Progress has been made!

As you can see I harvested a dinner from my plot today - Parsnips, Savoy Cabbages, Leeks and some potatoes that I must have missed last year!

This is a picture of the finished "tidy up" that the lovely Brian has been helping with, well I say helping with, I mean helping Derek with!! Derek got rid of all the brambles and  Brian leveled it all off and used the surplus soil for his plot and then woodchipped it for me!!

It's looking rather FAB don't you think?

OK so I do have my own claim to brag about today - I was on plot 121 and I dug it over and weeded with the help (if you can call it that) from Junior who wanted to dig but once he got to it, he said it was "hard work" and kept on wanting to take a break!!!    These youngsters have NO staying power do they?

After a cup of tea (for me) and an apple juice for my little helper, we made sute the greenhouse plants and seedlings were watered and we came home!

Today's Harvest & the FROG!!

Today's visit was mainly to de - erect the Sweet Potato Suite as the wind had blown it over yet again, so with the help of a pair of scissors to cut through all the many, many cable ties that were supposed to be holding it all firmly in place, I got to work, snipping here and snipping away there.  I managed to salvage the green plastic which formed the main body of the polytunnel, but the plastic used for both ends was really flimsy and just got torn to ribbons, so in the recycle bin it went.

I then set about harvesting the sweetcorn - the ones that I grew in a block.  There were only about 4 left so I put the corns to one side and pulled out and composted all 12 stems.

Unfortunately the branch holding the pears on the pear tree (well it wouldn't be an apple tree now would it) had completely broken off under the strain so I picked off all the pears to bring home and hopefully ripen up a little.  I also harvested som salad leaves, a couple of small leeks which looked too good to resisit and my Sweet Pepper from the Greenhouse - all to be used (not the pears) for tonights dinner.  Not too sure what I am going to do with them yet, but I have some Chicken Breasts, so possible bake them with the leeks, some tomatoes & the pepper in the oven, serve with salad and some 1st Early (pentland javelin) potatoes - cheap dinner!!

Now, if you remember, I reported a FROG sighting in my GH not so long ago, see   http://alithefrog.blogspot.com/2010/07/fruits-frogs-flying-ants.html and lucky for me he or indeed she showed up again today!!  I don't know if it is the same one but the markings do look similar.  Lets hope he or she is there to stay a little longer.

Wind Damage and other goings on

This was a very sad sight to behold when I arrived at the plot this morning. I very nearly cried, however I quickly pulled myself together, got some cable ties and duck tape from the shed and repaired my Sweet Potato Suite as best I could.  Fortunately the sweet potatoes don't seem to be any worse off for it.

The next damage was to the Gherkin Wigwam - it had completely fallen over, so Brian from the next plot down (144a) helped me to untangle the string that the gherkins were growing up and advised to leave the bamboo canes out for now until the winds died down.  In the meantime Mr Chilli Head the wind sock is now in the shed for fear of him flying half way across the county!

More damage was to the tomato support canes both here in raised bed#1 and to the canes supporting the tomatoes mid plot.  Again it was the cable ties to the rescue and some more canes for extra support as the winds are still high today.  Fortunately I didn't have any "snapped" tomato plants - phew!

I then made a cuppa and after a chat with Brian whilst we drank our tea, I got to work on lifting the last of the Earlies.  Due to the small, quick but heavy downpours we were having off and on, I put the spuds on the floor of the shed to dry out.

Not as many as I was hoping for but without the rain this year, this is better than nothing and they haven't suffered with rust either.

In thier place, I planted 2 rows of leeks - a little late in the year, but it worked well for me last year.

So I got my dibber out and got dibbing and dropped the leeks in, and then watered them in afterwards, as the ground is still dry once you getting digging, despite the amount of rain we have had in recent days.

 And finally, I put 14 cabbage plants in the remaining potato space - 7 Greyhounds and 7 Savoys, covered them with netting and watered them in.

A few hours well spent today.

Lots going on + I had some help today!!

Yes, I had some help today - my lovely husband came to the rescue with screws and a screw driver & he expertly put my "Dig for Victory" sign on my shed door. 

He even brought his spirit level with him to make sure it was straight!

And there it is looking FAB!

A view from further down the plot

And this is from the top of my plot looking down

 And this is the view as you walk into the gate - as you can see I have left a bit of a "wildlife reserve" to the left - this is for 2 reasons.  One is to assist the wildlife that may like to live there e.g. hedgehogs, ladybugs etc & the 2nd is because it contains a lot of brambles & nettles - which is good as it will deter any good for nothing "let go and get into the allotment and do some damage" type yobs from climbing over.  There is anti climb paint along all the fences and columns etc but it all helps.

Now for the busy bit!  I had a good re organisation of the greenhouse as I want to keep as many tomato plants in there as possible this year to save them from blight, so out came a couple of "cucino" which are minature cucumbers.

I have kept 2 inside just in case.  So 2 are now outside hardening off & my fingers are well and truly crossed.

A selection of other plants followed to make more room indoors, including - Leeks, Beans, Cauliflowers and a few surplus Cherry & Roma Tomatoes.

This gave me room in the greenhouse to pot on Chilli Peppers, Aubergines, 12 cherry tomatoes and the 2 cucino cucumbers that will be benefiting from the protection the greenhouse has to offer.

This is one of the Cucino with Roma tomatoes in the background.  Eventually I will take out the trays (pictured above) which will allow the tomatoes to grow to their full height.

These are the Fiorentino Tomatoes (beefstake)which will all be staying indoors.  More potting on tomorrow but first I have to buy some more big pots!

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!

Over the weekend

 In no particular order, these are my pictures of this weekend and Allotment Ali's Allotment.  The Tomatoes are doing will in the GH with the Pak Choi newly sown just to the front.

Arthurs' lettuces are doing REALLY well as are the leeks behind

The Sweetcorn is strong and are now on the floor to free up room on the bench.

I transplanted the courgettes that were in the GH to Raised Bed #3 as they were A) ready and B) taking up a lot of valuable bench space

The 1st sowing of peas, where were again taking up space in the GH were also put outside - just next door to the parsnips which are a "no show" as yet.

Kohl Rabi - these were left in the Trading Hut on Sunday, so I pricked out a few - two pots like this one here - and popped them in the GH.  I have never grown them before so will be interesting as I have never eaten the before either.

Transporting water from the tap to the GH was overcome by using my bike trailer

 I have just returned from a little watering the greenhouse session and I also bought and replaced a dead strawberry plant - only lost one, and REALLY looking forward to this years crop!

A sneaky visit to the Allotment....

Hubby went to get his car cleaned, so I asked him to drop me off on the way and pick me up on the way back - this meant I got half an hour at the allotment and able to take in what's been happening in the last 10 days.  The most exhausting thing I did was to open up the shed, get the slut pellets out and scatter them around the greenhouse benches and then hunt for snails (I found 11 inside!!)
The pictures will speak for themselves, but I also have to say thanks to the boys, Derek, Arthur, Ron & Nigel who have all been taking turns to either water the greenhouse plants or put the heater on if a frost is predicted........

 Spinach & Sweetcorn

Courgettes & Chilli's

Dwarf French Beans & Broad Beans

Cos LettuceLeeks
                                                                                     

Peas