Peas and digging holes!

Progress at the allotment is always very slow when Junior is there with me, but I had a plan!  I asked Junior to make sure that his broad beans and strawberry plants were very well watered, due to the last few days and of course the current day of hot weather. 

He had brought some pea seeds to plant, he got a packet of peas in a birthday card, so I told him that he had to water the ground well in preparation - this meant several trips to and from the water tank with not only his watering can, but some of my small ones too, as I was watering the plants and seedlings in the greenhouse too - the plan was going well.

When it got to "planting" I got a bamboo stick as a straight line marker and showed Junior what to do - the rest is history - he did his interpretation of what I had showed him and planted away.

This kept him busy for at least half an hour, which left me free to get on with my peas that had been started off in the greenhouse and were due to be planted out any day now!

Junior then decided that he wanted to dig a hole, so I let him get on with that too!  He wanted to dig for marbles but found a 5 pence piece instead!!

I was able to plant about 20 broad beans in my broad bean patch to fill in a few gaps.  Sorry I forgot to take photo's of both my achievements today, and I say achievements because that's exactly what they were - I had a plan and it worked today as I was able to get on with a few jobs that I had been needing to get on with.

Yesterday, whilst I had some free time, I sowed:

Sweetcorn
Baby corn (1st attempt so not sure what to expect)
Runner Beans (Lady Di a string less variety) &
Dwarf French Beans

So my greenhouse is looking very "full up" now.

I have 3 varieties of Tomatoes in the cold frame at home - Moneymaker, Roma & Cherry and various chilli's, sweet peppers, Cucino (baby cucumbers) and leeks, all at home on the utility room window sill.  It's very tempting to put them out but I must be wary of a late frost, which could still come as it did this time last year, so I may just pot on the Cucino, Chilli & Sweet peppers for now and leave the tomatoes where they are!

I did cheat the other day and bought some Cauliflower & Savoy cabbage plants from the garden centre - with Junior around this year, I am not ready to be totally self productive as it's all so new having him around - maybe next year when I am a little more organised.

So much to do!

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.

Sweetcorn Rows & Blocks & Puddles!

Ok, so I had a problem - rows or blocks.  Traditionally blocks are the only way to plant sweetcorn to aid pollination, however, Les, one of our old boys with the most perfect plot to die for, plants his sweetcorn in neat little rows. North to South, not East to West.  So I was in two minds - rows or blocks.

As I had 24 plants I decided to do both

And once I had my row planted I made them all little puddles to soak up the water as it's been so dry.

I made puddles for the Dwarf French beans

All 4 wigwams got the same TLC

I then planted the other 12 sweetcorn in a block just below the Dwarf French Bean Wigwams and Lettuces

And I made them a puddle too  - I knew my sandcastle building skills which I have kept alive (to my husbands embarassment at every sandy beach opportunity) would come in handy one day!!

I interplanted the block of sweetcorn with some butternut squash instead of pumpkins!

And finally, this is one of my broad beans - another week of sunshine and I think they will be ready!

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

Down at the allotment today....

It was a lovely morning, hubby was going to play golf, the dogs were with their favourite person (the mother in law) and I had a free day, so I decided that at day at the allotment was in order!

Am I mad?  Shouldn't I be going shopping?? Nah!

So I started by raking over what I had previously dug over....

I then prepared some rows for spinach, which I protected with a fleecy poly tunnel, as the nights are still a tad cold

and then I prepared some nursery beds which I dressed with a 75ltr pack of Multi Purpose & protected with 2 x plastic poly tunnels, so that the soil warms up ready for the seedlings.

Talking of seedlings, I have some good ones in the GH!

Peas

Broad Beans sprouting at the back & Cos lettuce (just sown)

I also sowed some sweetcorn in those tub things, as this worked well last year.

Autumnal Harvest

Another great crop from 144 & 121 plots!

Picked the last of the sweetcorn for eating that night and for the freezer......

I was overwhelmed with the aroma of the carrots whilst pulling them from the earth......

And the beetroot never fails to amaze me with it's vibrant colour and taste.....

Unfortunately all this autumnal harvesting was marred by the fact that my neighbour and ex fellow plot holder was over on my previous plot 142!

Although I had had a very successful morning digging 122 before breakfast I returned after coming home for nourishment to dig over some of 144 to find "Mrs Chicken Wire" as she is now referred to, and her shadow (Mr Chicken Wire) tending to plot 142.  Why is it that everytime I turn up her voice goes up by about 15 decibles and she laughs, no I stand  corrected, "CACKLES" at simple words like compost, seeds and Bamboo Canes.

Yes she grates me.

She annoys me to hell and back

and

it's not enjoyable being on my lovely plot 144 whilst she and sidekick are there.

I do try to avoid being on 144 at the same time she is on 142, but sometimes its not always possible, timewise to go down to 121 as jobs there have been completed.

So I have to turn my back and work away, trying not to listen for the high pitched cackled that may eminate at any second, disturbing the peace and tranquility that you would expect of ones allotment.

Still, the nice thing is, is that I am there on 144 more often than she is on 142, so I do get my little place of solitude and tranquility more often than not.

Back to the harvest.

The carrots looked very orange, smelt very carroty and tasted divine.

The Beetroot were a vibrant purple and roasted - melted in your mouth

&

The sweetcorn was way better than the Jolly Green Giants!!

He he!!

To top the morning off, another allotmenteer, Val, on a close by plot gave me a gift of a packet of Mizuna (very rare as I have not been able to source them for months) seeds and a lovely "Gardeners Handcream" for looking after her polytunnel for a few days.  Ok, so I did sing to them, but I didn't expect that - what a lovely surprise. 

Thanks Val!!

Mid July on 144 & 121....

The weather here in Surrey was ultra dodgy this weekend, and 121 desperately needed a good weeding - brambles had sprouted up all over the place and were getting bigger by the minute, so drastic action was needed.

I "borrowed" my husbands dandelion weeder and got the buggers out by their roots. I was hard work but someone had to do it - ME!!

My Toms on 121 are enjoying a brief spell of sunshine.

Staying on plot 121, here are the sweetcorn that Joel helped me to plant a few weeks ago. They are all very healthy looking plants and I can't wait to munch into them with butter dripping down my chin - Mmmmm!

And still on 121 - this is my very very 1st Butternut Squash! I am so proud and there will be more to come because I planted about 8 plants and on average I think you get 10 fruits (or shoudl that be veg??) to a plant so I will be in Butternut Squash heaven soon.

This is the harvest I brought home, a Marrow which I will probably stuff as usual Maltese Style as its such a scrumptious meal, two Summber Ball courgettes, two "normall" courgettes, one of which we roasted and one I gave to a neighbour in a swap for some eggs, a snack cucumber which is in the fridge, french beans, half in the fridge and half for an egg swap and a Chilli!(it's there somewhere)

Pictured in the greenhouse are the summer ball courgettes, snack cucumber & french beans - my Happy Vegetables

And this was before the french beans were picked!

More news is that Arthur, the delivery boy, has unfortunately not been all that well this week, bless his cottton socks, so he is on orders to take it easy, but he still found time to make sure that the old greenhouse heater that I was given was in full working order - he even showed me how to adjust the wicks, light it and get it all going properly, so come the winter I have a snuggly greenhouse!

I was also honoured to be invited to the Trading Hut for Saturday morning coffee, even though I haven't been on shop duties for a while now, but a few are coming up in August.

I have also been busy collating recipes from our SRAGS members, some of which have been posted on the website - mainly courgette recipes, just in time for the courgette glut that is soon to come - go take a look, they are a great way to use variety for one of the same veg! You won't get bored eating courgettes!!

And don't forget to treat yourself and pop to my guest blog on this great website Fennel & Fern

Digging for Plot 121 & other goings on....

I had some great news this week, and that was that my friend Nigel was first on the lotty waiting list and got offered plot 121, which is a 75 square metre plot.

Ok, so what's so great about that is what you are thinking right?

Well , what is so great about that is that he has heard that I was looking for a little more growing space, and he has very kindly offered me half!

Yipppppeeeeee. This will be just right for my asparagus, strawberries, pumpkins and squashes! Perfect in fact.

I couldn't believe my good luck.

The bad news is that it is covered in couch grass, along with a few brambles here and there.

We, Nigel & I, spent a little time on "making a start" on Saturday morning, and did quite well between us as you can see.

However the real work was achieved on Sunday, when 2 hours + , 3 workers, one supervisor (Arthur) Laddie the dog, a flask of home made parsnip soup, two packets of crips, some coffee a bottle of tap water and a dairy milk bar later and we got cracking.

(photo's will follow I promise)

As promised....

I am now officially a tenant of a tenant on Plot 121. It's right down the other end of the site, which is great news for me, because (a) I get to meet a whole load of new people and (b) when Mrs. Chicken Wire (see "a sad day at the plot" 9 Nov 2008)turns up to work on her "oh I bought all my plants from the garden centre cause I work full time and I haven't go time to raise from seed" (she shouts this when talking to Mavis to make sure that I hear her for some reason - very amusing) plot and shoots me dirty looks the whole time, I can escape down the other end of the site and work there instead, or use my Greenhouse which is a great hiding place at present!

News now from 144

I arrived at around 9am on Saturday morning and I put in my peas, after deliberating as to where they were to go. These are the peas that my little friends Ellie & Tom planted at the begining of the month. Two rows of support have been put up, even though I don't yet have enough peas to plant out yet. This is because the plan is to plant some each month and have a stead supply, so now there is a new batch of peas in the GH ready for next month! Good plan. Just hope it works!

I then decided that the sweetcorn was big enought to go in too. My inspiration for this choice of planting that day was fellow allotmenteer & neighbour Chris. His parents turned up with a car load of home reared allotment plants of every variety, including sweetcorn! His allotment looks "instant" and very professional already, considering his very short time scale as a plot holder. Well done Chris and I should also say thanks to his lovely wife Karen as she cooked us all the most wonderful dinner that night (so I could stay at the lotty for longer!!)

Half way through the day, my lovely hubby Ian turned up with one of my favourite lotty lunches - that good old traditional British favourite - Chips from the Fish & Chip shop. Mmmm.

He is sitting in my virtual patio using the paving slabs that will eventually help to create my real patio as a table!

Then it was a case of watering the greenhouse plants and seedlings, including the seeds I am growing for Arthur (cos lettuce) and the seedlings I have saved & and looking after for Nigel, aubergines, broccoli, sweet pepper and tomatoes (my greenhouse sounds like a rescue/distribution centre already!)

Sunday - well Sunday started bright and ealry at 9am. Quick Greenhouse check, down to the trading hut to find Nigel my new partner, got roped into weighing up some horrible smelling fertilizer and then off to 121 to crack on as mentioned above.

Exhausted and after a packet of crisps and some water, I earthed up my earlies and 2nd earlies. I then went home for a 20 minute break and returned with a new energy.

My intention was to simply mulch in my fruit trees and water the plot and go, as Mrs Chickenwire was there and the dirty looks had already started! However I got talking to my plot neighbour Paul (144a, so behind me) as he was digging away. I felt a little silly standing there chatting whilst he was digging, so I went to get my spade and fork and we both dug his plot whilst having a nice chat!

During this his son Timmy wanted help with building a scarecrow, so under my expert tuition he ended up with Scarey Scarecrow

What I said would be half an hours digging turned quickly into an hour and a half, but the amount we got dug together was brilliant. Paul was then able to go onto planting his potatoes!

I was knackered after that.

The end.

Oh, sorry, not quite the end - I forgot to mention that once back home, I helped lovely hubby Ian by joining him in a few hours of gardening, as it needed tidying up after the winter, and as we had such nice weather it was too good an opportunity to miss.