More Tomatoes, Chilli's, Hangings & a good tidy up

I had a bit of time on my hands today (Saturday) so I decided that after a few household chores, I would spend some "proper" time at the allotment.  I desperately needed to get rid of the onions that have been drying in the Greenhouse, give the said Greenhouse a jolly good tidy up and re- arrange and stuff like that.

This was my first "sighting" when opening the GH door - and that's just one of them!

Another ripe Fiorentino tomato ready to pick

And this is the result of more pickings from the GH and outside.  Outside, there are so many Roma, Cherry & Fiorentino tomatoes still to ripen - lets hope they do before the blight comes.

These are the "hangings" - I actually had another lot but I gave one away to a fellow allotment holder that didn't have such a successful crop.

 She was very reluctant to take them but I told her of my 5 strings of the over wintering onions currently hanging in my store room at home and I convinced her that she will have some crop more successful than mine so we can swap then!

Now for the big GH tidy up - as you can see the onions are well and truly gone!  I inspected all the tomato plants and if they didn't have anything much left on them I composted them.

 This means that I can now actually walk into my GH with more ease and I have re located the Sweet Peppers in their growbag from the middle of the floor to the very end by the vents as in this picture to the right.

 As you can see, the Sweet Peppers are looking really good.  I have 3 Sweet Pepper plants outside too, but they are not doing so well - alot smaller but they will catch up.












And now for my Chilli Plants - next year I won't be going so mad on the quantity of Chilli Plants I grow - I have far too many for only 2 people to consume.  I might ask the local curry house if they will do me a swap - a dozen chilli's for a chicken madras - it's worth a try!








 This is one of several aubergines thriving in the GH - sorry about the picture - it's sideways and not your vision gone funny!

And last but not least is my favourite Sweet Pepper - my only one that's turning a slight shade of red.

A busy mid May....

I went to the plot every day this week doing little jobs here and there including the weeding!  I find that doing an hour here and two hours there is easier for my foot to cope with than doing a six hour stint at a time!       Here are my Aubergines (2nd attempt as the snails got the first lot!

And these are my newly planted seed of Marigolds & leeks

I managed to buy a grow bag for £2 and put some sweet peppers in it

And my strawberry plants on 122 are looking good

These are the onions on 122

And the Garlic next door to the onions on 122

Also on plot 122 are my main crops, again showing sprouts of life after being earthed up to protect them from the frosts last week

And finally the last sowing of Broad Beans which I planted out in the week.  In the middle are some Broccoli Raab which I got free (seed packet) with a magazine. Never tried them before so I will let you know what they are like!

The end of July......

This is yesterdays bicycle harvest.

I roasted the yellow courgettes and beetroot for dinner.

These are the yellow courgettes - "Summer Ball" in their growing position

And some cherry tomatoes ripening on the vine - it's a hard job not to eat them all directly after picking as they taste sooooooo sweet!

A greenhouse cucumber - coming along nicely as it's my first try at growing them.

I have had to put additional string up across the greenhouse as they ran out of growing space!

The hot chilli's

The not so hot chilli's

My aubergines that look like purple cucumbers!

Tomato Roma are starting to ripen in the greenhouse

More Tomato Roma

This morning's bicycle harvest

I love sunflowers!

Bicycle Harvest & Other photos

Today's Bicycle Harvest - A large courgette, A Jemmer Courgetter (yell0w) and a little pot of peas!

A lady bug on my Greenhouse Cucumber

A weird Lady bug on the hops leaf

The Aubergine in the Greenhouse

what am I going to do with all these mini cucumbers?!?

My pot of peas which will go in tonights dinner

And last by not least - my very first green pepper!

(with more to follow as you can see)

Pictures taken 26th June 2009

The Cos lettuces grown from seed - about to go out into the big wide world of plot 144 (where my 1st earlies were)

The flower and fruit from my baby cucumber plant

The flower from the same.

Tomato Roma (Greenhouse) fruits are forming!!

More Roma's

The lovely courgette flower

The Aubergine flower - plant in the Greenhouse - plants outside are about to flower too!

A photo of the inside of the Greenhouse - not as full as it used to be

Marrow on plot 121 - can't wait to get that stuffed and eaten!

Potting in the Rain - Dodging the Rain

Plot 144

Today was a rain dodging day, so I started with pottering around here and there and everywhere.....

So in no particulare order - these are my parsnips which are now thinned to 15cm or 6 inches. It seemed such a shame throwing baby miniture parsnips away, but that's the rules - they have to be thinned.

Under the cloches are the outside (for obvious reasons) Aubergines - the others will stay in the Greenhouse to see which does best!

After another dash to the Greenhouse for cover, I put some more planks down and decided to put out a couple of courgette plants. However I forget now which ones they are but think they are "Green Bush" but I could be wrong. As you can see they are by the Sweetcorn which was getting more of a battering in the wind!

Just behind the Twirly are 3 tomato plants that Sicilian Sam gave me yesterday, so I added two of my own today. The ones I grew are "Roma" and I have 4 in the green house and now 2 outside - it will be interesting to compare the results.

I bought some lettuce slug resistant barriers today and put my iceburg lettuce plants under their protection - Arthur (who incidently gave me the lettuces) swear by them. At £9 for six they are not cheap but should last a lifetime.
p.s. I did water them well after I took the picture! (just in case you were wondering)

I put in the next lot of peas and then the first lot of Mange Tout. So the peas are in the background and the mange tout in the foreground of the picture. I immediately re used the trays where the seedlings were growing and planted some more in the Greenhouse so that will be the 3rd lot of peas on the go and the 2nd of mange tout.

So all in all and 3 trips there and back, quite alot achieved really considering the rain kept threatening all the time. At one stage the sun was hot and warm and very soothing, then 2 minutes later, the black clouds came, it went cold and I dashed for the warmth of the Greenhouse. One thing I did notice today though was how warm the soil was when I was planting things out - it was lovely to stick your hand into the earth and feel the natural warmth that was there.

Plot 121 - nothing to report - sorry - rain has stopped play & there is no shelter down that end of the site for me e.g. no shed to hide in or no-ones greenhouse to run for