Plot Swap

As the title of this post says I'm swapping my small plot for a plot almost three times the size (18ft x 60ft half plot). I've been waiting to swap for about 18 months so I'm chuffed I got the nod last month. I've took lots of photo's as usual so here's a few to show what I've been up to :o)

 So as you can see it was in a bit of a mess to say the least. 

 All the fruit bushes are coming out. If I want fruit bushes I'll get my own then I'll know what they are.

 Wheelbarrow, compost bin and 3 water butts came with the plot. 

The lady who left sold me the leaky shed, It'll not take much to sort it out I thought.

 From the shed looking down the plot to the road and water bosh.

 Cherry tree to come out too.

 A few days on and we've cut back all the mint and lemon balm that filled the front of the plot.

Got the strimmer on the rest and dug over one of the beds.

 What a difference a week makes. The pear tree is going in the allotment orchard.

We cut the fruit bushes down and made 2 trips to the tip with the trailer.

 Can't believe how many slabs there are. 

At this point I'd got 3/4 of the plot weeded and dug over. I've been getting a lot of nice comments from other plot holders :o) 

Looking better by the day.

 Lifted two different  rhubarbs. Still a little to do up near the shed. 

  

Levelling the ground ready for the greenhouse base. 

Base was readied for the block walls which the greenhouse will sit on for more height.

Couple of days later and the block wall built and tarped up to keep the frost off.

Getting ready for next weeks big bonfire.

One greenhouse :o) I'm really pleased how its turned out. I gave the blocks a coat of weather-proof paint.

So now the greenhouse is finished. I can get on with clearing my old plot before the weather gets too bad...

Cuppa tea first in the nice dry shed he said..

Thanks for looking in :o)

A couple of new video's of what's growing in greenhouses and on our small plot.

Not been up to much on the allotments apart from feeding,weeding and harvesting so here a couple of videos of how things stand on the half plot and in both greenhouses.

Thanks for watching :o)

Love Pea's Me!!

My peas have finally coming into flower. I was beginning to get a little worried, as they are 3 or 4 weeks late this year. So while I was on the plot last night watering the peppers and cucumbers I thought I'd take so photo's of them the Growing Journal.

I'm growing four rows of Peas in total two rows of Hurst Green Shaft and two rows of Dwarf Early Onwards. I've took photo's of both sides.

08/07/12  Hurst Green Shaft (row 1)

08/07/12  Hurst Green Shaft  (row 1)

08/07/12  Hurst Green Shaft  (row 2)

08/07/12  Hurst Green Shaft  (row 2)

08/07/12  Both rows of Early Onwards

08/07/12   Both rows of Early Onwards from the other side. 

Hopefully lots of peas in a few weeks time.

Thanks for reading :o) 

Bad weather is not a problem just a challenge!

Well,  everywhere I turn people are complaining about the weather and how it's not making growing veg on the allotment easy (me included). I thought I'd post some photo's of my mate Dave's plots. Dave is my gardening guru, if I need to know something and I'm on my plot then he's my go to guy. He's there most mornings, and I like to have a chat with him about the allotments and life in general. 

Where the string is there were two rows of calabrese until last week, now they're in his freezer and we had one for Sunday dinner. Tasty!

In this photo you can see where he's started to harvest his 1st earlies (potatoes patch)

Leeks, swedes for transplanting to the space vacated by the calabrese, carrots and peas. The peas are the only things he's not happy with.

Here's Dave's polytunnel, it's just had a new skin on it and is a great growing space (tunnel envy) more peas too. 

Here you can see onion's beetroot, dwarf french beans and strawberries. 

Dave's plots are not the prettiest on the allotments, he doesn't go in for raised beds  even though he's getting on in years. He works very hard and always has the best veg on the site by far.  It really shows that he used to grow for exhibitions.

18/06/12 Update Half Plot

Well its been nothing but rain here for the last week or so, and as we have a short break from the rain for a few days, I thought I'd get down the half plot and get some weeding done. The plot was really damp but workable, so I planted some more brassicas and two butternut squashes. I got most of the weeding done, I've just the onions and garlic to do later. There's a couple of pic's of the plot and greenhouse. 

Went back down the lottie this afternoon and finished the weeding off. I also put the second sowing of leeks in, I don't think they were ready to plant but they'd all started to fall over, so thought it was best to get them in the ground. I didn't want to lose them. As I emptied them out of the polystyrene box, I found that ants had made a nest in the compost, so that's why the leeks weren't happy. I've also strimmed round the edge of the plot.

I'm hoping to get up to the full plot tomorrow and weed the beds there. I've also got some brassicas to go in up there too.

Till next time thanks for reading!

Greenhouse number two planted up.

Following on from the last tomato update here's a look around my full plot and in the new greenhouse now its full of chilli/sweet peppers and a couple of aubergine and cucumbers.

Tomato update

Went to the allotment this morning to get the tomatoes into their final positions and tied to their canes. Took a couple of pics and shot a little film when I'd finished.

I have a few spares in the blue punnet's and it has been suggested by VVG and Zazen999 from the grapevine that I could get another row down the middle.  I think if I could still get in to water and harvest, I'll do it. I'm not a small chap though so we'll see eh.

Time to plant those tender veggies.

I've not done an update for a little while as I've been busy planting and weeding on my plots. The heat wave we had at the back end of May sent the allotment into overdrive and I'm just starting to catch up now. Here are a few photos of the full plot and what veggies have gone in.

French Beans went in around the 30th of May 

In this bed three Squash's (seed from the Grapevines Virtual Seed Parcel) and a row of Hurst Green Shaft Peas.

Courgettes and Peas in this bed. I only managed to get one Yellow courgette to germinate out of 4 seeds, the rest are Green and Black. The peas are Hurst Green Shaft Peas.

Rhubarb still coming. We've had a few crumbles and given some a way. 

Garlic and Onion bed. Red onions trying to bolt but the rest doing OK.

The sweetcorn germination was pants this year. I like to grow around 100 plants of corn but this year its going to be around 30. This is the first little block I put in. There will be a couple of other blocks around the plot but the plants are hardening off just now.

A view from bottom of the plot.

Our sons strawberry bed.

I split my comfrey into 4 plants.

This is how I grow my Brassicas. Over the last year or so we've started to get a lot of pigeons coming onto the allotments. Netting young brassica is a must.

Here are a couple of rows of early onwards dwarf peas & a couple of rows of main crop potatoes.

Still some plants in the greenhouse. All but what I'm growing in there (peppers, chillies, aubergine and cucumbers) will be moved into my mate Dave's coldframes shortly.

The view from the top of of the pallet box I keep my FYM in.

The view as I walk on to the plot.

A photo from the main path looking down the plot.

I hope you've enjoyed reading & seeing what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks.

All the best Chris.