Sunday 14 June 2009

War on Weeds!

Asparagus!

Sunny my new Scarecrow

The Strawberry bed on 121


Plot 121 taking shape



My first marrow for 2009
My apologogies for putting most of the pictures that should be at the end, at the begining, but I am finding it more an more difficult to put the pictures into the right place without all the text going all over the place and then having to be righted! So this is better than nothing! A blog without pictures would be boring don't you think?
What a busy, busy week. After my little bout of illness, I managed to get to the lotty on Tuesday evening, to do a little weeding. Obviously the fresh air must have done me the world of good as this had a knock on effect and I was there again on Wednesday before work, then Wednesday after work, Thursday before & after & Friday before, during my lunch & after work too! I soon got those weeds under control and my two plots back to their former glories!
People often walk by to admire 144 and ask me how I manage to keep th plot looking so spotless - simple -

Potter about for a little bit each day, then things like weeding won't become a chore and it makes it all the more managable.
So now for Sautrday and Sunday....
Gosh - where do I start? Broad beans - all covered in blackfly - out they came and onto the compost heap went the stems and the blackfly. The bean pods came home with me and I spent alot of that evening podding (but well worth the effort).
Then it was the onions - they had all "gone over" so upt they came. I harvested all the whites and the reds so I had to call hubby and smart car to the rescue - home smarty! So the complete onion harvest was taken home and put into plastic crates in the garden to dry out.

So - that meant that I had the top of bed one (where the onions were) and the bottom of bed three (where the broad beans were) now free and available for planting (but that had to wait until Sunday)


In the meantime, I simply had to redecorate a little!
To replace the Broad Beans, and being the sunnier bed of the two, I planted some Chilli plants, Sweet Peppers, Spring onions & Leeks around the edges.

Voila!
Next was to replace Bed 1 - where the double lot of onions were - so in went the Bedforshire cucumbers - all 8 of them (will I have too many??? - still there are the bags under my eyes!!) and to finish off that bed I put in some more leeks

It was then filling a few empty spaces here, and a few there, like this summer ball courgette - I found a space for this little lovely plant at the bottom of the brassica cage!


Plot 144 was looking fine and dandy - weed free and full of lovely vegetables, so it was off to 121....

The couch grass had taken over and the two raised beds and army of courgettes, squashes & marrows needed a good watering - complete soaking in fact, as it has been so dry over the last few days, so that's what I did - dug out the couch grass (again) and watered.

Later on the Sunday, my neighbour from the plot across, Michael, gave me a very generous amount of tomato plants - so I just had to pop them in. Then there was the surplus mangetout in the greenhouse - they also went in on plot 121.

121 has also been adorned with a twirly & my latest scarecrow, which was kindly given to me by my lovely mother in law - Mrs C who lives by the sea!

To finish of this blog on a lovely note - we had new potatoes, salad leaves, rocket, mizuna, radishes & beetroot leaves, along with a nice juicy steak on Saturday and a lovely leg of chicken, roasted on Sunday - yummy!!!!

I am really pleased that all the hard work has paid off - a good looking plot, compliments and dinner!

I am in my element!!! (or should I say my allotment?)


3 comments:

Maureen said...

Hi Ali, what a lovely post (more compliments, well deserved!) and you keep your plots so neat and tidy. I do the same, I hate messy weedy areas, OK I know it's only an allotment, just for growing veg, BUT, isn't it good to see it all looking neat? I was interested that you are growing peppers outside! I haven't done that before I keep mine in the greenhouse, I have too many plants, so I will try some outside, and compare them.

Scattered Gardener said...

That dinner was your just reward for all the hard work earlier in spring! Sounds delicious.

When did you plant your broad beans? Mine are similarly covered in blackfly, but only tiny pods so far... Spuds nearly ready to dig, but I only put in a few this year.
I've also got lots of plants waiting to go in, mainly brussels sprouts and cauli. Gotta get a cage made for them before I can plant out tho...woman's work is never done:-)

Renaissance said...

I still haven't worked out how to get the pictures and text where I want them!