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!

My Allotment

I heard that I was getting an allotment plot in December and when I went to view it for the first time it was in the snow!

So there are two long raised beds, the width of the allotment and then a big square area which is a bit weedy. Plus a compost heap! No shed though I was a bit disappointed about that! But compared to my last allotment it is in really good condition, though I guess I can't see all the hidden weeds yet.

My first proper session at the allotment was on sunday 6th March as we had a cold winter and wet so couldn't really get there before then. My first job was to dig over the two raised beds.

I hadn't done any digging for ages so I was feeling the after effects for a few days! The last owner of the plot had left a garden gnome for me!
Then I started getting the big weeds out of the big main bed. There were lots of dandelions, some ragwort and big grass clumps but so far I don't think there is anything too horrible. There was also lots of forget-me-not seedlings some of which I've brought home to my garden.

Was a momentous day on Sunday 13th March when I planted my first crop, Garlic. I guess I'm a bit late with this but I had already planted the cloves into modules a few weeks ago to get them started, so they had good roots and some shoots already.

So am getting together a plan of what to plant and where. It seems there is loads of space but I'm sure I'll soon fill it.