HOcTober

Wewll into mid 70's as summer finally arrives - and departs...

Managed to dig up last of spuds and onions and give a good tidy up this week with a couple of days fine warm weather - if a little breezy.

Blackberries fruiting well, with last of the blueberries picked.

A poor summer for much of the stuff, but fruit did fairly well and kale now reaching epidemic levels.  Those carrots that survived the mystery assasin (rodent?) did nicely too.

Picked first pathetic cob of corn - maybe 25% matured - was delicious eaten raw all the same.

Asteroid 2011MD - Duck and Cover!

Phew... that was close!

Another 7,500 miles closer and asteroid 2011MD would have roasted our potatoes.

Red Hot

I think I need a bigger freezer.  Five big punnets of redcurrants cropped to add to last week's punnet - just from early/mid bushes.  Late bush still very green, with blackcurrants and gooseberries getting close.  Blackberry rambler splattered with flowers so expecting a good crop from them too.

First IK potatoes eaten last week, couple of wire worm holes so will need to crop rest pretty soon.  The kiss of frost burn suffered in late May doesn't seem to have caused any serious damage and foilage is now very healthy looking.

Fruit aside, this year has been far too cold and wet - and even in today's rare warmth still windy (the bbc are in for a shock when they move up to Manchester!).  The majority of veg are looking like they will be poor crops.  Beans and corn suffering very badly, and I doubt corn will even flower before first frost nevermind develop cobs.  Brassicas have been disappointing so far but suspect the later bunch will do well.

Pond Life



Now that's what I call A Pond!



Re-jigged the pond area, moving a couple of Iris clogged bins to a clearer spot away from pear tree; and dropping the Iris (yellow flag) back into the holes - should be enough moisture for them to survive.

Three toads didn't like the move much and after peeking out of their new home, legged it in every direction.  Sure once the waters settle they will be back and enjoying their new sunnier spot.

Pulled the Irises filling half the main pond out in one chunk - and after checking for life - buried behind two new ponds.

Bit more planting with Kale, Cabbage, Savoy and Broccoli all now in - Cauli's to follow in a week or so.

Weeded onions - suspect fluctuating weather will again play havoc as not many bulbs forming and some wide necks.  Garlic looking strong from late planting.

After the birds got all the first two batches of carrots, another lot planted out - under a net.

Birds already raiding redcurrants so roughly draped a net over even though only a handful going pinkish.

Cherries sweet enough to eat but not quite ready yet.

Corn

Finished work a little early to pick up a new poster, for the 3 exhibitions coming up (Wrexham/Chester on 8th - Sheffield/Chesterfield on 9th - Leeds on 15th June)

The new 'fresh' logo tops an image kindly supplied by Zebra Photography.

This early finish allowed us to enjoy a hot sunny evening at the allotment and catch up on some planting out.

Sweetcorn planted into bed B2, and French Beans into C2.

Ground still very damp from last 3 weeks of wet weather but watered strawberries in any case, along with pots.

Another couple of hot days forecast so should get a few more things planted.

Not fit to lace Bob's boots

Blow Me

With a severe storm due to hit northern britain on Monday - a quick visit to baten down the radishes...

April's warmth a few things particularly the fruit trees and bushes are a little more advanced than usual and with strong winds already hitting ahead of tomorrow's tail end brushing through.

Assuming they don't all fall off it is looking like a massive redcurrant and black currant crop this year.

Took corn down to acclimatise and will plant out soon but a cold May retains regular threats of frosts.

Wasp Bike

A couple of weeks ago a Queen Wasp decided the shed is a good venue for a new home and a 2" starter nest appeared in the corner.

Whilst wasps bring great benefit to the allotment - it would never work sharing a shed, so she had to go!

Waited for her to go off and then quickly squashed and removed it - few grubs inside.

Draped plenty of lemon barm around shed and fixed netting at window gaps to discourage her but on leaving she wouldn't give up searching.

Checked back today and surprisingly she had decided to try elsewhere.  Pleased that we didn't have to kill her, and hope she has found a suitable spot nearby.

Easter Update

A warm dry April has provided ideal growing conditions – if only we could find sufficient time away from http://www.butterwickwells.co.uk/ to take advantage of the good weather. The big allotment re-design will have to wait another year!

Progress update:
A1 – Originally earmarked for sunflowers, but switched to Broad Beans, planted out over Easter after a week or so outside at home to acclimatise to early April indoor sowing. Slightly droopy at first so hopefully they will toughen up quick.

B1 – POTATOES (international Kidney aka Jersey) planted out early April, good amount of growth now peeking out. Will have to watch for any frosts.

B2 – still to prepare for... sweet corn?

C1 – LETTUCE planted between last year’s leeks which are approaching readiness – Couple of unsuccessful attempts, with a couple of lines of seedlings mysteriously vanishing overnight. Stalks still in ground, but nothing above... unlikely to be slugs as too dry and sanded around. Possibly slugs/snails, or more likely mice?

C2 – prepared ready for peas (first batch just sown at home)

D1 – LETTUCE – third batch planted out, of slightly bigger, seedlings so hope they will fare better.

D2 – ONIONS and GARLIC coming along nicely.

E1 – New carrot raised bed installed but a little light on soil.

E2 – Still a handful of SPRING CABBAGES cropping, with Main POTATOES (Wilja) belatedly put in around them over Easter.

F1 – prepared.

F2 – still to prepare for Brassicas (Plenty of Cabbage, Savoy, Kale seedlings on the go) – an early line of radish slowly up to marble size. Another week or so and may start to crop.

Other seedlings in progress... beetroot, sunflowers, chillies, peppers, tomatoes, basil, and sage, well only 1 sage germinated so far. Need to start off another round of salads and a few more savoy as low germination rate from first batch.

G1 – RHUBARB – Forced batch finally rocketed in the heat and were pushing bin off, so cropping and eating away. The batch in H2 is getting a bit out of control so will need splitting and moving (although as nowhere to put them, may sell/donate instead).

G2/H1 – Blackcurrants, Redcurrants, Blueberries and Gooseberries all seem to be flowering well with the promise of a bumper crop this year.

H2 – Pears and Cherry Trees all blossoming well, with cherry-lets just starting to form!

Yellow

With three races squeezed into the weekend, there was barely time to do much but with the warm weather everything is growing fast... especially the weeds.

Daffodils that arrived late are already starting to wilt away with red tulips taking their place as the dominant colour in the garden - that is apart from the forced rhubarb. 

Under the dustbin, a week or so of warmth had rocketed them to the top, so I have taken the lid off and cropped the first few stalks. (It's absolutely criminal the prices charged for a few spindly stalks by the supermarkets for this abundant weed).  Even after a couple of days of sun the bright yellow leaves stand out from across the valley!

The first early batch of lettuce seedlings planted out last week have vanished without a trace.  No sign of slug trails, so unsure as to the culprit?  Replaced with more... half covered/ half open.  Suspect many of these will go, but always a good barometer of predators for the more vital seedlings. 

Seedlings coming out of our ears at home, a cooler week should slow their progress.

Springing into shape

Finally a bit of sun and warmth and spared a few hours away from work to get allotment into shape.

18th... Strawberries thinned and replanted in extra raised bed in [D1] but plenty still in ground under Pear trees.

23rd... Onions [D2] and early Potatoes [B1] planted and main potatoes chitting.  Couple of trays of radish and lettuce seedlings moved down into shelving to harden up ready for planting.

24th... Garlic Planted [D2]- 5 months late - tried to recover lost time a little by sticking garlic and onions into a tray of soil to get roots and tops sprouting.  May need to switch to a 2 year plan with garlic.

Beds E1/F1 weeded and soiled dug/raked with a bit of added compost/sand/etc... and then covered up.  Ready for planting.

C2 and E2 tidied up a bit but along with B2/F2 are next on list to prepare.

Forced rhubarb coming along well and close to first early crop.

Lots of seedlings popping up at home... carrots, kale, little gem and lolla rossa lettuce, sweetcorn, and broad beans sprouting.  Tomatoes ready to pot on.

Run out of spare window sill spaces so will hold off next lot of seed planting this week!

A chill in the air

Finally a couple of chilli seedlings have popped up after 4 weeks... obviously was a bit too early for them.

Tomatoes and basil coming along nicely, maybe getting first proper set of leaves out this week. No sign of sage and others, but one leek popped up and promptly collapsed.

Lettuce and radish had too much heat/ not enough light so bit spindly.

Will start another batch going as soon as time allows.

Deep Blue Day

Seed sowing has begun with some leeks, tomatoes and basil - following on from Saturday's sowing of a few pots of Sage (from seed collected last year) and Chili Peppers (collected from shop eaten chilis... or maybe bell peppers as they got mixed up!).

Bought this year's seed potatoes and onion sets (Sturon 99p) yesterday.  £4 on favourite International Kidney (aka Jersey Royal) for first earlies and £3 on Wilja for main... a new variety for us.  Actually is a 2nd early type but to avoid late summer problems we normally have with mains, the intention is to get them in earlier this year.

More seeds going in soon...

Just Like Starting Over

Kale-monster  (once appeared
as an extra in Dr Who!)

Finally made the first visit of the year but ground still frozen so unable to do much more than a bit of random tidying up.

Covered up one of rhubarb clumps with a bin to start forcing and pruned fruit bushes - blackcurrants, redcurrants, gooseberries and blueberries.