The Big Potato and Strawberry Experiments

Over the recent Bank Holiday weekend I was looking forwards to getting onto the plot and really getting stuck into the multitude of tasks that have built up.

Unfortunately things didn't quite go as I had planned, and I was only able to get down there on Monday, but I still managed to get plenty done.





Potatoes in several different containers

The first earlies that I had put into buckets on Easter Monday (April 5th) had taken almost four weeks to show themselves, but since then have gone from strength to strength as you can see from the picture to the left.  I have since managed to get all my first and second earlies out  and also my early maincrop by the middle of May (Bambino, Pentland Javelin, Mary's Rose and Colleen).  Some are in buckets and some I am trying in old compost bags for the first time, which should be interesting to see how they do.

 

I still have my maincrop (Pink Fir Apple and Sarpo Mira) to get in, but I am not too worried about them right now.  They will use up the remaining space on the weed fabric where my wood pile is on the picture above.

 

Last year I got a home-made cold frame off FreeCycle, but I only started to use it this year.



I have used it to harden off my cauliflowers, onions, lettuce and spinach, and apart from a couple of days when some rather large slugs took a liking to a few of the spinach plants it has been quite a success, even after some strong winds ripped the lid clean off - thankfully the glass didn't break.

The cauliflowers from the cold frame have now been planted out - I am spacing them slightly further apart than I have before as I found that they grew together quite quickly with the result that some heads were fairly small.

I have planted a total of 12 seedlings approximately 18 inches apart (last year was 12) and they have been netted against thedreaded cabbage white and also slug pelleted. so hopefully they will all survibe to give us a nice crop come autumn.

Also planted out this week, but from the greenhouse was the sweetcorn.

These were sown onto a root trainer, and from the 33 seeds planted 32 germinated and were planted out (2 were in a single cell), so that's not a bad success rate :)  The variety is Conqueror F1

The bed that they have been planted into has had a top layer of compost added, but no other nutrients and I will add canes and other supports as necessary thoughout the season.

Jack's Patch

My 2 year old grandson has recently started coming to the plot with me on Sundays, and so I have given him his own little raised bed to plant what he wants.

So far he has 4 Little Gem Lettuce, six Malabar Spinach, three Red Sun Shallots and eight strawberries.  There are also two buckets of potatoes, one Pentland Javelin and one other (not sure which variety)

There is plenty of space left for a pumpkin or two as well.

Strawberry Heaven

Last year most of my strawberries were planted straight into the ground and gave a good yield, but I did lose quite a few to slugs and birds.

I experimented with planting them through weed fabric in the smaller bed, and these seemed to have less losses so I have repeated the experiment on two out of the three strawberry beds this year.

Looking at the picture I have just realised that I have forgotten about the hanging baskets between the beds - they also need replanting.


More Strawberries

I have a total of 29 plants in these two beds, with about another 35 in the long bed at the back, and another 24 which I bought from Aldi earlier this season and are still waiting to go in.

The raspberry/blackberry bed to the left in the picture was going to be cleared and also turned over to strawberries this year, but I think I may have left it just a little too late as there is far too much growth going on over there, and I am a bit worried that I might end up killing them off if I move them when they are in full swing.

Broad Beans

I planted out half a bed of broad beans aroung the middle of April, and they have all put on quite a bit of growth since then

I used two varieties this year, Crinson Flowering and Bunyard's Exhibition.

Because I haven't kept on top of the grass at the back of the bed the Bunyard's have suffered a bit from slug attacks, but a scattering of pellets seems to have held them back for a while until I can strim the grass one night this week.















How did it get to the end of May so soon?

I can't believe that we are now almost at the end of May already.

Seed potatoes waiting to be planteed

It feels like I have done almost nothing on the plot, there are plenty of beds that need topping up with compost, half of my seed potatoes are still waiting to get planted out and the majority of the seeds I had planned to grow this year are way past their optimal time for sowing.  I was going to lift the strawberries and replant them through weed fabric, but that should have been done whilst they were still mostly dormant back in March.



Finally up and ready for use

We weren't even able to inspect the bees on time, so they swarmed and we lost half of them as we couldn't collect the swarm.

There have been some high points recently as well - the greenhouse that I got from FreeCycle is finally up and fastened securely to the flags that make up its base and being well used.

Jack's Patch on April 26th

My grandson Jack has come to the plot with me a few times and has got his own bed for planting in right next to the seating area where he can be looked after.  He is only just two, so his helping involves jumping in muddy puddles and throwing compost and soil over himself at every opportunity, but it does lift my heart to see him having such a good time outdoors.

Shallots, Little Gens and Spinach planted

I am hoping that by having his own growing space and encouraging him to plant what he wants he may be more inclined to taste fruit and veg he might otherwise not try.  I can live in hope, anyway.

The first early potatoes that I put in on Easter Monday have finally shown their heads and are looking to be strong plants, so I hope that I can get a decent crop from them when they are ready for harvest which should be around my birthday, the first week of July.

It remains to be seen if their somewhat delayed start will mean that they are not ready for a few weeks after this - I will wait for them to flower and the foliage to wilt before tipping them out.

I'm sure that Jack will give me a helping hand and will appropriate most of them to take home to his mum for dinner.



Tomatoes, Celeriac, Chillis, Pumpkins, Courgettes,Shallots

I have rescued the shallots from the old polytunnel where they have been sat since October last year and pretty much neglected.

A couple of the tomatoes I started at the beginning of March have also survived and have been potted on along with some little gems, spinach and celeriac, and I bought a small pack of cauliflower plugs from Aldi which are doing well in the cold frame.
I have also sown far too many courgetes and pumpkins (in the plastic cups to the right of the picture) , but I wanted to make sure that I had at least one pumpkin for Jack's Patch.  As of this morning I have three pumpkins and eight courgettes :)

It's now the end of March, and things are finally starting to come together on the plot.

New Fruit Bed

The new fruit bed has been completed and filled with the grape vine and six raspberries transplanted from the old bed where they and the blackberries had been swamping the strawberries.


The first bed that I created back in 2012 and has been used as a square foot bed ever since has been cleared, weeded and is now ready to be topped up with compost before the weather gets nice enough