A few items from the plot

We had a little bit of produce from the pot over the last few days. Some very large courgettes and some good size spuds.

Whats growing at the plot?

Here are my Garlic, we order from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm, always get a good crop. Last year we bought from a garden center as I was late in buying them and they were not as good as the Garlic Farm



I Iam trying to grow carrots at the plot for the first time, I grew them at home in pots at home last year. I am using an old waterbutt to grow the carrots and fill with compost. I have also planted some in the ground and at home i pots



Broadbeans are growing well




Potatoes are just starting to show there heads. Some other plot holders planted there spuds before us and they have been effected by frost that we had a few days ago

How is the food growing?

The Fuit and Veg is growing very well down the allotement. I managed to take a few photo's today after a made a quick dash to water the plot before I picked up Arthur from Nursery.

Here is a picture of the onions, Some are growing well, a few are a bit small but are doing well. I actually wish now I bought more!

This is a picture of one of the courgette plants I have at the allotment, looks like we have our first two courgetts growing

The Spuds are growing well. Hoping we will get a better crop this year

Steve's raspberrys are doing very well this year. Hoping to get loads of fruit off them this year.

Got the Spuds in!

Finally got the spuds in.

Early visit to the allotment

As the weather has finally warmed up we thought we would visit the allotment early in the morning so we don't end up digging when its really hot. While we was there I weeded the potatoes, I actually thought the area was just full of weeds but Steve pointed out to me some where not weeds

Here is a photo of the garlic ( nearest) and the onions ( in the distance) As you can see they are growing very well

This is the new fence for the Raspberries and Strawberries. Decided after weeding the strawberry bed to put them with the Raspberries. No idea if this is the right thing to do but I will just wait and see.

Prepering for Spuds

We planted a three rows of spuds a few weeks ago and we have now prepared the ground for the rest of the spuds. I will plant them in a few weeks. I read some where you should keep the soil warm and the best way to do this is to cover the soil.

Managed to spend some time the allotment today and also took Steve's SLR digital camera so took a few pictures of the plot. Our main job was to clear the area where the second set of spuds would go in a few weeks. We also decided to give the plot a bit of tidy, moving bits of wood of the way and finding a better place for the hose.

Here is a photo of the rear end of the allotment Onions and Garlic are growing at the end. Before I planted the garlic, steve found a blog by Pippa Greenwood from the BBC Gardenings world web site. She mentioned about growing Garlic in a ridge. She recommends the ridge idea as garlic needs to expand and in clay soil this is very hard. So far my Garlic is doing well. Take a look at her blog http://www.gardenersworld.com/talk/blogs/post/pg-garlic-24012008/
and the front, spuds are growing this end this year. This year we are growing Pink Fur, Rocket, Wilja and Golden Wonders.Here are the Garlic, the onions are just behing them. The pots in the back are an expertiment, I planted some galic and Onions in pots. Garlic is doing well but the Onions are not doing so well.

This is the spuds area. I have four rows of each varitey.

Arthur is now 5 months old and is very interested in trees. I managed to get a free buggy from freecycle, was going to be used by one of the grand parents but it was a bit messy so I thought it would be great down the allotment. It means Arthur is not stuck in his car seat for to long and he can see more.Here is a photo in his thrown. he makes sure mummy and daddy are working hard

Sunday Visit

We spent a few hours down the allotment today, Arthur was very well behaved and slepted in the car to allow us to get some work done. We managed to dig over the area for the spuds and also weed the onions.

We also noticed one of our neighbours had used some bark to make a few paths so we decided to do the same, someone has dumped aload of bark so you can help yourself. We managed to put a bit by the onions before Arthur woke up for his next feed.

When we got home I decided to get my spuds out in the greenhouse and start chitting them, hopefully this year they wont get blown over and get all mixed up, this happened to me last year.

Update

Managed to get to the allotment on Sunday Afternoon, we spent the morning at helping out at the Hazlemere Garden center, its a place that is only open on Sunday mornings 10-11am but it sells cheap garden related materials. You pay a few quid to become a member but you must help out in the shop once a year. Steve helped with the lifting off the Compost and I ( as I am 30 weeks pregnant) collet tickets at the exit. This ensured goods had been paid for before people left the area.

We went to the allotment after our shift ( only 2 hours) and dug up a loads more spuds. We got a very good crop, some better than others but as it our first full year we are just grateful for anything.

I also took the spuds I need to plant for Christmas. I have placed a few in Potato barrells, and I will plant a few in the ground and see what happens. Also plan to plant a few at home aswell.

Need to order Garlic and Over Wintering onions very soon.

More Spuds

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originally uploaded by lozza1.

Here are a few Spuds collected from the allotmet tonight - we have loads more to dig up. We wont have to buy any spuds for a very long time. I have also just received the spuds for Christmas. I have got quite a few of them aswell so I think on Christmas day we will be given Spuds away to the family.

Veg collected today

A few spuds and a lettuce from our neighbour.

Managed a quick visit to the allotment - actually stopped raining for a whole day - woohoo. We decided to harvest a few spuds for Dinner and plant a few flowers i had hanging around.

Our neighbour turned up for a flying visit, we have not seen her in ages. She told us she was given up her plot as due to person reasons she just doesn't have the time, which is a shame. She is a really nice neighbour, always pleasant and friendly. I just hope our new neighbour is nice. I just hope the plot doesn't go to empty and we end up with a plot with just weeds and horrible to look at. Oh well just have to wait and see.

Just had a few of the spuds for Dinner and they where lovely. Can't wait to see how the other spuds will taste.

Easter visit to the allotment

We have both spent most of Easter Sunday down the allotmemt. We decided it was time to plant our potatoes. We are planting them in the area we placed manure on late last year, it had been dugg over once before so the ground was not to bad, just a few weeds. In total we had seven different types of potatoes to plant - lucky we both like potatoes. After speaking to Stan from the allotment regarding when to plant he told me to think about not planting all at the same time, so if one lot dont produce well I will have a back up and also you have dont get them all at the same time in the season, you get two batches, so we have only planted halve and maybe in 4-6 weeks we will plant the others.

Picture of the potatoe Bed

Last week we also planted some asparagus - we bought from mushroom and farmhouse manure. I can tell you its stinks! when we picked it up we had to have all the windows in the car open, luckily it was a lovely day! As the Asparagus is going to be in the ground for a very long time we needed to make sure the bed was well dug over and plenty of manure. We wont get any crop this year, just have to let it grow into a fern type flower then cut it back. The plants are 1 year old all ready so they will be hopfully ready next season.

Asparagus Bed