There's not been a lot to blog about recently.
It's been cold and frosty, then wet and windy and it looks like we are going back to cold and frosty for the weekend.
The onions on the plot have pretty much stopped growing now, the garlic is putting out loads of roots but no shoots from the other end (I only found this out becasue the pigeons have pulled up a couple of cloves - they must have mistaken them for worms).
The winter cabbages are beginning to heart up nicely and the first should be ready for harvest by Christmas.
No sprouts as yet, but the purple kale is looking wonderful.
The tallest of the perpetual spinach is suffering with the frost - I may have to cut it back hard as it is flopping all over the chard, which is doing remarkably well despite the hard frosts we have had.
The remaining two Pak Choi have survibed the frosts well and are looking good.
The rhubarb has finally admitted defeat and is dying back - this should be fine where it is until January when I will transplant it into the rhubarb bed near to the pond.
At home I have a couple of Romanesco Caulis forming nice curds, but a couple of the others look like they will be going to seed instead - not a problem as I will try to harvest the seed for next year.
My Cavolo Nero have recovered from being ravaged by caterpillars in the Autum and are producing lots of nice-looking leaves and are almost ready to start picking from.
All four apples on my trees were still on as of last weekend, and I was debating as to whether I should leave them or pick them - high winds have made that decision a bit unneccessary for the green apples as both were blown off, but the reds are still hanging on.
Until I can get the drainage problems at the plot sorted out I cannot build any fruit beds so the bare rooted strawberries that I bought have had to be sat in water for far longer than I was anticipating - I hope that they survive.
I had them in the kitchen to start with but I had to move them off the worksurface so they ended up on the boxroom windowsill where I thought they would do well with whatever little daylight they could get, but I have noticed tonight that the fresh green leaves that appeared whilsat they were in the kitchen have started to fade and go brittle - maybe the cold from the glass has been too much?
I have now moved them away from the window in the hope that they will hang on until I can get them into a prepared raised bed at the allotment.
Showing posts with label Spinach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spinach. Show all posts
Ice, Ice Baby!
I have just got back in after a very cold morning on the plot.
Where my plot is situated I get no direct sun on 90% of my land at all during the winter as the sun is so low in the sky, so any frost that appears does not melt but gets built up over any subsequent frosty days.
Today has been the third or fourth consecutive frosty day with the result that everything is covered with a thick layer of frost. It all looks quite beautiful really, but I wanted to harvest a few spring green leaves and in the end I didn't as I wasn't sure how the plants would fare with an open wound in these temperatures.
I realise that some vegetables need a really cold snap to jolt them into production, and that plenty of the brassicas I already have in the ground can cope with these temperatures, but I can't help looking forwards to Spring and the new growing season when everything becomes alive and vibrant again.
Despite the cold I took the opportunity to finish digging bed 7 today. We had originally started it last weekend, but ran out of good weather before we had got much more than half way through.
This morning it was pretty hard going to start, with the frost penetrating to about 3 inches below ground, but once I had taken out the first spades-width and moved back from the edge this reduced to just over an inch so I was able to make some good progress.
The manure pile had also frozen solid, despite there being some heat generated from the rotting process below the surface.
It looks like the heavy rain that we had last Thursday had pooled on every surface and then frozen quickly to create an icy coating which subsequent frosts have thickened.
The piles of earth that we dug out last week were literally frozen solid - I tried to break them up with the mattock, but just succeeded in spraying myself with loads of ice chips mixed with frozen soil - not nice.
I will have to wait for some nicer weather to arrive before this bed is finished, but on the positive side I have now moved enough manure from the pile to leave space for bed 9 to be created there, but that too is a job for another, warmer day.
Where my plot is situated I get no direct sun on 90% of my land at all during the winter as the sun is so low in the sky, so any frost that appears does not melt but gets built up over any subsequent frosty days.
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| Frosty Savoy Cabbages |
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| Perpetual spinach just about survuving the cold |
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| Brussels with a halo of frost |
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| Drainage ditch completely iced up |
This morning it was pretty hard going to start, with the frost penetrating to about 3 inches below ground, but once I had taken out the first spades-width and moved back from the edge this reduced to just over an inch so I was able to make some good progress.
The manure pile had also frozen solid, despite there being some heat generated from the rotting process below the surface.
It looks like the heavy rain that we had last Thursday had pooled on every surface and then frozen quickly to create an icy coating which subsequent frosts have thickened.
The piles of earth that we dug out last week were literally frozen solid - I tried to break them up with the mattock, but just succeeded in spraying myself with loads of ice chips mixed with frozen soil - not nice.
I will have to wait for some nicer weather to arrive before this bed is finished, but on the positive side I have now moved enough manure from the pile to leave space for bed 9 to be created there, but that too is a job for another, warmer day.
Autumn Blues and Water Problems
As we move through Autumn there is less and less to do on the allotment.
The summer plants have all finished and been removed to the compost pile, the over wintering brassicas are all in and looking healthy.
The overwintering onions and garlic have been in for about six weeks. The onions are showing strongly, with about three to four inches of growth on the white onions and one to two on the red.
No sign of any life from the garlic as yet, neither the purpose bought stuff or the jumbo ones from the supermarket. That seems to be the same with everyone else on the allotment though, so I am not too worried at the moment.
The perpetual spinach is still performing strongly, as is the chard. I am hoping to be able to keep harvesting from these until Christmas.
I have had a first harvest of leaves from the purple kale which I planted out in early August, the plants are growing strongly and should have no problems in surviving the cold.
The Brussels planted at the same time are still causing me some worry - there are plenty of leaves and the plants themselves look strong, but there is no sign of any sprouts forming on most of the plants as yet. I hope that I can get something off them for Christmas day - that would be really nice.
The rhubarb is finally starting to die back - recent frosts overnight seem to have done the job - so once the rhubarb bed near to the pond is completed they can be transplanted once they have gone completely dormant.
I am still having major problems with the lack of drainage on the top half of my plot - most of it is very sodden with standing water and lots of mud on the surface.
It looks like the drainage channels that I dug have been partly successful as the neighbouring plots and communal areas that used to be waterlogged are now pretty dry, so the water from them has apparently drained into my plot. The solution appears to be just carry on with more of the same, and make the channels already dug deeper and a bit wider.
Another plot holder has arranged for a mini digger for the afternoon to help him to turn over his plot as it is completely full of tree roots, making hand digging almost impossible.
Once his plot has been done the digger is going to deepen the drain through the orchard area away from my plot, and will then dig channels through my plot to meet them.
The orchard drain will simply have a length of perforated drainage pipe laid at the bottom and then be back filled.
My drain will have a 3" layer of 3/4 stone under a drainage pipe, with the rest of the trench being filled with 3/4 stone. As the majority of the drains will be under flagged paths I am hoping that this won't cause me too many problems with my planting next year and that it sorts out my water logging problem.
If it doesn't, I really don't know what else to try.
On a more positive note, we spend most of yesterday afternoon digging over bed 7 which had been getting a bit swamped with grass, and mixing the soil well with manure from the larger of the two piles.
Once finished this will be where I plant my bare-rooted strawberries for them to over-winter as I couldn't put them where I intend them to live permanently as it is currently too wet.
I have eighteen plants - six each of Malwina, Mae and Elegance. They are supposed to crop at different times through the season, so I am hoping to have a succession of strawberries all summer long next year.
I have also got started on moving the first manure pile as I want to put a couple more raised beds where it is now - my son Will did a grand job in shifting loads of it for me, and with very little complaining about the smell (then again, it is now quite well rotted and lovely stuff) and there is now nearly enough space to drop frames for raised beds 10 and 11 down.
When I stop to look at what we have achieved so far, I am quite proud of my little plot. Once the water problem is sorted out there will be no stopping us!
The summer plants have all finished and been removed to the compost pile, the over wintering brassicas are all in and looking healthy.
The overwintering onions and garlic have been in for about six weeks. The onions are showing strongly, with about three to four inches of growth on the white onions and one to two on the red.
No sign of any life from the garlic as yet, neither the purpose bought stuff or the jumbo ones from the supermarket. That seems to be the same with everyone else on the allotment though, so I am not too worried at the moment.
The perpetual spinach is still performing strongly, as is the chard. I am hoping to be able to keep harvesting from these until Christmas.
I have had a first harvest of leaves from the purple kale which I planted out in early August, the plants are growing strongly and should have no problems in surviving the cold.
The Brussels planted at the same time are still causing me some worry - there are plenty of leaves and the plants themselves look strong, but there is no sign of any sprouts forming on most of the plants as yet. I hope that I can get something off them for Christmas day - that would be really nice.
The rhubarb is finally starting to die back - recent frosts overnight seem to have done the job - so once the rhubarb bed near to the pond is completed they can be transplanted once they have gone completely dormant.
I am still having major problems with the lack of drainage on the top half of my plot - most of it is very sodden with standing water and lots of mud on the surface.
It looks like the drainage channels that I dug have been partly successful as the neighbouring plots and communal areas that used to be waterlogged are now pretty dry, so the water from them has apparently drained into my plot. The solution appears to be just carry on with more of the same, and make the channels already dug deeper and a bit wider.
Another plot holder has arranged for a mini digger for the afternoon to help him to turn over his plot as it is completely full of tree roots, making hand digging almost impossible.
Once his plot has been done the digger is going to deepen the drain through the orchard area away from my plot, and will then dig channels through my plot to meet them.
The orchard drain will simply have a length of perforated drainage pipe laid at the bottom and then be back filled.
My drain will have a 3" layer of 3/4 stone under a drainage pipe, with the rest of the trench being filled with 3/4 stone. As the majority of the drains will be under flagged paths I am hoping that this won't cause me too many problems with my planting next year and that it sorts out my water logging problem.
If it doesn't, I really don't know what else to try.
On a more positive note, we spend most of yesterday afternoon digging over bed 7 which had been getting a bit swamped with grass, and mixing the soil well with manure from the larger of the two piles.
Once finished this will be where I plant my bare-rooted strawberries for them to over-winter as I couldn't put them where I intend them to live permanently as it is currently too wet.
I have eighteen plants - six each of Malwina, Mae and Elegance. They are supposed to crop at different times through the season, so I am hoping to have a succession of strawberries all summer long next year.
I have also got started on moving the first manure pile as I want to put a couple more raised beds where it is now - my son Will did a grand job in shifting loads of it for me, and with very little complaining about the smell (then again, it is now quite well rotted and lovely stuff) and there is now nearly enough space to drop frames for raised beds 10 and 11 down.
When I stop to look at what we have achieved so far, I am quite proud of my little plot. Once the water problem is sorted out there will be no stopping us!
Allotment Catch up - Early October
After having nearly four weeks away from the allotment due to a combination of holidays, illness and bad weather I wasn't looking forwards to my visit earlier this month.
I was expecting caterpillar munched brassicas, slug munched lettuce and courgettes and drowned everything else, but I am please to say that although there was some damage, it was nowhere near as bad as I was anticipating.
The torrential downpours had washed away every slug pellet, so there were quite a few fat slugs enjoying the fruits of my labours. They soon got the sharp end of a trowel and were flung onto the manure pile.
In bed 1 the square of 15 onions had suffered some slug damage, with about four whose tops had been munched but the rest seem to have been left alone.
I was expecting caterpillar munched brassicas, slug munched lettuce and courgettes and drowned everything else, but I am please to say that although there was some damage, it was nowhere near as bad as I was anticipating.
The torrential downpours had washed away every slug pellet, so there were quite a few fat slugs enjoying the fruits of my labours. They soon got the sharp end of a trowel and were flung onto the manure pile.
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| Onions hanging on - just ! |
In bed 1 the square of 15 onions had suffered some slug damage, with about four whose tops had been munched but the rest seem to have been left alone.
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| Big lettuce pressing against the netting |
In the next picture you can see just how well the lettuce are coming on - when I planted them I thought they were the sort where you harvest the outer leaves as and when you need them, and that they didn't form a heart, but every one is now a huge, full-hearted lettuce that are very sweet tasting.
One problem with all the rain we have been having is that the very outer leaves which have been touching the soil had started to rot on the plant, but I soon whipped those off.
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| Brussels, PSB and Kale |
The brassicas also under the netting in bed 1 are still growing strongly - there have been a few caterpillars on them due to the flimsy construction of the netting and cage, but nothing major so I am hoping for great things from them later this year/early next.
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| Before removing the finished courgette plants |
The peas at the top of bed 1 had withered so I pulled them out, and the courgettes had been badly attacked by the slugs, so they came out too.
The turnips planted from seed are starting to bulk up a little - the largest was about 2 inches across, and some of the spinach is also doing well, but a lot of it has been swamped by the cabbages in the next squares so was still pretty spindly. A lesson to be learned for next year here, don't include brassicas in a square foot bed unless they are all similar size plants or they will overwhelm their neighbours.
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| Pak Choi doing well |
The pak choi planted from seed have done fantastically well, so I harvested a couple for our tea, and very nice they were too.
Some of them were also having trouble with the huge cabbages next door, so I did a little trimming of the lower, larger cabbage leaves to give the pak choi a bit more light, which will hopefully allow them to grow a bit more.
The star of bed 1 so far has got to be the french beans. I have had four small harvests from them already and all four plants are still loaded with flowers. I just hope that the frosts keep off and we have enough sun to be able to harvest the rest as they have an unbelievable flavour.
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| Lots of Bean Pods |
The Mammoth pumpkin hasn't really lived up to its name despite an early showing - the one remaining fruit hasn't really grown very much since the last time I measured it.
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| Mammoth Pumpkin |
The Jack 'o' Lantern, however, has nearly doubled in size.
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| Jack 'O' Lantern |
I just hope that at least one of them will toughen up enugh to be carved for our Halloween Party on Oct 27th!
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| Top of bed 2 |
At the top of bed 2 the Savoy cabbages are doing well despite their somewhat shakey start and are pretty much the same size as those in bed 1.
I had to remove the two cherry tomato bushes as they had signs of blight, but I have left the chillis in place - the plan is to trim them and try to overwinter by wrapping in fleece with the surrounding brassicas also providing some shelter.
In the space left by the tomatoes I have planted some of the kale that was pigeoned, slugged and caterpillared back in July as they appeared to be staging some kind of come back.
I also planted three Kohl Rabi that had been sitting at home and should really have been in the ground by now.
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| Bottom of bed 2 |
At the bottom of bed 2 the donated rhubarb is growing fantastically well - all my rhubarb at home is starting to die down ready for winter but these two are still going great guns.
The transplanted turnips have taken well, but aren't as far along as the ones left behind in bed 1.
The radish at the botton right of the picture have started to form bulbs, but they aren't much more than pea-sized right now.
The chard and perpetual spinach are flourishing, but some of the slug-munched onions appear to have been too far gone to save.
I have also started to plant into bed 3 as I had to bring out all the remaining brassicas from home, plus those munched on earlier but still with full hearts.
The whole of bed 3 now contains spring cabbage, curly cale, brussel sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli.
I think the next thing to do is to get beds 4 and 5 ready using the lasagne method.
This isn't as I planned, but I need to get some onion sets and some garlic in and the way the weather is closing in as we head through Autumn I doubt that I will have enough time to double dig as I had wanted.
Water, Water, Everywhere .......
We spent some time at the plot tonight trying to figure out the best way to deal with the sodden ground that covers most of the back half of the allotment.
The plot is bordered by cinder paths, so yesterday afternoon I dug a test pit through one to see if we could persuade the water to start to flow in that direction. The pit was about 18 inches deep.
Whilst we were there I took the opportunity to plant a few more specimens from home - three tomatoes and two chillis.
Two of the tomatoes are already producing fruit - I was able to harvest three red and three yellow cherry tomatoes from them.
The chillis and third tomato have come from the bedroom windowsill - I know it is probably far too late in the season to be planting these out, but as the only other option for these plants was the compost heap I am going to give them a fighting chance.
I also planted up the rhubarb that Diane gave us a couple of weeks back. It was planted into a hole that had at least six inches of manure in the bottom, and was finished off by another spade-full on top. This is only a temporary home until we can get the water problem sorted,
Now for a quick spin round bed 1.
The lettuce are really doing well now, despite them looking rather sick when they were first planted out. The Kale and PSB are also doing well, as are the Brussels, with the exception of one plant. This little one looks healthy, but is only about half the size of the others - I wonder why?
One bad note - the pigeons have decimated the plants that I had waiting to go in - I forgot to cover them up again when I left on Sunday, and they have eaten about 90% of the seedlings.
The plot is bordered by cinder paths, so yesterday afternoon I dug a test pit through one to see if we could persuade the water to start to flow in that direction. The pit was about 18 inches deep.
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| Test Pit |
This was what we saw there tonight.
This was good news as it meant that it would be possible to persuade the water to flow away from the plot.
We started off with a few shallow channels in the mud to encourage the water on the surface to flow.
This was followed by a deeper, wider channel which soon became filled with run-off.
We were unable to follow up on our discoveries as the boundary fence near to the corner of my plot is due to be replaced, and so any drainage channels that we dig would be likely to be destroyed when the contractor brings in his equipment.
On the plus side, we are going to ask if they will dig the channels for us with their equipment whilst they are there. If you don't ask ....
Two of the tomatoes are already producing fruit - I was able to harvest three red and three yellow cherry tomatoes from them.
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| Tomatoes and Chillis |
The chillis and third tomato have come from the bedroom windowsill - I know it is probably far too late in the season to be planting these out, but as the only other option for these plants was the compost heap I am going to give them a fighting chance.
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| Rhubarb |
I also planted up the rhubarb that Diane gave us a couple of weeks back. It was planted into a hole that had at least six inches of manure in the bottom, and was finished off by another spade-full on top. This is only a temporary home until we can get the water problem sorted,
Now for a quick spin round bed 1.
The lettuce are really doing well now, despite them looking rather sick when they were first planted out. The Kale and PSB are also doing well, as are the Brussels, with the exception of one plant. This little one looks healthy, but is only about half the size of the others - I wonder why?
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| Leaf Beet, Cabbage and Turnip |
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| Flowering French Beans |
The Leaf Beet, Chard and Savoy Cabbage are all coming on strongly, as are the French Beans which are now flowering. The leaves on some of the peas continue to look a little yellow, but they now have four pods.
The majority of the seeds that Will sowed nine days ago have now come up - all the turnips and most of the pak choi, but strangely enough not all of the spinach have (apart from the ones he spilled and didn't pick up). It may be that he planted them a bit too deep perhaps?
And then there were six ......
Another long day at the plot again this Saturday - I was on at 6.30am to put the frame together that will eventually hold the netting needed to keep the cabbage whites and pigeons off my brassicas.
A quick check on the plants I had transplanted out earlier this week revealed no slug damage at all to anything - a triumph for slug pellets.
Both the pumpkins have finally started to put out a vine -
the Jack O'Lantern was doing well, but the Mammoth has nearly doubled in size since it was planted out and has what appear to be female fruit forming already.
When I planted the courgettes on Thursday evening neither had anything other than leaves, but this morning both have flower buds which I am hoping will open tomorrow.
The French Beans are doing well, with a few flowers and the peas have already got two pods forming.
We soon had the frame for the third bed made as all that was missing was the long sides.
This bed was installed alongside the existing two and me and Will started to dig it out while Ken continued cutting the rest of the timber to make more beds.
You can see the netting frame that I had made to the left of the picture.
Part way through the afternoon Ken was given some more produce from one of my friendly plot neighbours, Diane, who came across with a handful of beetroot for him. Thanks again Diane.
After a lot of hard work we managed to get the final three beds in place, but weren't able to dig them, or even get them properly aligned as we had run out of both time and energy.
A quick check on the plants I had transplanted out earlier this week revealed no slug damage at all to anything - a triumph for slug pellets.
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| Jack O'Lantern |
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| Mammoth |
I may have to pinch these out as they are far too close to the main stem, but I may just wait and see first....
When I planted the courgettes on Thursday evening neither had anything other than leaves, but this morning both have flower buds which I am hoping will open tomorrow.
The French Beans are doing well, with a few flowers and the peas have already got two pods forming.
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| Hard at work - One of them at least |
I went off-site for breakfast about 8am, but was back again for around 10.30am with both step dad Ken and son Will, and we all stayed there until 6pm.
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| Part dug third bed |
This bed was installed alongside the existing two and me and Will started to dig it out while Ken continued cutting the rest of the timber to make more beds.
You can see the netting frame that I had made to the left of the picture.
Part way through the afternoon Ken was given some more produce from one of my friendly plot neighbours, Diane, who came across with a handful of beetroot for him. Thanks again Diane.
After a lot of hard work we managed to get the final three beds in place, but weren't able to dig them, or even get them properly aligned as we had run out of both time and energy.
As almost the last act of the day Will planted his first ever seeds - he put in 2 blocks of 9 spinach 'Matador', 2 blocks of 4 x Pak Choi and a single block of Turnip "Purple Milan". I hope that they germinate and prove to him that he hasn't got 'black thumbs'.
These last sowings have completed the first bed which is now totally full. Only another five beds to have a go at now.
Week 5 on the allotment - Stuff in the ground - at last
After four weeks of hard work I have finally managed to start transplanting plants from home to the allotment.
It was starting to get pretty desperate as plenty of the seedlings that I have either bought in or started from seed have really outgrown the trays that they were planted in and have started to get root bound.
On Monday night I took a few trays from the blow away down to the allotment and started to plant up into the first bed.
In the picture above you will be able to see that I have marked out squares so we can employ the square foot gardening techniques.
Unfortunately the beds are 4.5 feet by 9.5, so the beds to the right and the top of the picture are 18" wide, but I have taken advantage of this to plant some of the larger, taller brassicas on this side as they won't shade out the smaller crops.
From right to left in the picture above I have planted:
Row 1 - 5 x Brussel Sprouts
Row 2 - 5 x Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Row 3 - 5 x Purple Curly Kale and a square containing 4 x leaf beet
Row 4 - 16 x Winter Onions, four squares containing 16 x All Year Round Lettuce
The two squares of climbers at the top of the bed contain 4 x Blue Lake Climbing French Beans.
One thing I wanted to get out but forgot to bring down were my peas - there is a spare square waiting for them next to the French Beans.
I went back to the plot again last night to finish off the second bed that you can see in the picture, and watered everththing with 1 cup of water per plant. The lettuce in particular were looking wery worse for wear, but perked up remarkably with the water, so I think I will have to make daily visits to make sure they have enough water until they get their roots deep enough.
I am also really pleased with the progress of the potatoes. These were simply supermarket spuds that had been left in the bag too long and had sprouted.
I stuck them in the ground on Friday July 13th so they will be four weeks old tomorrow.
These are growing so fast it you are actually able to see the difference in size from one day to the next. I will have to start thinking about earthing them up soon, and I will probably use some of the bought in compost rather than taking from the bed itself. I had originally made troughs and ridges in this bed and planted into the troughs, but the local foxes trashed the bed on the first night so it is pretty flattened by now, with no spare soil to use.
They were supposed to be there to break up the ground and also to provide some foliage cover to suppress the weeds - if they carry on like this they will certainly provide the cover, and if I do manage to get a crop from them, well then that will be a bonus.
The two pumpkins that I planted straight into the manure pile seem to have got over the transplanting shock and have started to grow again - the Jack O'Lantern is doing best but there are signs that the Mammoth is about to send out a vine - lots of little leaf buds (at least I think that's what they are).
The problem I am now coming up against is one I never expected when I took on a full plot - I am running out of room to plant things in.
The existing bed has 12 squares remaining, but four or five of them are already reserved for Savoy Cabbage - I have a mini competition going with stepdad Ken who is convinced that the bed I made using the no-dig method cannot possibly compete with the bed we double-dug together, so we are going to plant cabbages into both beds at the same time and monitor the results.
The double-dug bed is nearly ready for planting into - I finished filling it last night but I still need to level it and break up any large clumps, and I also need to pull out as much cooch grass root as I can.
There is so much at home waiting to go in that I really don't know how I am going to be able to fit it in, even with another four beds ready to fill the space we rotivated two weekends back.
There are already loads of plants waiting to go in that I have moved from home, with more Kale, Sprouts, leef beet and PSB plus cabbage and cauliflower.
We have also been given a little rhubarb plant for when we eventually get the soft fruit area going, plus a couple of comfrey plants - thanks Diane.
All these, and I have still got a blow away at home absolutely full, plus the table in the front garden as well.
It was starting to get pretty desperate as plenty of the seedlings that I have either bought in or started from seed have really outgrown the trays that they were planted in and have started to get root bound.
On Monday night I took a few trays from the blow away down to the allotment and started to plant up into the first bed.
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| The first planting |
Unfortunately the beds are 4.5 feet by 9.5, so the beds to the right and the top of the picture are 18" wide, but I have taken advantage of this to plant some of the larger, taller brassicas on this side as they won't shade out the smaller crops.
From right to left in the picture above I have planted:
Row 1 - 5 x Brussel Sprouts
Row 2 - 5 x Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Row 3 - 5 x Purple Curly Kale and a square containing 4 x leaf beet
Row 4 - 16 x Winter Onions, four squares containing 16 x All Year Round Lettuce
The two squares of climbers at the top of the bed contain 4 x Blue Lake Climbing French Beans.
One thing I wanted to get out but forgot to bring down were my peas - there is a spare square waiting for them next to the French Beans.
I went back to the plot again last night to finish off the second bed that you can see in the picture, and watered everththing with 1 cup of water per plant. The lettuce in particular were looking wery worse for wear, but perked up remarkably with the water, so I think I will have to make daily visits to make sure they have enough water until they get their roots deep enough.
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| Potato Bed |
I stuck them in the ground on Friday July 13th so they will be four weeks old tomorrow.
These are growing so fast it you are actually able to see the difference in size from one day to the next. I will have to start thinking about earthing them up soon, and I will probably use some of the bought in compost rather than taking from the bed itself. I had originally made troughs and ridges in this bed and planted into the troughs, but the local foxes trashed the bed on the first night so it is pretty flattened by now, with no spare soil to use.
They were supposed to be there to break up the ground and also to provide some foliage cover to suppress the weeds - if they carry on like this they will certainly provide the cover, and if I do manage to get a crop from them, well then that will be a bonus.
The two pumpkins that I planted straight into the manure pile seem to have got over the transplanting shock and have started to grow again - the Jack O'Lantern is doing best but there are signs that the Mammoth is about to send out a vine - lots of little leaf buds (at least I think that's what they are).
The problem I am now coming up against is one I never expected when I took on a full plot - I am running out of room to plant things in.
The existing bed has 12 squares remaining, but four or five of them are already reserved for Savoy Cabbage - I have a mini competition going with stepdad Ken who is convinced that the bed I made using the no-dig method cannot possibly compete with the bed we double-dug together, so we are going to plant cabbages into both beds at the same time and monitor the results.
The double-dug bed is nearly ready for planting into - I finished filling it last night but I still need to level it and break up any large clumps, and I also need to pull out as much cooch grass root as I can.
There is so much at home waiting to go in that I really don't know how I am going to be able to fit it in, even with another four beds ready to fill the space we rotivated two weekends back.
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| Plants waiting to go in |
We have also been given a little rhubarb plant for when we eventually get the soft fruit area going, plus a couple of comfrey plants - thanks Diane.
All these, and I have still got a blow away at home absolutely full, plus the table in the front garden as well.
Windowsill Update - Part 5
It's been two weeks since the last update, and the windowsill is looking distinctly bare nowadays.
I planted both the borlitti and mange tout into my garden last weekend as they were getting a bt out of control - the borlotti was over four feet tall and the mange tout was ranging all over the windowsill in search of something to climb up.
I think I should really have moved them earlier as a couple of the borlotti stems got bent while untangling ready to transplant, but they seem to have come through OK and are thriving outdoors,
I have got the borlotti growing up the trellis in my original narrow beds, and the mange tout are growing up canes in the 4' x 4' bed.
Of the plants left on the windowsill, the two 'Sweet Baby' tomatoes are now both over 6" high, both chilli 'Anaheim' are about 4" tall and showing plenty of leaf.
My two experiments, however, are not doing as well.
Of the 17 radish plants in a single tray that I separated most have withered and died. There are six whose leaves have simply dried out completely and are nothing but a stem with crispy bits attached.
A further six have some greenery left, but aren't looking happy at all, and the remaining five aren't looking too bad at all, but still have some crispy leaves attached to them. Three of the five were actually transplanted, so I'm not sure if it was the act of transplanting that disturbed the roots and caused the problem or not.
Either way, I'm not confident that any will survive much longer.
The spinach I planted in the tiny root cells that my veg plugs from Aldi came in is also having problems.
I have had to water them, even though they were sat in a water retaining gel, which has caused some kind of algae bloom in the gel itself, the gel has dried up to about half its original volume and is completely filled with an amazing root system from the spinach.
Some of the spinach seedlings haven't rooted themselved properly and are lying on the surface, and many of the ones that are standing up straight are up to three inched tall, but have already started to bolt and set seed, probably as they are under stress in the mini-cloche.
I am going to plant these out either tonight or over the weekend to see if any can be salvaged, although I am not going to be holding my breath over them. I think I will have to cut open the mini cells to plant them so I have some chance of not destroying the roots completely.
I think I will be underplanting my kale and Romanescue caulis which although they are growing well, don't need the full space as yet.
So, what have I learned from the windowsill this season?
Some successes with the tomato and chilli, I have strong plants which are nearly ready for planting on, even though they may be a little late in the season to do much.
Another success was the home-made light reflector that stopped the plants from leaning alarmingly towards the window - definitely using that again next year.
Lessons have been learnt with the beans and mange tout - next year I will plant them singly into pots and plant them out much earlier to avoid damaging the plants when doing so.
More lessons with the radish and spinach. Neither seem to be happy on the windowsill, and radish certainly don't like having their roots disturbed.
Re-using the mini cells from the Aldi plug plants seemed like a good idea at the time, but it has not gone quite to plan so I won't use them again. The mini-cloches will probably be used but with seeds planted straight into compost in the base, without the cells or gel.
I may grow spinach on the windowsill again, but into larger pots with a couple of seeds in each to avoid the problems caused by the mini cells.
I planted both the borlitti and mange tout into my garden last weekend as they were getting a bt out of control - the borlotti was over four feet tall and the mange tout was ranging all over the windowsill in search of something to climb up.
I think I should really have moved them earlier as a couple of the borlotti stems got bent while untangling ready to transplant, but they seem to have come through OK and are thriving outdoors,
I have got the borlotti growing up the trellis in my original narrow beds, and the mange tout are growing up canes in the 4' x 4' bed.
Of the plants left on the windowsill, the two 'Sweet Baby' tomatoes are now both over 6" high, both chilli 'Anaheim' are about 4" tall and showing plenty of leaf.
My two experiments, however, are not doing as well.
Of the 17 radish plants in a single tray that I separated most have withered and died. There are six whose leaves have simply dried out completely and are nothing but a stem with crispy bits attached.
A further six have some greenery left, but aren't looking happy at all, and the remaining five aren't looking too bad at all, but still have some crispy leaves attached to them. Three of the five were actually transplanted, so I'm not sure if it was the act of transplanting that disturbed the roots and caused the problem or not.
Either way, I'm not confident that any will survive much longer.
The spinach I planted in the tiny root cells that my veg plugs from Aldi came in is also having problems.
I have had to water them, even though they were sat in a water retaining gel, which has caused some kind of algae bloom in the gel itself, the gel has dried up to about half its original volume and is completely filled with an amazing root system from the spinach.
Some of the spinach seedlings haven't rooted themselved properly and are lying on the surface, and many of the ones that are standing up straight are up to three inched tall, but have already started to bolt and set seed, probably as they are under stress in the mini-cloche.
I am going to plant these out either tonight or over the weekend to see if any can be salvaged, although I am not going to be holding my breath over them. I think I will have to cut open the mini cells to plant them so I have some chance of not destroying the roots completely.
I think I will be underplanting my kale and Romanescue caulis which although they are growing well, don't need the full space as yet.
So, what have I learned from the windowsill this season?
Some successes with the tomato and chilli, I have strong plants which are nearly ready for planting on, even though they may be a little late in the season to do much.
Another success was the home-made light reflector that stopped the plants from leaning alarmingly towards the window - definitely using that again next year.
Lessons have been learnt with the beans and mange tout - next year I will plant them singly into pots and plant them out much earlier to avoid damaging the plants when doing so.
More lessons with the radish and spinach. Neither seem to be happy on the windowsill, and radish certainly don't like having their roots disturbed.
Re-using the mini cells from the Aldi plug plants seemed like a good idea at the time, but it has not gone quite to plan so I won't use them again. The mini-cloches will probably be used but with seeds planted straight into compost in the base, without the cells or gel.
I may grow spinach on the windowsill again, but into larger pots with a couple of seeds in each to avoid the problems caused by the mini cells.
End of week catch up
In the past week since I last posted things have been moving on quite a bit, both at the allotment and at home, and I have had a major catastrophe too.
On Sunday afternoon I was relaxing in my hot tub after a few hard hours at the allotment when one of our cats knocked my mobile phone into the water.
Needless to say it was a complete write off, so I haven't been able to post up any more pictures since, which has kind of put me off writing anything.
So - what has been going on this week at home?
I have harvested a few more rhubarb stems which were stewed down with some sugar and a bit of water - very nice, but it really needed a bit more sugar. All right - a lot more, to be honest.
The first few raspberries of the year have been eaten too - they didn't need any extra sweetener as they were gorgeous by themselves. There is another handful ready too, looking forwards to picking those tomorrow.
I have also harvested a few Rainbow Chard leaves and steamed them with some cabbage given to me by a very generous allotment neighbour. Not sure if I prefer them to spinach right now, but I will have plenty more opportunities to decide as the chard has really started to fill out and develop into really big plants. I'm glad I decided to give them plenty of room when I planted them out six weeks ago!
The lettuce tub by the front door has also been raided quite a lot this week, but as they are starting to show signs of bolting we will be eating them as fast as we can before they turn bitter.
I have also picked up a young melon plant and stuck it into my largest pot - you never know, we might actually get some sun over the next few weeks to allow fruit to develop. I am thinking of building up a frame for it to climb up - apparently this will encourage it to set more fruit along the length of the vine rather than just at the end as it would if I let it crawl along the floor.
The borlotti and mange tout on the windowsill desperately need planting out - the borlotti is now nearly four foot tall and looking for something to climb up, the mange tout has flopped over and is rapidly spreading along the windowsill. I have a space picked out in the front garden in front of the trellis for them, so hopefully they will be able to handle the shock of being outdoors for the first time
The two tomato seedilngs in one pot have been separated into their own pots and are coming on well. The chillis have now got four leaves each, and are slowly getting stronger.
The spinach grown in the gel is doing remarkably well, the only problem I forsee is trying to get the plants out of their cells without losing half of the root system which is now well established within the gel itself. I am going to plant these inbetween the leeks in the raised bed - they should be picked and eaten long before I need to get at the leeks.
Not too sure about the radish at the moment - the majority of the first leaves have withered and died, but only a couple of the plants have well developed true leaves as yet. It may be that I am going to lose a lot of these plants. The plan is to plant them out below the brassicas in the bed in front of the trellis once they have all got good true leaves showing.
In the blow away it is like looking through a jungle, the plants are doing so well.
I am considering bringing some of the trays out and leaving them on some greenhouse staging just to give a bit of room to the others left behind.
I am very pleased with the pumpkins - both are getting quite big now, so I will have to look at potting them up into bigger containers as they really don't like being cramped.
One disappointment so far has been the onions. They have been pricked out into individual modules for some time now, but there is virtually no signs of growth from any of them as yet.
With the weather having been so bad this week I haven't had much time to get down to the allotment, but I have had 8 tonnes of cow manure delivered in anticipation of some nice weather that will allow me to rotivate part of the plot and get it all mixed in.
I have spent an hour tonight moving the first of it off the path where it was dumped - 11 barrows-full and I have hardly dinted the pile! I reckon there is about another 150-200 barrows-full to go, so at my curent speed it will take me 10-15 more hours! I just hope that I will speed up as I get more used to the work.
Windowsill Update Part 3
Before I get pulled away to spend all my spare time preparing the new allotment I thought I would go round the plants on the windowsill and report on their progress.
I made myself a light reflector from some cardboard covered with tin foil. The idea of this was to reflect the light coming through the window and try to stop the plants bending towards the sunlight outside.
All the radish and spinach were still leaning quite markedly towards the window, but the tomato and both sets of beans are pretty straight. The spinach was right at the end of the reflector, which may have been a factor.
Now for a quick spin around the windowsill.
2 out of 4 seeds have germinated, so quite a poor showing so far.
Finally some movement from the chillis!
I noticed one sedling showing through in one pot yesterday, and a second has shown today in a different pot.
Nothing from the third as yet, so that makes a disappointing 2 out of 6 germination rate so far.
I am now a bit concenrned that I may damage these root systems when I plant the seedlings on, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I planted two spinach into each of 15 modules and have got a total of 20 germinations, with only three modules yet to show. Not too bad for an experiment.
I made myself a light reflector from some cardboard covered with tin foil. The idea of this was to reflect the light coming through the window and try to stop the plants bending towards the sunlight outside.
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| Light Reflector |
It has only been in place for one day so far, but my first impression is that there isn't much difference.
All the radish and spinach were still leaning quite markedly towards the window, but the tomato and both sets of beans are pretty straight. The spinach was right at the end of the reflector, which may have been a factor.
I will try it for a bit longer, and have moved the spinach to a more central location.
Now for a quick spin around the windowsill.
Everything was planted on Monday 25th of June so is 13 days old today. The only exception is the spinach which was planted on Saturday 30th June and so is 8 days in.
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| Radish French Breakfast |
The radish 'French Breakfast' are doing well, and are about three inches tall. 17 out of 18 seeds germinated.
I think I will have to transplant them as soon as the second set of leaves appear as quite a few seem to be very shallow rooted and are flopping about all over the place.
As I sowed two seeds at each station they will definitely need separating if I want decent bulbs to form.
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Borlotti
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The borlotti are the star of the windowsill. 100% germination.
Their height ranges between 9 and 18 inches with lovely big, well defined leaves.
Once I get some room in the blow away I will have to get these hardened off ready for planting on the allotment.
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| Mange Tout 'Oregon Sugar Snap' |
The mange tout are also doing well, with lots of leaf and plenty of tendrils starting to look for support to climb.
They are all around 9 inches tall and I had 100% germination.
Another candidate for hardening off and planting out as soon as possible.
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| Tomato 'Sweet Baby' |
The tomato is finally starting to show the first set of true leaves, but at only just under 2 inches tall is going to be on the windowsill for some time to come.
2 out of 4 seeds have germinated, so quite a poor showing so far.
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| Chilli 'Anaheim' |
Finally some movement from the chillis!
I noticed one sedling showing through in one pot yesterday, and a second has shown today in a different pot.
Nothing from the third as yet, so that makes a disappointing 2 out of 6 germination rate so far.
Considering that the spinach has only been in for eight days I am quite pleased with the results.
The plants are an inch tall already, and look nice and healthy.
This was an experiment where I planted them in modules that I have sat in a water retaining gel to see how they would do without further watering.
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| Spinach 'Matador' |
I did drip a little water on them yesterday as the compost they were sitting in was bone dry, but looking at the gel this morning I can see that the roots have already started to come down into it, in some cases very strongly.
I am now a bit concenrned that I may damage these root systems when I plant the seedlings on, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.
I planted two spinach into each of 15 modules and have got a total of 20 germinations, with only three modules yet to show. Not too bad for an experiment.
The one big disappointment on the windowill is the single pumpkin 'Mammoth' which has not yet shown at all.
The seed I planted outside in a pot in the blow away germinated after 12 days so I expected this one to be faster indoors.
I had a careful root around to check on the seed, and it is just starting to sprout so it may well catch up - time will tell.
Windowsill Update Part 2
After posting yesterday morning about the fourth borlotti not looking too healthy, this morning it is three inches tall and looking good - it just shows how much I have to learn here.http://vegpatchkid.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/windowsill-update.html
Not sure if this is down to the gel that came with the 'mini-cloche' or not - I will have to plant some more in normal planters with just compost as a comparison.
I have several more of the modules that the ALDI plugs came in so I will try one of those on its own.
Still no movement from either the chillis or pumpkin, but the radish are now nearly three inches high, but none of them look like they are even attempting to form a second set of leaves yet.
The sugar snap peas are doing well, one looks almost ready to pot on as it is six inches tall already but I will wait until weekend.
I will have to do some more research on Google.
As I am running out of growing space here at home I am going to take a couple of pots into work and try to germinate a couple more courgettes as a backup in case something happens to my original seedlings.
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