Stocking up for winter

I've been drying onions, garlic, freezing the broccoli and millions of runner beans, making chutney and sauces with the inevitable glut of courgettes. Its been a very busy few weeks.
My garlic has been really good, I will grow that variety again, it was called 'Isle of Wight' and I had some nice big bulbs, despite not planting it until 13th March. It was the first thing I planted at the allotment. I've even sold some to the local greengrocer.

Also got enough shallots and onions to last for a good while.

The few Fennel plants that survived are now ready to harvest so I'll be planning a recipe for those plants in the next few days. In the photo you can also see the parsnips which have big leaves now, I'll leave them a bit longer though, they are said to taste sweeter after the first frost.

I have harvested a couple of leeks, they are huge, really thick. Though actually the white part is not very deep, I'm not sure whether this is the variety or the fact that I didn't put them deep enough in the soil. But they are delicious and will be cropping those well into the winter.

But the crop I'm most excited about at the moment is my squash. I put in a few plants which have trailed over the plot in different directions. I planted 4 varieties, Hubbard Blue, Crown Prince, Buttercup and Ponca. The best grower was the Hubbard Blue, I've got about 6 squash fruit that have developed one is bigger than rugby ball size now, has turned a grey colour and I think this is ready for harvesting now. The Crown Prince has also grown well and I have about 4 squash fruit on these plants. There is just one Buttercup squash and the Ponca has not done very well either, the fruits are still very small so probably won't be ready in time. I sowed them all undercover at the end of April, potted them on until they were a good size and then planted them out in mid June.

The above pictures were taken at the end of August and they have grown and changed colour a bit since then. I might try harvesting one next week.
The council have dumped another big load of bark chippings at the allotments and I want to make sure I don't miss out on them this time, I was too slow last time. My paths have really suffered this year and have become full of weed. So I cleared the weeds off the top path this week and have topped up the bark chippings. the paths are very deep now but it will compact. I had a willing helper!

Catching up!

Time is flying I can't believe we are nearly into June. After a lovely April, May has not been quite so nice but at least we had some rain but the problem has been the wind which has been very strong at times. I've been a bit lax at keeping up with my blog recently but lots of things have been happening so I'm trying to catch up. So I'll try and post a few blogs over the next few days, one to catch up with what has been going on at the allotment and also my garden. Then I've also been to visit a few gardens so I'd like to talk about them and show some pictures. This week I've been down to the Chelsea Flower Show, the last time we went was in 2006 so I was really looking forward to it. As always I love the fact that we get at least an hours coverage on TV every night. Alan Titchmarsh back on TV doing what he does best talking about gardening.
Anyway I'll talk about that in a later blog, but first things first. My allotment. There has been a few disasters but some things are doing OK.
We had a frost at the beginning of May which damaged the tops of the potatoes.

There has also been a problem with flea beetle on the radishes that I sown.

On a stormy night in May I planted two rows of Calabrese.

I didn't manage to get up to the allotment again for a week and this is what I found when I next got there!

Bl.oody slugs! Luckily I didn't plant all the seedlings and have some back at home which I'm now going to grow into bigger plants which will hopefully survive some slug attack. This has been the first sign of slugs since I  got the plot but I guess that is due to the dry April. Will be much more vigilant now.
I had a long day on the plot on the 25th, there has been an explosion of weed seedlings, they seem to be some form of annual Euphorbia. They have ruined my sowing of carrots and parsnips, but the radishes have survived, despite the weeds and also the flea beetle.

 My strawberry beds are starting to fruit.

The runner beans have germinated and are coming through well.

The potatoes have recovered and growing well now.

The Broad beans are starting to develop pods.

The shallots are doing OK but the onions not so good, only just really starting to grow now and not the best growth.

I had a thorough weed and then carried on digging over one of the new beds.

 I need to get the strimmer up there soon though as I'm getting a great crop of buttercups!

So thats where I'm up to with the allotment. I've also planted some more peas tonight and some flowers, some Ammi majus, Cerinthe major, sunflowers, Campanula persicifolia and Alchemilla mollis, plus the sweet peas.

Spring has officially arrived!

It really feels like finally after a very long winter spring has arrived! It has been a dry mainly sunny week and a couple of days it has been really warm, up to 16 degrees. Warm enough to have lunch out!
The daffodils are in full bloom, there is a lovely display in a park nearby.

I've managed to get up to the allotment on two evenings this week. it was lovely being out as the sun went down on a quiet allotment with just the sounds of the blackbirds singing. Hopefully it will be even easier to go in the evenings now that the clocks have changed.
I planted my shallots 'Golden gourmet' on friday night.
Even had Martin up there digging this week.

I may have a shed for my allotment, the nursery nearby was throwing one out and one of the blokes from the allotments behind my garden rescued it from the skip and then offered it to me. It looks quite big and is very orangey wood coloured so I'll have to paint it. The tricky bit will be getting it to the allotment and putting it back together again. Martin carried a piece of it down to allotment today but its a long way to carry big bits of wood, so I think we are going to try and find someone with a van.
Was a lovely day again today so at the allotment I dug the bed where I hope to put the fruit bushes and rhubarb.

Today was the first day that there were loads of people at the allotment, met a few of my neighbours. The digging is getting easier!