Sunshine, seedlings and first crops

Mangetout
The mangetout have really taken off and there are lots & lots of pods. Had a better result this year from using netting rather than sticks to support the plants. Keeps the pods off the ground away from slugs & snails and also makes it a lot easier to find the little pods to pick.

We prefer to grow mangetout rather than peas as the yeild is so much greater, plus you don't have to do any shelling! These mangetout were crispy and sweet, but it's taken a lot of watering in this really hot weather to make sure they stayed that way. Also fed them with a little blood, fish & bone just as they started to flower. Don't know if it made any difference, but it seemed like a good idea at the time!

Flowers & Bees
When we got to the farm yesterday we were so engrossed in what we were doing we didn't notice that a swarm of bees had taken up residence in a section of our hedge. Sods law, I didn't have a camera with me, not even the mobile phone one! The swarm was so heavy it bent the branch it was on nearly down to the ground. Today they had left, leaving behind a little piece of comb and a few straggler bees (see pic on right).

I was really chuffed and put it down to a packet of seeds I had sown (which had flourished) to attract butterflies and bees. Got the seeds free with a magazine (see pic below).

Fruit
Yum, yum raspberries are ready to eat! Don't get many home as we scoff most of them while were picking them. Chris's TLC of the raspberry canes has really paid off. Last year when we inherited the farm it was too late to prune the canes, so didn't get many fruit. Redcurrants also looking promising (see in pic of runner beans below).

Veg
Other veg are coming along really well. So are the weeds!

• courgette & florence fennel coming up
• butternut seedling planted out
• ridge cucumbers (first time we've tried these)
• gem lettuce seedlings planted out
• onions looking like they're nearly ready
• sweetcorn struggling on...

Left: onions

Left: sweetcorn

Left: butternut

Left: Little Gem Lettuce

Surprise, surprise everything's growing!

28 & 29 May - Bank Holiday weekend
Spent most of the weekend of 28 & 29 May on the Farm tidying up, hacking back and fixing up.
The grass under the redcurrants and along our paths had gone bananas! Here are some before and after photo's.

Above: overgrown under the redcurrants & pears

After: grass massacred!

Above: strimming back the jungle next to the compost heap and storage area.

Fruit
Otherwise things growing wonderfully! It looks like we may have some pears this year. Last year a late frost killed off all the flowers and we didn't get a single pear.

Above: you can see the baby pears against the sky in the top-left corner of the photo

Strawberries are coming along nicely. We have put straw down around the plants so that the fruit ripen off the ground and less likely to rot. They also stay clean and it seems to deter slugs and snails.

Above: strawberries in flower

Chris has constructed some support for the raspberry canes growing in the hedge next to the shed, on the border of the Farm. See photo below. What you can see in the foreground on the left are radishes & some tiny spring onions; on the right are mangetout.

Above: raspberries

Waiting for rain...
Chris has also put up guttering to collect rainwater from the shed roof. This will collect in the two water butt type things we inherited on the farm. The one on the left was full of holes but have managed to repair it using washers and lots of silicone sealer! Now we just have to wait for rain.....

Above: guttering to collect rainwater. In the foreground are shallots & onions.

Vegetables
The some of the runner beans and dwarf beans were attacked by slugs & snails, which has set them back a lot. It's surprising that they recover at all. The ones that escaped the slime monsters have got off to a great start.

Above: runner beans and dwarf beans (note rampant grass in background....)

The broad beans survived the weevils and are going great guns. We've planted four rows of salad leaves next to them.

Playing catch up

Allotment quickie

• it's spring at last!
• paths strimmed
• beds weeded, hoed & raked
• many seeds sown
• a frog visits...

Racing to catch up - 29 April

Went away on holiday for two weeks and came back to find the grass on the paths had grown six inches and there were many, many little weed seedlings in the beds. Suspect a lot of them come from the compost we put on the beds - compost which was already on the allotment when we took it on. So first weekend back (29 April) was spent doing a big tidy up before sowing any seeds. First to go in were runner beans, dwarf beans and mangetout. It took two pairs of hands to wrestle the pea netting into shape; started off as a tangled mess new out of the packaging!

Also put in 6 strawberry plants which were a bargain from a supermarket; and 6 lavendar plants for the herb patch.

Back on track - 6 May

I spent at least twelve hours on the allotment this weekend, and partner put in six (so that's eighteen hours of not shopping, sitting in front of the telly or quaffing pints in the pub...all good stuff!) Partner went fishing on the Saturday and came home with five lovely trout - a few hens & a small cow and we'll be self-sufficient (mind you there's only so much trout you can eat before you start turning into one...)

Sowings this weekend:

• salad leaves - mixed & oriental spicy (the 'cut & come again' type)
• (sky)rocket
• landcress
• courgettes - 2 x 'normal'; 1 x round; 1 x yellow (not tried these exotic types before)
• tomatoes - 2 bought seedlings 'Gardener's Delight'
• aubergine - 1 bought plant (wish me luck!)
• sunflowers
• parsnips
• carrots
• beetroot
• fennel
• sweetcorn
• radish
• spring onions
• pumpkin (planted straight into the compost heap, not tried this before)
• chives
• coriander
• mint - 1 bought plant
• french tarragon - 1 bought plant
• and for the bees, two packets of meadow flower mix

Still to plant...

Will plant the following up at home in seed trays before planting out:

• sweet basil
• Thai basil
• gem lettuce
• marjoram
• chilli

No pictures this week (pics of freshly planted seeds as exciting as watching paint dry...) Although wish I had taken a photo of the frog!

The frog!

On Friday took a peek under the black plastic covering one of the compost heaps to see how it was doing and was astonished to find a frog sitting there, quietly, in the damp. Didn't disturb him/her and wished we had the pond ready, already! Took another look on Sunday afternoon and the frog was gone, but left behind was a small amount of frog spawn. So partner scooped the spawn into a puddle of water that had collected in the plastic on top of the next door compost heap. So hopefully we'll have a bunch of little froggies one day - must get the pond built!

Stuff we've eaten

Had a good few leeks out (given some away) as well as rhubarb. Have made rhubarb and ginger jam. Tonight had leek & potato fritatta followed by rhubarb & custard!

The fun stuff begins...

Allotment quickie

• Garlic, onions and shallots all sprouting nicely.
• Most of the raspberry canes coming into leaf.
• All broad beans up.
• Lemon balm re-appearing, bay tree hanging in there.
• Pear trees full of buds.
• Leeks getting fatter & taller.
• No sign of potato leaves yet...who can blame them, it's too cold!

The full story
Didn't do much on the farm this weekend, besides some watering, and in an optimistic spirit, erect the poles for the runner beans! Plan is to plant the runner beans direct into the ground in first week of May (which is when we're back from our hols).

That's my partner's son giving us a hand; he's a wannabe allotmenteer and is on a waiting list for a plot in Sussex. You can just make out in the picture that our redcurrant bushes are coming into leaf. And in the background on the left you can see the Really Big Rhubarb. We inherited these crowns, and they appear to be a type that are really big, really early. Haven't seen anything like on the other plots. See close up below.....would love to know the type!

When digging the allotment over for the first time after taking it on in April 2005, I dug up another rhubarb crown and transplanted it under our pear trees. It is only just beginning to appear from under the shovel-full of compost I gave it this February. No comparison really...

The broad beans are really coming through nicely now, but are being attacked by bean weevil (you can tell by the notches chomped out of the leaves - circled in yellow). The older plants will withstand this attack, but the wee ones are more susceptible and there are a few which look a bit touch 'n go.

My partner's son's girlfriend (are you following this?) provided moral support from the relative warmth of the shed, and entertained Treacle, their lovely dog obediently "sit" for the photo!

Those green things sprouting in front of the watering can are leeks that have come up on their own time and again, regardless of being massacred by the strimmer. We also have loads of self-seeded parsnips coming up everywhere. I reckon veg have a mind of their own...

The Farm is dug

On Sunday 26 April 2006 we finished the last of the "digging over" on our allotment....
nearly a year after we had first started! When we got the farm it had been abandoned for about a year, was completely overgrown with grass and bindweed, and had various heaps of junk (scrap metal, plastic etc) dotted about it.

I wish I'd had the sense to take a photo of what it was like back then so that you could see the difference to what it is now. However these photos will be a nice reminder of the bare beginnings of the growing season 2006.

But the digging isn't over yet.... Inspired by what we've read on www.allotments-uk.com we've decided we want to build a small pond to encourage wildlife onto the site (especially frogs and hopefully some newts). See photo for pond site (indicated by the blue area).


Broad beans
Three weeks after sowing, the broad beans are "hatching"! Never grown broad beans before, so here's hoping...