Evington Hilltop Adventures

This time I mean It

2010-11-21T13:52:00.002Z

The time has come to really make an effort for next year on the plots and that means lots of sorting out this winter.

I have made a good start and the compost bins are already filling up with weeds.

As pictured below I finally got some spring cabbage plants into the ground and netted over

A whole bed of marfona potatoes were neglected during the growing season, and in a raised bed they need good watering to get any size. I was amazed when turning over a bed to find lots of in effect "new potatoes", unmarked by slugs and in good order. A pan of these will be served up with my Sunday Lunch

The new salad bar at home

2010-04-06T21:00:00.002+01:00

Its all very well growing wonderful salads on the allotment, but for those impromptu last minute salads or leaves, a trip to it to get them is the last thing you want. With this in mind I built a pair of salad bars on our veranda handrail

They are watered via a leaky hose and water computer and are already planted up with rocket, flame, devils tongue, australian green, little gem, salad bowl and mesclun leaves, a row of radish "easter egg" has also gone in. Along the back, with the idea of them trailing over, a dozen strawberry "Elsanta" have also been planted.

They are lined with plastic and will be stained green to enhance their look but as they are they are cracking. From now on, fresh salad leaves and herbs are just one step outside the kitchen door.

Back into the saddle

2010-03-28T16:19:00.003+01:00

Its been well over a since since my last post, work, a gammy knee and house renovations have all conspired to keep me away from my allotments.

Below, my hative de niort shallots are growing on well and will be planted on the plots once a bed for them is cleared. They were potted up in February as a few had started to sprout. They are an excellent shallot and a good variety if you like showing.

These three pictures are in reverse order. In essence, I sow a pot of sweet basil and once it has sprouted well, pull out clumps of 4-6 seedlings and pot them up as a clump. The clumps when well established and after any danger of frosts go into my tunnels, planted between my tomato plants. Some will remain at home in the salad and herb bar for easy pickings.

With Kazzi returning from New Zealand this week, a few sweet pea seeds from her brother Nigel's garden have been sowed. They are pretty much straight out the pod as it's early autumn there. Lets see what comes up!

Spring onions or Scallions?

2009-02-11T20:36:00.004Z

As mentioned on the grapevine, to get great spring onions I sow a pinch of seed in modules and keep frost free till the roots fill the cell. The clumps are then planted about 4" apart with individual onions being pulled as they reach a useable size.

Another sowing in April and again in July will see you right through the year.

Snow, ice and daffodils.

2009-02-07T11:52:00.002Z

With sub zero temperatures for the past week or two and lots of snow falling in the last week, almost the whole country came to a standstill. In Leicester we had 4-5 " of snow which somehow shut every school in the county. I ventured to the allotments today to get veg for the weekend and found the place as pretty as a picture. The leeks are holding well with no rust this year.

With it being so cold I presumed pulling root crops would require a fork, however the sweded came up a dream, the snow has acted like a blanket, keeping the soil frost free.

And amongst all of the snow, a daffodil decided spring is on its way.

One good thing about snow, it hides the weeds.

Heritage peas by the packet

2009-01-29T21:07:00.003Z

Being a big fan of heritage peas and climbing french beans I was very excited to be given a whole raft of heritage pea varieties to trial. Being a Leicester boy, the varieties "Mayor of Leicester" and "Lord Leicester" hold particular interest.

The varieties range from "Carters Battleship" to "Mummy White", a variety that in Victorian times was reputed to have been found in an Egyptian tomb, hence the name. All of these peas will be trialed, photographed, the seeds saved with some returning to the very kind doner, Dave "American Gardener" Thompson at Worldwide Seed Trader., some being kept and some passed on to others.

To be honest, I have never been so exited at the begining of a growing season.

2009-01-23T15:21:00.001Z

This beastie started its life as a "ham" on the 23rd December 08. It has sat, covered in salt and weighed down with a brick for 3 days per kilo in weight. Already it is much drier due to the salt drawing out moisture and it has a cured ham feel about it.

It was washed in cider vinegar to remove any salt deposits, dried and then wrapped in muslin.

Finally, a hook was (with some difficulty) pushed into the end of the ham and it was hung in a dry, airy place which happens to be under our verandah.

It will hang there for another 6-9 months air drying before being thinly sliced and scoffed. Our good friend Di, being of Italian stock, can have first bite as she is well qualified in how our "Leicester Ham" tastes compared to the famous Italian Parma or Sorrento ones.

A cold hardy cape gooseberry

2009-01-10T23:28:00.003Z

The big cold greenhouse on the plots has been left with the doors and windows open so that any bugs and nasties get frozen out. Despite this, a self set cape gooseberry (it may be a tommatillo) has survived the weather, despite it going down to -9 at times.

Hopefully, I am some way to getting a frost hardy version in my greenhouse. At present we cut the vines down and cover the stools with compost to protect them. Most are 3 years old now and very productive.

The winter herb bed

2009-01-10T23:16:00.002Z

Our allotment herb bed is not particularly sheltered from the4 cold weather we have been having over the last few weeks but the plants are all in really good condition still.

This bronze fennel is even sendingh out new growth now.

Sage is always very welcome in the kitchen and this plant still has lots of useable leaves on it.

Our oregano, despite needing all of last years flower stems cutting out is again putting on new growth despite the weather

This is one of several thyme plants in our herb bed. All are in great order, despite being picked most weekends for use on the sunday roast with any left over bits being kept in a glass of water ready for use later in the week.

Its Winter, its cold, but stuffs getting ready for spring

2009-01-08T19:00:00.002Z

Despite the begining of January being very cold and only just rising above zero during the day, the cordon fruit is still getting ready for spring with new buds maturing, ready to break out.

The cold weekend was perfect for pilling all of my leaves into a compost bin. The cold had frozen them into easy to manage lumps which just pitchforked into the bin with ease. Whilst the bin is over full, it will rot down to less than half this level come next autumn.

These 4 rows of Autumn bliss raspberries have now been cut down to ground level and all of the brash and leaves piled onto a bonfire to kill any pests or disease that may be present.

This spring cabbage is looking well and in good condition, primarily due to its location in a cold greenhouse. It keeps the worst of the weather off and most of the pigeons, as an added bonus they will mature several weeks earlier than those I have outside under netting. This gives me some succession with the crop. They are planted after a dozen of spent tomato and pepper plants are lifted.

Well it is winter and it is indeed cold. The coldest I have recorded here on the plots, inside a tunel is -7.5 degrees and -9 degrees outside. All of the dipping butts are frozen solid and the IBC's are likewise frozen to the extent I cannot even turn the taps. The small ponds are also solid but hopefully there will be some water at the bottom which is not.

Cranberries

2008-10-19T21:00:00.002+01:00

There is only one thing to do with cranberries and thats to make them into a fabulous cranberrysauce or chutney for Christmas.

Our plants are ground cover for our 15 blueberry bushes. Well, it makes sense as they enjoy the same conditions. They wil be harvested in the next week or so and turned into delicious preserves to eat over the festive period. As a bonus the plants are easily propogated by layering.

Putting raised beds to "bed"

2008-10-19T20:28:00.002+01:00

Some of our raised beds (such as the ones above) are being left fallow over the winter. I am a firm believer of not feeding the plant so much as feed the soil.
With that in mind the beds are topped up with a mix of vintage manure

and plenty of well rotted leafmould
and are then covered with membrane. Over the winter, worms will draw down the manure and leafmould mix and the cover will prevent weeds from growing. A welcome bonus is that the soil will be a few degrees warmer come spring than that which is exposed to the air. This will allow me to plant some crops out a little earlier than I could do in traditional beds.

Winter Crops

2008-10-19T20:18:00.002+01:00

The beds are still quite full of winter crops. Above is spring cabbage planted through membrane in an attempt to keep the weeding down to a minimum.

Our Swedes are looking good although some are quite cylindrical rather than round. Never mind, they all will taste just grand when cooked.

We use lots of celeriac. Its grand mashed with spuds or added to stews. Ours are bulking up fabulously now.

These tomatiloes are not a winter veg but as they are in the tunnel they will be harvested for another few weeks or until the frosts finally come. We have used them to make a proper Mexican salsa today and mighty fine it tastes too. A good job as we now have 6lb in jars to last through till next year with a lot more to come.

The asparagus experiment update

2008-10-14T21:20:00.002+01:00

The 1st year asparagus crowns were planted in 25 litre drums, filled with a very rich compost well rotted manure mix in the spring.

They have grown exceptionally well and as they are not a permanent bed where good practice states they are not really harvested till the third year, they will be brought into the tunnel after Christmas to be brought on to give an exceptionally early crop of English asparagus.

Trying to push the boundaries is one of the great gardening challenges.

Feed the birds.

2008-10-14T21:11:00.002+01:00

The sunflowers have now gone over and the heads are just bursting with seeds. We just cut the heads off and leave them stuck on a cane.

It does not take long for the birds to make the most of the feast, as the above "cleared out" head shows.

What a bountiful harvest!

2008-10-14T20:44:00.002+01:00

Ok, so they are covered in mildew, but the courgettes are still producing fruit and very welcome it is too. This one will keep going till the first good frost.

Our spinach bed has produced and produced all summer long. We have even resported to steaming it, squeezing the water out of it and freezing it ready for use in the kitchen. Hopefully this will stand over the winter.

The yellow flag iris by the pond on the plots have flowered well and have now set seed. This ripe pod will be setting its seed by the pond and I will of course, scatter some hither and yon.

Ab fab for bees, grow verbena bonariensis and you will attract all manner of pollinating insects. Its great as a cut flower too. It really is a "must grow" on any plot.

Savoy anyone?

2008-09-28T18:40:00.002+01:00

This beauty is one of 12 that were grown under netting and have managed to keep caterpillar free. Lots of colcannon mash for the freezer methinks.

The parsnip experiment worked

2008-09-28T16:49:00.002+01:00

After sowing pre germinated parsnip seed into toilet rolls with mixed success last year, this year I planted pre germinated seed directly into a bed. The result being 100% long straight roots. I will undertake 2 sowings next year, with the second being in late spring in a raised bed to produce lots of small roasting size roots rather than big ones like shown.

Preserving for the winter

2008-09-28T16:42:00.002+01:00

Here is a small selection of our preserved food for winter use.

Pasta sauce.

Sweet chilli sauce.

Sun dried tomatoes.

Blackcurrant jam.

We have much more in the cupboard, from tarragon vinegar to Wellies courgette soup, spaggeti bolognese to cranberry chutney but I would need a long wall to fit them all on.

Strawberries into October?

2008-09-28T16:35:00.002+01:00

Our grapes (Cardinal) grown in the tunnel yielded over 30 bunches of fabulous sweet fruit. The same variety planted outside are some 6-8 weeks later but despite the poor weather are now ripening and will be ready to eat in mid October.

These "Aromel" everbearer strawberries just keep on giving us fruit, 60 plants yield 4-8lb a week and are most welcome in autumn. The first frosts will put a stop to them but we are making the most of them whilst we can.

The freezers are full and still it comes!

2008-09-28T16:18:00.002+01:00

We have so many carrots that I am going to bottle a few jars with my pressure canner to see how they taste. These are just a nice size to try it with.

Despite making lots of 8oz jars of sweet chilli sauce, believe me its divine, we have lots of "Evington yellow" chillies plus scotch bonnets and long red ones. Some more sauce may be in the pipeline.

The sweet peppers grown from Tesco finest range sweet pointy peppers again have done exceptionally well with fruit up to 18" long.

These are the French Black tomatoes we grew from saved seeds, the tomatoes were originally bought at a French market. They are sweet with a nice acid bite, prolific and versatile. We will definitely grow them next year.

Winter Prep

2008-09-28T16:09:00.002+01:00

In readiness for winter, fruit bushes from last years prunings are now in the cold frame along with raft of agapanthus. The fruit is very hardy but young plants always fare better with some protection and make well established plants quicker than those taking the worst of any weather.

These strawberry plants from last year will fare adequately well on this bench prior to being brought into the greenhouse after Christmas for forcing.

An important job is to weed out growing or overwintering crops to help prevent disease and allow as much light into them as possible during the short days. These are leeks (Bleu de Solaise) getting weeded out ready for winter.

Magic beans

2008-09-28T16:01:00.002+01:00

We have grown a double row of borlotti beans for drying. The pods (above) look stunning as do the actual shelled beans (below).

Another type of bean we are growing this year, this time as seed guardians for the HSL are Madeira Maroon (below) which lok like jeweled sweets. These have been very productive and will be grown again next year.

Several other varieties of bean are still ripening and include coco bicolour, ryders top of the pole and several others.

Oh for a bit more time

2008-09-23T21:49:00.003+01:00

For those who look at my blog regularly, I can only appologise for the lack of updates this summer.

Normally I work in a quarry and work 4 days and then get 4 off. Unfortunately due to the credit crunch I have been redeployed and now work Mon-Fri and can be anywhere in the country. This has obviously had a huge impact on my free time and taken some adjustment.

I fully intent to start regular updates very soon as lots has happened on our plots, not least our coming second in the best Leicester allotment this year, we came third last year so we are still improving.

Its been a long time but!

2008-08-09T20:34:00.003+01:00

Its been a long time since I updated my blog but a change in work circumstances means instead of working 4 days on and 4 off I am now working Monday to Friday and very often away from home giving me much less free time than before.

Anyway, the grapes in our tunnels are now ripening up, so much so that we have picked the first bunches. They taste superb. Very sweet and just gorgeous striaght off the vine. The variety is "Cardinal" and came from a nursery in Normandy (France). We now have 3 in the tunnels and 2 outside and we may stretch to a row or two in an attempt to grow enough for some wine although that will be a very hit and miss affair knowing our weather.

Making space

2008-04-28T11:35:00.002+01:00

I dont know about you, but at this time of year, easpecially during a mild spell, there is always a juggling act going on with regard to greenhouse space. Our first lettuce (8 varieties) are now hardened off and planted out with the first little gems having already been pulled and eaten.

The red salad bowl (above) above will soon be ready to have leaves harvested, the devils tongue cut and come again variety has already matured to a size where we can pick leaves.

The last two rows of "Marfona" potato went in late last week. They had chitted nicely and will romp away now they are planted. Whilst they are a second early, we grow them as an early maincrop and they really do make a good all round potoato.

The second tunnel is now planted up with tomatoes and all of the canes are tied in. This year we have Bloody butcher, Shirley, Sungold, French Black,Rio grande and Mountain pride. All have set the flowers on the first truss and hopefully we will be picking the first ripe fruit in Late June.

Planting, planting and a bit of harvesting

2008-04-14T21:03:00.002+01:00

Our hardened off module sown herbs went out today. The dill (above) and flat leaf parsley (below) are really useful in any kitchen and we use handfuls of both. Corriander and basil also got the module treatment but they are a bit too soft to be planted out yet.

The asparagus bed is just about to come alive with tasty spears, and with this being the beds third year we can cut for the whole six week season. As an experiment I started to plant crowns in barrels a few weeks ago and now have thirteen planted and lined up on the path adjoining the asparagus bed. Hopefully they will establish this year, being in barrels with handles means I can bring them undercover to force a few early spears next year.

Our rhubarb bed is cropping like mad. We had a cracking crunmble on Saturday night with chopped up stem ginger added to the rhubarb and chopped brazil nuts added to the topping.

Both the asparagus bed and the rhubarb bed get top dressed with about 4" of well rotted manure in the winter.

The new greenhouse is ready for action

2008-04-13T01:46:00.002+01:00

Following on from an earlier post, the greenhouse is now up and running. Whilst a lot of glass was replaced, some original glass required cleaning in a big way. A bucket of warm soapy water soon got things sorted.
The path is 2' wide leaving 4' wide beds.

The nearly finished article, just a few bits of glass to clean and we now have far more growing space on the same sized area. In addition, 2 other plots have been given my old 8 x 6 greenhouses so happy faces all around.

Parsnips and peas

2008-04-11T23:19:00.002+01:00

I mentioned in a previous post that this year we were going to pre-germinate our parsnips but rather than then sowing the seed into toilet rolls, they would go straight into the ground so as not to cause the root tip any damage, resulting in forked roots. Well, above is the result, Three seeds were sown at each station and either two or all three seeds have made it above ground. Hopefully this winter we will have straight roots rather than ones that look like an octopus.

Today I planted out a batch of purple podded peas, a quality heritage variety. They were sown in standard 4" pots, three seeds to a pot.

As you can see from the fabulous root structure, there is absolutely no need to sow them in root trainers, toilet rolls, guttering or any other vertibule, a bog standard pot will do the job as well as anything. Of course, our maincrop peas, due to the large amount of seed involved, are sown direct into the ground making things even easier, but for small, or early sowings, pots will do fine.

Little Gems, succession and catch crops

2008-04-11T23:09:00.002+01:00

These little gem lettuce are one of many varieties of salad leaves that we grow. We start all of the varieties off in pots and then plant out good sized plants as space becomes available. By sowing a few seeds every fortnight we get good succession.

This is one of the tunnels preped and awaiting the planting of tomatoes next week. As the lettuce will mature and be cut well before the ground is covered by the much larger tomato plants we have planted a catch crop of lettuce at the front of the bed. The added heat and protection of the tunnel will mean we are cuting these a week or so earlier than the plants outdoors.

A greenhouse swap - madness in action

2008-04-08T14:58:00.003+01:00

This is my new greenhouse. Its a freecycle freebie and despite being a bit "green" due to being situated under some trees is in fabulous condition.

Its a 16 x 9 foot beast, the glass is held in by strips that are screwed into place which will make it much more resiliant to wind than greenhouses where the glass is held in by W clips.

Here is my good friend Mark, if you want anybody to help you break glass, he's the man. No seriously, without his help I would have really struggled to dismantle this greenhouse. Thanks buddy.
This is where the new greenhouse is going to go. The existing two 8 x 6 greenhouses will go to new homes, leaving just enough space here for it to sit. Hopefully these will be moved tommorow and the big greenhouse frame put into position and bolted together, ready for re-glazing.

Perhaps this is a rush of blood to the head but the bigger house does give us more growing options.

Mangetout peas

2008-04-02T20:39:00.002+01:00

A few weeks ago we sowed 3-4 mangetout peas (oregon sugar pod) per pot and left them to it in a cold frame. As you can see in the above picture they have made good growth and have great root structure. Now we like to keep things simple and personally find root trainers, guttering and all the other pea growing techniques one heares about, either fiddly, expensive or just a pain. Pots are easy, plentiful and as you can see, work just fine.

Each pot of peas was planted next to a cane and well watered in. When the soil warms up some we will direct sow our maincrop peas but pots are a good way of getting earlier ones into the ground without fear of them rotting before they germinate.

Experiments with asparagus.

2008-04-02T20:36:00.002+01:00

We lost a few asparagus plants last year due to the deluge of summer rain that we had. I bought some packets of crowns (Unwins) as replacements and after filling in the gaps had a couple of spare crowns. These were promptly planted individually in 25l ex oil drums which I also use for growing potatoes in.

Time will tell if they go on to produce good spears.

Pot and Module Sowing

2008-04-02T20:27:00.002+01:00

I know I go on about pot and module sowing but it really is the way to go. Above are broad beans (witkiem Vroma) which were sown a few weeks ago and have been well hardened off.

Above is the full bed of broadies, about 15" between rows and 12" between plants.

One of the best veg to module sow is spring onion. Above is a variety called redbeard which we are growing for a change this year. Just sow 4-6 seeds per module and then plant out the clumps of seedlings 4" apart with 6" between rows. It works a treat.

Fruit bush cutting success

2008-04-02T20:17:00.002+01:00

After pruning the soft fruit bushes last year, we struck lots of cuttings of red and black currants amd gooseberries in pots of compost.

As you can see with this cutting, they are starting to root quite well now and will soon be ready to pot on into individual pots. They will make great gifts for newbies on the allotments next year.

Still lots to do

2008-03-24T17:23:00.002Z

The poor weather gave me an ideal excuse to get into the greenhouse at home to carry on potting on and pricking out. The poached egg plant seedlings (above) are grown as sacrificial companion plants as they attract greenfly far more readily than most other crops and are planted at the end of rows. These are now ready to prick out.

The farmers long aubergine plants (shown above) are romping along now and will be potted on itnto 5" pots within the next week or so.
All of our tomato plants are now in 5" pots and will remain in them until mid April when they will be planted out into the polytunnels.

This is a close up of Dahlis shoots growing from a potted on tuber. They are ideal material to take as basal shoot cuttings. I just pull them off the tuber and pot them in pots filled with a 50-50 mix of multi purpose compost and perlite. Most root within the first couple of weeks, making it an easy way of building up stocks of your favourite varieties.

Planting spuds the easy way.

2008-03-16T19:20:00.002Z

Trenching potatoes, your having a laugh?

We just set out a string line and then use a 5' length of scaffold pole to make a hole about 6" deep into the soil. Holes are made every 12" for first earlies and every 14-16" for maincrop varieties. A seed potato is then just dropped into the hole, chitted end up and the bed raked over to fill the holes.

The potatoes shown are a first early variety called pentland javelin, we normally grow foremost as a first early but are having a change this year. They have gone in a bit early but the top growth, when it pops through the soil, will be covered over as we earth them up giving some frost protection. Hopefully we will be eating these from Mid June.

Blossom

2008-03-16T19:13:00.002Z

Most of our top fruit stock are budget supermarket trees bought for less than £4. They have been an absolute bargain and has fruited very well from the first year. The blossom is already getting ready to burst out and herald spring as the pictures of the pear (top) and apple tree show.

Bringing them on

2008-03-16T19:07:00.003Z

We make good use of the plot tunnels and greenhouses to bring on less tender plants, leaving room in the heated home greenhouse for the soft stuff. Here are a few trays of lettuce and brassica plantlets which will be ready to be hardened off and planted out within the next month.

As usual most stuff has been module sown or pricked out into pots so that only healthy, well established plants go out to grow on.

Turning the heap

2008-03-16T19:01:00.002Z

With the weather on Saturday being a bit suspect, I undertook a hard but very satisfactory job, turning one of the compost heaps. The top 12" has already been turned, leaving the already composted stuff underneath. As you can see it was quite compact but well rotted.

This picture shows the job complete with a compost bin nearly ready to use. Some courgettes will be planted on this heap in May and in late autumn it will be used to top up beds or as a mulch.

More pots, modules and planting out

2008-03-11T09:13:00.002Z

We plant very few things directly into the ground, finding than planting pot or module sown plants suffer little disturbance caused by thining or transplanting, dont get damaged when very small by pests or the weather and romp away when planted out at their optimum spacings. The broad beans above (Witkiem Vroma) will be planted out at the begining of April and will be followed by a further sowing made in late March.

The above Rainbow Chard were sown 2-3 seeds to a pot and wont be thinned out at all, just planted about 12" apart in raised beds and harvested regularly.

This spinach is grown in exactly the same way with these well established plantlets having been hardened off, getting planted out, again about 12" apart.

As a couple of these Hative de Niort shallot sets had started to sprout in January, rather than lose the whole lot, they were potted up and kept in a frost free greenhouse then coldframe to harden off before being planted out last weekend. The pots were full of root and the sets had lots of top growth and were ready to be planted out.

Using pots and modules can be a bit more time consuming and take a little fore-thought initialy than direct sowing but does yield excellent results and when you take into account losses, thinning out and the like when direct sowing, can be a much better option.

Apricots

2008-03-11T09:06:00.002Z

Last year we bought a dozen fruit trees from Aldi and one of those trees was an Apricot. All of the other trees went into our mini orchard or were cordoned along fencing and all actually gave a fruit or two that year. The apricot however remained a bit sullen despite being fan trained and in a pot full of quality medium.

However, this year we have a couple of dozen flowers which I have pollinated with a small paint brush, so hopefully we may get to eat an apricot this year, frosts permitting.

Rock Dust

2008-03-10T17:08:00.000Z

There has been a fair amount of press in recent months about using rock dust to improve your soil. As all soil is in effect ground up rock, its original supply of minerals have been used up over the following millenia, leaving some soils quite poor in mineral content. Now, whilst adding compost etc will improve structure and add some elements, most noticeable being nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, some elements are not replenished and some of these, whilst not required by a plant to grow, unlock nutrients from the soil giving much better growth.

As I work in a quarry, granite dust is in plentiful supply so I am giving all of my beds a top dressing with it and will hoe it into the top inch or so and allow rain to dissipate it further. At worst it will be a soil conditioner, at best it may well have a noticeable effect. I will report back later in the season.

Where I work

2008-03-07T20:45:00.004Z

Carrying on from the previous post, on site there are some 12 substations suplying power and control sustems to the site. Voltage varies from 3.3Kva (3300 volts) down to 4-20mA control signals, all of which we electricians are responsible for the maintenance and repair off. The picture above shows part of a substation.

We are responsible for safely isolating plant for fitters and others to work on. Communication is key, as is a high level of common sense and safety awareness. With the demise of mining, quarrying is now the most dangerous industry in the country with two fatalities only last month in other quarries.

The above pictures give a small insight of what is involved in the electical workings of a quarry, most of the electrical plant however is outside, exposed to the elements, dust, rock and other elements. All of it is critical as even the smallest rotation sensor or pressure switch can stop a critical item of plant. When there is a breakdown, the pressure really is on to get the plant up and running as quickly as possible.

That hopefully, gives a small insight into the environment that I work in and some of the responsibilities.

Where I work

2008-03-07T20:32:00.002Z

As some of you know, I work as an electrician in a granite quarry which produces 5 million tons a year. There are two quarry holes, this is the forked out one which is now being filled with clay overburden from the other hole.
This is a Catterpillar 988 shovel which can scoop up 10 tons at a go. Nathan, another electrician gives you an idea of scale.

This picture shows the "surge pile" where pre crushed rock piles up before going through underground feeders to the secondary crushing plant. The primary route from hole to surge pile can cope with up to 2500 tons per hour.

Everything is on a massive scale. The building in the background is a covered store and has underground feeders and conveyors taking stone to our rail loading plant, bitumen coating plants or to a wash plant.

This is one of two bitumen coating plants and can continuously produce 300 tons per hour of tarmac. At present we are suppling product for the M69 resurfacing project.

In the Greenhouse

2008-02-24T14:25:00.002Z

These globe artichokes were sown last autumn and were then left outside quite by accident until last week when they were rediscovered amongst lots of soft fruit cuttings. They were then repotted to ber grown on till April when they will be planted out in their permanent position. Each artichoke plant should be productive for about 4 years before requiring replacing with new ones.
To ensure lots of mature plants which will provide plenty of fresh growth I module sowed flat leaf parsley in early February. No thining will be undertaken, each module clump will be sown as is to provide lots of leaf. Again these will be planted out after the worst of the weather in April after a good hardening off period in the cold frame.

A beast of burden

2008-02-15T17:24:00.002Z

We are very fortunate in having a ex military "Sankey" trailer to use, carting stuff to the allotments. It really is our beast of burden, albeit, a modern take on one.

Today I collected a load of paving slabs with it. They are being used on plot 2 to make paths between our permanent beds. We use chipped bark between the raised beds which are on top of membrane, but they tend to disapear when used directly onto the ground making slabs a more enduring option. With loads like this the trailer comes into its own. During this set of rest days from work, it has carried over a ton of very well rotted manure, the slabs pictured and a load of fence posts for the new half plot. A worthwhile investment indeed.

Tunnel Time

2008-02-13T22:26:00.002Z

The new raised beds in the second tunnel need filling and today one of them was. It was filled with a mix of allotment compost and very well rotted manure which will make for a tremendous growing medium for the planed crop. Tomatoes!!!!

Two rows of staggered canes were tied to tension wires running the length of the tunnel. Eighteen canes fitted the bed. The three beds will give us room for about 60 plants. Hopefully the farmer will fill the trailer again this week so I can fill the next bed.

Wakey Wakey Mrs Tiggywinkle

2008-02-09T17:39:00.000Z

Whilst moving some slabs on a fellow allotmenteers plot, a scurrying about the compost bin made me investigate further. Mrs Tiggywinkle herself was found and promptly rolled up when I got the camera out. I placed her carefully under some cover and left her too it.

A sign of spring if we didnt already need one!!!

Make hay they say

2008-02-09T17:16:00.000Z

With the weather again being dry, my nephew came to the plots to rotovate the new half plot. It was cleared, cleaned and ploughed in the autumn and was very much weed free. The rotovator made light work of the soil which is very good indeed, leaving us with a blank canvas.

Once the rotovating was done it was time to make semi permanent bean frames. Ten foot lengths of scafolding were knocked into the ground using a home made post thumper (thanks Malc), a tool that does make it soo much easier, till 7' is left exposed.

A long length is then fitted making a goal shape. Eight foot canes can than be tied in to make a very sturdy frame for peas or beans.

If the bed is needed for other crops then the canes can be left out and the bed used as normal. The framework doesnt really get in the way and the system really gives you lots of flexibility for crop growing.

A good weeks work

2008-02-07T19:09:00.000Z

The good thing about the rain stopping is that I have made great inroads in preping the plots for spring. The above picture shows another section of paving laid on plot 2. The paving not only gives the plots beds a structure but also make it suitable for normal footwear, even after wet weather. This is a boon if we just visit to harvest some produce for the kitchen. There are a few more slabs to lay but its all looking very neat.

Last year, our good friends Shelley and Paul gave us half a dozen box plants. Whilst on holiday in France last summer, a trip to a garden centre saw Kazzi buy the cat shape for the box to grow through to give it a topiary shape. Hopefully it will be big enough to trim this autumn.

The first Wednesday of every month is "Bonfire day" on our site. We generally only have one or two in a year and this one got rid of a load of old timber from our new half plot along with all of the raspberry prunings and brussels sprouts stalks.

Thirty minutes on the table saw converted some scrap 2 x 2 timber into wooden plant labels. As well as being green they look so much better than plastic labels in the beds. They are untreated but should still last a few seasons before succumbing to the bonfire.

I have made about 60 of them and they are just waiting for the crops to be sown or planted before being put into use.

Another pond and wildlife area

2008-02-07T19:04:00.000Z

The pond dug last year on plot one has proved such a success that another has been dug on our new half plot. It has a lump of yellow flag iris in the pond along with some oxygenating weed and has been planted round with more flag iris, verbena, achilea, echinacea and michaelmas daisy. A pile of logs will be added as a hidey hole for beetles and amphibians.

It has been filled with rainwater from one of the 1ooo litre IBC's and it holds about 80 gallons. Hopefully it will attract frogs and toads to spawn.

Wind damage

2008-02-07T18:59:00.000Z

We have been very fortunate in the recent high winds with the only damage being one of the greenhouse doors being blown off its rails and the glass broken. This was quickly refitted and the glass replaced with some spare panes that we had tucked away. Some greenhouses on site suffered far more damage than ours did.

Propogator or Kitchen Work Surface?

2008-01-30T21:35:00.000Z

Some people swear by electric propogators, others by a windowsill or kitchen worktop. I am one of the latter. These are sweet pointy peppers and were sown on the 14th giving a germination time of 16 days which is about average. What you will notice though is that they are germinating SLOWLY, with no legginess or yellowing that can often accompany propogater germinated seeds.

The secret is a fairly stable temperature with moist, but not waterlogged compost. These seedlings will be pricked out into individual 2" pots to start with and will go straight into a heated greenhouse with a constant temp of only 10 degrees C. This again keeps the growth slow, giving compact stocky plants that will go out into the tunnels sometime in April.

The kitchen where all of my tender crops germinate is north facing so once germinated the seedlings do need to be moved into a lighter location but it also prevents any harsh sunshine burning through the window and shrivelling them up.

Pots and Module sowing

2008-01-28T14:00:00.000Z

Having two polytunnels available to keep the worst of the weather off our seedlings is a boon. The greenhouse at home was rather full so most of the onion seedlings have been moved to the new tunnel where I have made some temporary staging. The seedlings shown above are Banana shallots, Rose de Roscoff , mammoth red and some mammoth improved onion. They will be planted out in April.

The module sown beetroot are just up now as the above picture shows. I sow 1 or 2 seed clusters per module and aim for 3-5 individual seedlings per module. If any more germinate they are pinched out otherwise they end up a bit too crowded. These will be planted out into the raised beds as soon as the roots fill the module, about 5" apart.

For spring onions, just sow about 5-7 seeds per module and plant out exactly the same way.

Hative de Niort Shallots

2008-01-27T18:10:00.001Z

A check just after Christmas on my stored Hative de Niort shallots let me to realise that one or two were starting to sprout. As its much too early to plant them out into the ground they went into pots in a cold greenhouse to slowly start growing.

A month on, whilst much isnt happening where you can see above soil, its all happening under the soil where great roots are being sent out. These shallots will be ready to go out at the begining of March and will already have a great head start.

Cape Gooseberries

2008-01-27T18:05:00.000Z

On one of our plots we have two greenhouses joined together and grow cape gooseberries in one of them. For two years now we have overwintered the plants by cutting them right back and mulching the roots with a good layer of compost. This year has been so mild that they are not only managing without the mulch but are already sending out new growth. Some of the longer shoots have been cut back but we will leave the newer shoots alone now to grow.

Finally, herbs in the herb bed.

2008-01-27T17:57:00.000Z

The collection of herbs that we had in readyness for the herb bed being ready, are now, in the main planted. We need to source a few more plants but in the main, we have most things.

We have five varieties of minty in the herb bed. As its quite invasive we have potted the plants into large pots and plunged these into the soil to prevent them from taking over.

The Five pots of mint are just starting to shoot so will be ready to yield lots of fresh mint to go with our new potatoes in May and for mint sauce whenever we cook lamb.

Cordon Fruit Trees

2008-01-27T17:48:00.000Z

Lidl was selling fruit trees for £3.99 a few days ago so a quick visit yielded a dozen mixed apple and pear trees. Having bought some of these last year and indeed the year before I can vouch for the value of them. We picked several pounds of fruit from each of our cordons last autumn and they had only been planted that February.

Seven of the trees went into a cordon "hedge" at the front of our main plot and were all tied in. The rest will go along the boundary of our new half plot later this week.

Winter Weeding

2008-01-27T17:38:00.000Z

Every minute spent clearing the ground ready for spring now, is worth 10 come April or May. Our main plot is laid down in the main to raised beds, and even after all of the rain we have had they are all workable. As we never walk on them they never need digging but they still need weeding.

And weeds such as this are the reason why. The mild winter has meant that lots of weeds have just kept growing and will be ready to swamp any seedlings come spring so it really does pay dividents to clear the weeds out.

Clean beds not only give you a head start for spring, but all of the over wintered crops such as these spring onions and celeriac fare much better having no competition.

A new herb bed

2008-01-23T16:37:00.000Z

A bed of "marshmello" strawberry plants were moved to another plot today and were planted through membrane. The resulting empty bed has been earmarked for use as a herb bed for quite a while and plants have been sown, propogated or bought, in readiness over the last 4 months.

To add some interest I have made 2 herb wheels in the bed from bricks reclaimed when I knocked our fireplace out to make way for a multi fuel stove.

There is plenty of room for herbs even as big as lovage which grows up to about 6' high. All of the perennial favourites will be there including rosemary, thymes, mints, fennel, tarragon and lemon balm to name but a few. Hopefully they will also bring in lots of friendly bugs such as lacewings in the battle against greenfly and the like.

In need of a spring clean

2008-01-23T16:23:00.000Z

The three beds of "Aromel" strawberry, a perpetual variety cropped right up until the first frosts and really needed a sort out. Fifty plants were bought from Moles seeds last year and these gave a very good harvest considering they were only one year old plants.

A quick haircut with the pruners soon had all the old growth cleared away leaving just fresh new leaves. The new leaves are quite well developed due to the mild winter.

The beds were soon cleaned up, ready for spring.

As an added bonus, as well as the 90 odd runners I took last autumn, I found another half dozen that had rooted into the bark chippings. These were all potted on ready to be planted out later.

Parsnip "Gladiator"

2008-01-22T16:53:00.000Z

To make room for the new raised bed shown in the next post, I had to lift the last of the parsnips. The variety is "Gladiator" and as you can see they are huge. The parsnip seed was pre-germinated on wet kitchen paper and sown in toilet roll inners before planting out into the bed and was, as you can see, an unqualified success.

More raised beds

2008-01-22T16:45:00.000Z

Now that the last few parsnips have been lifted from plot 2, the next raised bed has gone in. The next bed has got leeks in it and when these have been lifted I can build another one.

More boards have been used to keep the soil from spilling onto the path from the permanent climbing bean bed. As we add lots of kitchen waste and compost every year it was starting to become a nuisance, one that is now a thing of the past.

The scaffolding structure is used as a support for the 8' canes that we grow the beans up. It makes for a very sturdy and neat solution to the perenial problem of fabricating a bean frame that doesnt fall down under the weight of the beans or due to wind.

For dinner tonight, were having

2008-01-21T18:18:00.000Z

Roasted Toby!!!!

well he does fit quite nicely in the roasting pan. I wonder if he tastes just like chicken?

At last, quality onion sets.

2008-01-21T18:06:00.000Z

Last year I bought our "sturon" and "Red baron" onion sets from a very well known seed merchant. While the sturon were ok the Red baron were pitifully small and most were covered in mildew as they had been packeged whilst wet. A replacement package turned out to be just as bad. This prompted an emergency purchase from Wilko, the quality and size for the price charged was acceptable but not top drawer.

Today however, I popped into my local hardware store which sells an awfull lot of gardening stuff and found that they had onion sets in at 65 pence a pound. I was allowed to hand pick mine and came away with 4lb of onion sets for £2.60, all of which are large and in perfect condition.

For once, top drawer onion sets and at a rediculously low price to boot.

If you want any, the shop is

Bennetts

Main Street

Evington

Leicestershire

Forcing Rhubarb

2008-01-21T17:58:00.000Z

One of the rhubarb crowns in our rhubarb bed has decided to start to grow now. It has been covered with a 25 litre barrel and the darkness will produce long pink stalks of very tender, sweet, forced rhubarb.

A few stalks will be pulled and then the crown will be left alone for the rest of the season to recover. If you keep harvesting the stalks will keep coming but it will ruin the crown, leaving it fit only for the compost bin. A little bit of forcing and then a good rest will cause no lasting harm. I force a different crown each year to ensure no one crown is worn out.

A new carrot bed

2008-01-21T17:48:00.000Z

In an atempt to grow decent short carrots for showing, I have doubled the height of a section of raised bed. The medium in it is very friable and perfectly suited to carrots so what was in the standard height bit, went to fill the double height bit. The empty part of the bed will be refilled with allotment compost.

The carrots I will be growing are a Japanese variety supplied by Medwyn Williams called "sweet candle".

Its music to my ears

2008-01-21T17:37:00.000Z

The "music" garlic planted in late autumn is shooting very well, as is the lautrec and standard white varieties purchased in France, during the summer.

We use more and more garlic and find that roasted, it loses a lot of its pungency and goes quite sweet. A couple of bulbs just broken up in a roating pan with veg is fabulous.

Hard graft

2008-01-06T18:32:00.000Z

Kazzi likes digging.

However this last patch in the old tunnel nearly was the straw that broke Kazzis back. Remember to dig little and often and take breaks. Its a long time till spring so some can wait for another day.

Little Jack Horner sat in a

2008-01-06T18:18:00.000Z

Lurking in our shed was a bare rooted "opal" desert plum needing planting. A large planting hole was dug and the bottom of it loosened. Make a mound of soil in the middle of the hole and spread plant roots out evenly on the mound. Do not set trees too deep. As you add soil to fill in around the tree lightly press the soil to collapse air pockets or add water to help settle the soil. Incorporated into the soil was good allotment compost and a good sprinkle of blood fish and bone. The support stake was knocked in BEFORE the tree was planted to prevent any root damage from occuring.

Once planted, the tree was tied to the stake with a piece of recycled bicycle inner tube, you can get them for free from bicycle shops and work very well indeed.
Expensive trees really do benefit from a proper stake and being secured to it. A £30 tree as above is a large investement and deserves a £3 stake.

Leeks and more leeks

2008-01-06T18:09:00.000Z

The leek beds are now coming under some serious harvesting, the trug full shown destined to be incorporated into chicken and leek pies for the freezer.

Out of several hundred leeks planted, three have bolted and now reside in the compost bin. Some people on our site have had most of their leeks run to seed. Personally I think that this is because they sow them too early in the year. As they are bi-annual, growing in the first year and setting seed in the second, it seems only natural for plants sown in January to run to seed in early winter,especially if its mild, its what they do. To prevent this from happening in future, try sowing them in March or even April. Perhaps the girth is not so large as earlier sowings but for me, a whole bed of slightly smaller stems is better than most of the bed being in the compost bin.

To be honest, I do sow some leeks in January but these are eaten as baby leeks in summer and are not left to overwinter.

Great varieties to try are blue de solaise, oarsman, musselburgh and toledo.

Time to divide your perrenials

2008-01-06T17:30:00.000Z

Now is an ideal time to divide your perrenial plants. The "lump of roots" above is a piece from a large clump of michaelmas daisy. It is now in 7 pieces, some given away, some in new locations but all well firmed in and given a sprinkle of growmore under the root ball ready for spring.

Its not that often you get something for nothing but this is one of those occasions.

A riot of colour

2008-01-05T16:19:00.000Z

Before transplanting our blueberries, we needed to pick up some ericaceous compost from the local nursery. Kazzi saw this riot of colour outside, their delivery of pots for the spring.

What a riot of colour.

Do the fruit cage hokey cokey

2008-01-05T16:08:00.000Z

Having a 25' square fruit cage is a real boon. However if half of the stuff inside it are not bothered by birds and a load of stuff outside is, then its time to do some serious rearranging.

Inside the cage, 10 blueberries and over a dozen cranberries were lifted and outside some 8 gooseberry bushes had the same treatment. Their positions were pretty much "swapped" as my blueberries are never bothered by birds but the gooseberries, unless netted were pillaged by them.

The gooseberries were planted in good sized holes and given a good helping of allotment compost before being well firmed in. The blueberries were a bit more involved in that they had half a bag of ericaceous compost put in the planting hole before they went in. To keep the blueberries nicely "acid" I will give them a good water with sulphate of iron in the spring and again 2-3 times during the season as our soil is naturally only just acid.

This year, hopefully I will get lots of gooseberries at the expense of the birds.

Polytunnel raised beds

2008-01-01T19:11:00.000Z

With this tunnel only being finished in April and pretty much being planted up with peppers and tomatoes immediately, there was no time to build or indeed fill raised beds like in our other tunnel.

However, with the tunnel being kept empty, it was an ideal time to build the beds and these can now be filled with allotment compost and my vintage 12 year old manure over the rest of the winter. This tunnel is going to be planted exclusively with tomatoes this year to allow for some form of rotation and being gross fedders, the manure will get them off to a flying start and also hold onto water well.

Autumn Planted Onions

2008-01-01T19:08:00.001Z

These radar autumn planting onion sets are really coming along now and are between 4-6" high. Hopefully they will give a reasonable return of onions come June for use in the kitchen.

Making friends

2008-01-01T18:58:00.000Z

The last row of gooseberries are now neat and tidy having had a good prune. On the last bush, 6 low branches had layered themselves into the bark chipping mulch and rooted really quite well as you can see in the top picture.

A newbie plot holder (Jim) was pottering about a few plots along and I made his day by offering them to him. He had been looking at gooseberries in a local garden centre but was baulking at the £7.99 asking price so very gratefully bit my hand off at the offer. It does give a "warm fuzzy" being able to help other plot holders get a start with their plots, even something that took no extra effort on my part.

The blackcurrants were looked at again and another old bit of wood was cut out of one, it produced three more cuttings which I stuck in the end of a raised bed.

All in now.

2007-12-29T18:19:00.000Z

Whilst I normally plant our garlic in late September or early October, this year some had to wait until today due to other commitments. Some of the cloves had started to shoot so it really needed to be planted. Be ruthless and only plant big cloves as shown in the top picture, any small ones can be used in the kitchen so as not to waste them.

Despite the recent rain and frosts, the growing medium in my raised beds is friable and ready for planting as shown in the bottom picture. The last bed of garlic is now in and tikme will tell if the later planting makes much of a difference.

Hative de Niort Shallots

2007-12-29T18:10:00.000Z

Despite keeping them cool and light, a few of my Hative de Niort shallots have started to sprout. Shallots are traditionally planted on the shortest day (December 21st) but few people have ground that is suitable then and thus plant them in February to March.

As some have sprouted I have planted the lot in 4" pots and have them in a cool greenhouse. They can be planted out at the begining of February in my raised beds which will be nicely warmed up and not waterlogged. By then the pots will be full of root ensuring them a good start.

Chrysanthemum propogation

2007-12-29T17:59:00.000Z

Its a bit late I know, but today I forced myself out of my flu bed and lifted the chrysanthemum stools from the allotment, which despite the recent frosts were in good shape. The top growth was cut back to about 6-8" and the stools were roughly planted into big trays in the greenhouse.

These will produce lots of shoots which will be taken as cuttings and used to make lots more plants for the spring. The top picture shows a stool with new growth which will be good cutting material in a week or so. Strangely, it also has a bud. Mmmm.

Blackcurrant care and propogation

2007-12-29T17:45:00.000Z

We have well over a dozen blackcurrant bushes on our plots and as they are now 4 years old it was time to take out some of the oldest wood to keep the bushes fruiting well and full of vigour. The old wood is taken out right down to the ground.

One thing to be well aware of is big bud disease. This is shown in the middle picture, the bud being big and swolen compared to others on the bush. It is caused by mites which swell buds and come the spring, these mites invade surrounding growth imparting a revision virus which cause the bushes to become sickly and unproductive. Any signs of big bud should be pruned out and burned.

This pruning left a big pile of sticks, but before burning or composting I always take a load of cuttings which are great to plant in any spaces that appear or as gifts. You want to aim for straight-ish sticks about 12" long and as thick as a pencil. These cuttings can be plunged into a nursery bed, about half their length and left for a year, or as I do, plunged around a deep pot and left somewhere out of the way till they show signs of growth when they can be potted on individually. Most will strike they are that easy.

Spring is only around the corner

2007-12-29T17:33:00.000Z

Several weeks ago I salvaged a load of packing wood from work to cut into kindling sticks. After cutting several sacks full I "batch cut" the rest into pieces ready to be screwed together as nestboxes. I had enough wood to make about 20 boxes, the first 8 went up a few days ago on the allotments.

Below is a link to an easy set of plans to make your own boxes.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/nestboxes/smallbirds/making.asp

Now is an ideal time to make and site bird boxes.

Christmas Day

2007-12-29T17:15:00.000Z

As well as 13 family members coming over for Christmas dinner, we also had Wellie and Trousers for a couple of nights too.

Trousers was such a boon in the kitchen (well he is an ex chef) that all went brilliantly especially our new recipe of leeks and cavelo nero in cream, topped with parmagio regiano cheese. A dish to die for, honestly.

It was great having so many people for dinner, gifts were exchanged, fun was had, fellowship given, a grand meal demolished and even a dragons snout made an appearance (see the Viz profanosaurus for more info).

Mistletoe

2007-12-10T16:33:00.000Z

Forget those farty sprigs, this is real mistletoe. Form an orderly queue ladies

Cavelo Nero

2007-11-17T22:38:00.000Z

The Cavelo Nero (Black Tuscan Kale) is looking good now with only the odd hole where a pigeon has had a bit through the netting. I harvest a few leaves from each plant every week which keeps nice young leaves coming through.

Just rip the leaf off its tough main stalk and steam or stir fry, its delicious.

Now is the time to plant fruit trees

2007-11-17T22:28:00.000Z

With the new half plot now ploughed and with rain forcast for the rest of the week, I took advantage of the good weather today and planted 3 fruit trees as cordons. They were two apples (Golden Delicious and Cox's Orange Pippin) and one pear (Doyenne Du Comice) with around a dozen or more to follow.

Once the trees are planted it will be imposible to dig too near to the planting hole so with that in mind, I dropped a handful of tulip bulbs into the planting holes. These will give some spring colour and with the tulips being planted quite deep, they will flower year after year.

After digging the hole a sprinkle of blood, fish and bone was added along with a whole trug of home made compost which was well heeled in to remove any air pockets.

Leaves and more leaves

2007-11-17T22:22:00.000Z

With a huge pile of leaves sat on the end of our new half plot, it was time to empty out the leaf mould bin into the raised beds as shown in the top picture and refill it with a small proportion of the big pile. The rest of the pile sits right where I intend to build more compost bins so to save lugging leaves about for the sake of it I will build them "around" the leaves to save work.

Leaf mould really is worth making so if you can get hold of them, do so.

More garlic

2007-11-17T20:55:00.000Z

Now that another raised bed has been filled, it has been put to good use and was planted today with "Lautrec" garlic, purchased in France this May. When I split the cloves, only the biggest are planted like the ones shown above. Any smaller ones are used in the kitchen. Big cloves equal big bulbs come May when they are harvested. Small cloves likewise give small bulbs. Never has the old adage "you reap what you sow" been illustrated better when it comes to garlic.

Back to the engine room

2007-11-09T17:36:00.000Z

Due to the glorious late autumn weather I decided to turn another compost bin ready to turn the "black gold" onto either a bed as a mulch or to be sieved, mixed with leaf mould and stored in a dustbin to be used as potting compost.

The big pile of leaves come courtesy of the local councils "mini" road sweepers. Whilst the big ones drop a full load in the allotment site carpark, the little ones can get right to your plot and drop them quite close to the compost bins minimising the hard work of wheel barrowing lots of leaves across the site. Well worth a 4 pack of pedigree best bitter as a thank you to be sure.

Adding to the beds

2007-11-09T17:32:00.000Z

Today, with the weather being sunny but quite crisp temperature wise was ideal for unloading another load of my 12 year old farm manure. Most this time went into another new raised bed but the balance was laid as a mulch on top of a traditional bed so that the worms can take it down into the soil. There is only one more to make and fill now but it will have to wait until the parsnips have been lifted.

A nice winter haul

2007-11-04T13:32:00.000Z

I just love being able to pull more hearty veg at this time of year, things like swede, parsnips, beetroot, carrots and celery, all are good eating with lots of uses in the kitchen. With all the summer rain we had, our root veg are just huge this year.

Keeping the beds productive

2007-11-04T13:23:00.000Z

At this time of the year its easy to have empty beds unless you keep sowing for succession and the changing season. The top bed is full of fennel and module sown winter hardy spring onion, the bottom bed is full of carrots for winter use. With them being in raised beds waterlogging isnt an issue and they store very well, just being pulled as required.

Still doing their job

2007-11-04T13:17:00.000Z

We always companion plant in our greenhoues and tunnels as well as out in the beds. We use calendula a lot as its great for attracting hover flies and is good for use in hand creams. Despite the tomatoes coming to an end, these plants are still doing their job, flowering their heads off and keeping the good bugs happy.

Lautrec Garlic

2007-11-04T12:53:00.000Z

Hanging in the allotment shed is the "Lautrec Garlic" which was purchased in Normandy in August for 7.5 euros a plait. This will be going into the ground very soon and all being well will be lifted in Late May or early June. We buy off the growers and it gives fab results for a fraction of the price.

2007-10-21T17:12:00.000+01:00

Now that the gladioli and dahlias are either lifted or in their new positions, the end raised bed could be built. They are 4' wide and about 9' long and are built over good membrane to prevent any weeds groweing up through the bed. It will be filled with my usual blend of leaf mould, allotment compost and 12 year old manure which has a consistency of bought compost but with the added benefit of it holding onto moisture very well indeed.

One more to go but for that I need to have finished eating the bed of parsnips in the way.

Blue Lake seeds

2007-10-21T17:10:00.000+01:00

The last of the climbing Blue lake seeds are now just about ready to harvest so that they can be dried and saved for next years seeds. Most of my beans and peas are now grown from saved seeds

Romping away.

2007-10-21T17:08:00.000+01:00

The first of our "radar" autumn planting onion sets are now starting to show. The cracking late autumn weather is helping them to get a flying start.

Rotation

2007-10-21T17:06:00.000+01:00

This bed was full of summer cabbage and now just requires digging over to be ready for planting with the rest of our lautrec garlic purchased in Normandy.

Fed up with long hoses???

2007-10-21T16:48:00.000+01:00

One of lifes mysteries is how a nicely laid out hose can tie itself up into knots or get dragged over fragile crops without any help.

Having finally had enough this summer, I have now sorted out the hose pipes on my plots. The hose is laid out with an end long enough to reach the tap. The rest of the hose is then laid out and is cut at an appropriate distance along the plot and a tee piece fitted. Then posts are knocked in and the I find a tee fitted about a third along if ideal. The hose is then clipped to these posts and are fitted with a stop end. This allows you to connect to the tap and, using a short length of hose, plug into the stop ends to water that section of plot. Typically my plots have three stop end outlets fitted meaning that the bit of hose that I drag about is roughly 5 metres long and easily managed.