of note to most, it needs to be mentioned in advance to explain what is likely to be a slowing down in the work-rate. Whilst Emma has spent the last 6 years stating that she doesn't like cats, the weekly appearance of the cat is always met with the laying down of her tools, and comments such as "oh David look", "awww, isn't he sweet", etc, whilst she does nothing until he strolls off again. It wouldn't be so bad, but he is always back five minutes later and it all starts again!

At the moment most of the work on the allotment is digging the ground over, especially those areas where nothing grew this year and have just become covered in weeds. However, the Jerusalem artichokes are continuing to grow, and have now got flowers on top:

And we have just planted some Brussels Sprouts:


We also scattered some grass seeds a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to create a more defined path between some flowers and one of the vegetable patches, and that seems to have made a bit of a showing:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Veg World

After what has been a fairly disappointing harvest of crops this year we are starting to prepare for next year. They were still a few bits to dig up however, and yesterday we got a few potatoes, some stumpy carrots, a few onions, and some parsnips that turned out to be extremely tasty.

All that we really have left in the ground now are the Jerusalem artichokes, and a little prod with the fork yesterday seems to suggest that they are not quite ready yet.

There is still plenty to do though, and today will be filled with planting some flower bulbs.

Beautiful beetroot sandwiches on the allotment

When we first took on the allotment we thought that there would be plenty of occassions when we could spend our weekends there enjoying the weather, the view, and whatever book we were reading at the time; just doing a bit of light weeding and watering. Unfortunately the allotment has rarely managed to get to the 'bit of light weeding and watering' stage, and on those occassions it has, the weather is either rubbish, or we have had something else that needs to be done.

However, we just got to spend a very enjoyable day at the allotment. Enjoying the weather, not killing ourselves to do anything specific, or having to rush off anywhere else...and the highlight was the opportunity to have some of Emma's freshly pickled beetroot:


Everyone should have an allotment on days like this.

Beans, beans and beets

As it was a nice sunny day, and the majority of my work at the moment consists of reading numerous books and journal articles, I decided to do my reading in the shade of the shed on the allotment! With my new top-of-the-range phone I have a personal office wherever I go...I must have the best job in the world.

Whilst there I collected some more beans (both dwarf and broad) and some beetroot, which we have plans to pickle this weekend:

Bastards!!!

The allotment has been very hard work this year, and with very little reward besides some rather nice broad beans...and the fault is being placed very firmly on the bizarre weather. Nonetheless we have continued to toil away, only to find today that our shed has been broken into!!!


...Obviously at the point the photo has been taken I have removed the lock with the piece of wood hanging off it.

Whilst there was nothing of value, annoyingly the only thing that they took was the hammer....the one I need to fix the lock that they had broken....bastards.

Catching up on the allotment

With the PhD thesis refusing to be finished Emma has been doing sterling work on the allotment...although in truth she hasn't liked spending too long up there without me. This blog includes a number of photos that she has taken over the last couple of months that I have been too lazy/busy to blog about.

The loganberry bush is growing well, and since this photo was taken (8th May) there has even been the appearance of a couple of berries!


..and the broad beans which showed no sign of beans in this photo (28th May) have since become over-burdened!


The beginning of June also saw exciting growth in both the Jerusalem Artichokes....


...and the parsnips, carrots, beetroot.


Unfortunately the lack of my influence on the allotment was beginning to tell at this point:


We have spent the last couple of days working hard on clearing some of these weeds, and underneath there are lots of Emma's flowers:



We even got as far as planting some spring onions:


Although the spring onions should have been in by the end of June, we are hoping they won't notice the difference.

....and now I am up to date and exhausted from such a long (and probably rather boring) blog.