Review of the year

I know lots of bloggers have done this but really this is just for me to keep a note on things which have worked well, or not so well and to decide what to grow again or whether to try new varieties. But also to make me feel better when I go to the allotment and see it all bleak and bare, to prove to me that things do get better.

It has been my first year on the allotment and I've loved every minute of it even the weeding. Its not my first allotment but you have to get used to the conditions on the site and I've had challenges on this site which I never had on my other plot. For example here pigeons are a problem and it seems alot drier (my other allotment was in Disley on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border). I've been growing fruit and vegetables in my garden for a few years so it hasn't all been completely new to me but its always a challenge on a new plot and it needed some preparation as it hadn't been cultivated properly for a few years. I was extremely lucky though as there weren't any really horrible weeds, like couchgrass or horsetails, it needed a good dig over though and some areas needed more work than others. 

I 'rescued' a shed from a skip and now have a lovely place to sit and store all my stuff.

The main troublesome weeds on the plot are thistles and dandelions which I've tried to remove the whole root but obviously will have missed some. There are some buttercups which are spreading at the bottom end of the plot, an area which I didn't cultivate last year. Throughout the year there were also some problematic annual weeds, a particular pest was an annual euphorbia, which seeded all over the plot. 

There were two raised beds which were virtually ready to plant, they just needed a dig over and some compost added and I started with these while I prepared the other beds on the plot. These two beds I roughly divided into 4 to have some sort of crop rotation. So I had a onion family bed (garlic, onions, shallots and leeks), a legume bed (broad beans, runner beans, peas), a brassica bed (calabrese, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbage and kale) and a roots and greens bed (carrots, parsnips, beetroot, celeriac, spinach and chard).

Then there is the remaining a big square plot which I divided into smaller plots separated by paths made from black membrane, just so that I had manageable areas to work on and didn't get too overwhelmed by the whole digging process! I created a more permanent bed running along one side of the plot where I have planted a small strawberry patch, a gooseberry bush, a redcurrant and a rhubarb crown. This was interplanted this year with sunflowers, nigella, cerinthe, marigolds, some herbs, and I've edged it with alpine strawberries. 

 On the opposite side of the plot is another long bed into which I planted potatoes (Vales Emerald, Charlotte and Pink fir apple). I had a good crop and I'm still eating the potatoes, down to the pink fir apple now but still delicious. I'm going to try some different varieties this year, I'd like a good potato for baking and roasting so I need to do some research. 

 Then in the middle of the plot were two smaller rectangular beds into which I planted a mixture of crops some tomatoes, cucumbers, sweetcorn, courgettes, squash, dwarf beans, kale, chard. There was plenty of space for the squash to travel around and across the plot sending tendrils in different directions though I removed some after a while. I planted too many courgettes but I just didn't know how many would survive luckily there is a local greengrocer who bought some off me when I had a big glut. I grew a mixture, some green, yellow and some round ones, which were very popular, prolific and great for stuffing! My sweetcorn was my big failure this year and thats a shame as its one of my favourite crops and I have grown it successfully before. I will try again next year, but maybe sow a bit earlier and water better. Though reading other peoples blogs I realise that many people had problems with this and it may have just been down to the cool summer that we had.

May

June

July

And a very lush September

Most things I'd grown before but I tried a few new crops, celeriac, parsnip and the squashes. Squashes were a great success and again I'm still eating these as they store so well. Celeriac was a bit small and parsnip a bit forked but will grow them again.

Some of the things that I've learnt this year are to always net your brassicas to protect from pigeons! To have a good sturdy framework for your peas and beans. To not get too uptight about the weeds, some of them attract beneficial insects. This is the first year that I've seen loads of ladybird larvae on the plot and most were on the weeds! Although I put down weed suppressive membrane to make the paths these were only temporary and haven't lasted. They are mostly in bits (I obviously didn't buy v good membrane) so I really need to make proper paths like the ones next to the raised beds. However the main structure of the plot is there. I also want to make a proper compost heap, so I am going in search of some pallets for that. The bottom end of the plot, near the shed, was not used at all last year and is quite weedy now so this is the main project for this year.
I plan to grow most of the same next year, though going to give runner beans a miss as I'm not a big fan and my dwarf french beans were very prolific and I much prefer the taste and texture of these. But maybe do two sowings of this to extend the growing season.  I'm not going to grow any cabbage over the summer but sow it later to crop later and keep over winter. I'll stick to the calabrese for a summer crop. I also want to grow more flowers including a big frame of sweet peas for cutting. I've lots of seed still left from previous years but I've supplemented with a few new varieties.

So overall a great year and seeing it change over the year makes me feel good, both for my soul and my body, but I completely agree with wellywoman in her great blog, who needs a gym when you have an allotment.

Batten down the hatches!

Well we've certainly started the new year with some wild weather, after the lovely day on monday woke up on tuesday to winds and heavy rain and it didn't stop until last night. I hardly slept on wednesday night the wind was so strong I kept waiting to hear the sounds of banging and crashing on the roof. Its a lovely sunny day today and I went out to survey the damage. Luckily nothing too major though two sad sights in the garden.

This is my oldest mini greenhouse that has done me very well for quite a few years. Had a replacement coat but other than that has been great. But I think its the end now. Its situated at the side of the house where wind can really blow down like a wind tunnel so its not surprising that this has happened. It collapsed with only a few plants in it, but I think I have managed to save those. I've got two other mini greenhouses in the garden which have got more plants in so I'm glad it wasn't one of them although the wind blew the cover completely off one of them.
The other casualty is my arch.

Bob is helping me survey the damage! I've learnt my lesson now though, am going to have replace it with a much sturdier (and inevitably more expensive) one. This one just rusted at one side and has completely snapped at the bottom. But I think in this case you get what you pay for. I hope I can save the honeysuckle, jasmine and clematis but I'm sure they'll be fine.
Hope my allotment shed will have survived the winds, will have to go and look later if I get chance.

Happy New Year

I've not written a blog for a few weeks, I'm afraid I've been in hibernation mode. I've been off work since 16th December, working for a university I get the week off between Christmas and New Year but I always take a few extra days at this time of year to try and get a couple of weeks off to recuperate from a busy year. To relax and catch up with reading, watch films and visit friends and family. I can't believe how fast it has gone, its back to work tomorrow. But the break was needed and I do feel rested.
The weather has been poor over the two weeks, so I've only been up to the allotment a couple of times, to pick some of the last few crops, the winter harvest includes leeks, celeriac, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli and kale.

Its not been cold, in fact has been very mild at times. But it has been very wet and so still not suitable for digging but there is plenty of time for that. Though could do with some digging exercise to counter all the chocolates eaten over Christmas!
I wanted to show one of my favourite christmas presents, from my friend Amy, she is so thoughtful. It will have pride of place on my shed.

Today I did my first trip to the allotment of the new year, it was a lovely sunny day, bit of a chilly wind but it blew away the cobwebs.
This was the state of my shed.

I couldn't even get in it, I'd just been throwing everything in and it has gradually got worse and worse. But today was the start of the new year and a new organised shed! Hooks are the answer so all the tools have gone on the wall. Canes all stacked at the back. I can now get in, if I need to shelter!

It needs a bit more work, some shelves would be handy so that is the next job.
But I sat for a bit after I'd finished looking over the plot as the sun went down.

I came away feeling great, it is the ultimate therapy for me, just getting out in the fresh air, knowing that the shortest day has been and gone and that spring will be here before we know it. Time to get planning.......

The allotment is slowly emptying...

Its so much harder to get up to the allotment at the moment, I can't go in the evenings so I'm relying on decent weather at the weekends which isn't always the case, like this weekend. I did manage a quick trip up there last weekend, but it was very blustery and after lots of rain also very wet. Here is the plot at the moment.

As you can see I still have plenty of Kale, I'm still harvesting Purple Sprouting Broccoli and plenty of leeks. I've got some celeriac and parsnips which I'm yet to harvest and just a few beetroots left.
I have some globe artichokes which have put on lots of leaf this year. I'm slightly concerned about them surviving the winter so that I can get some chokes next year, I've never been successful with these before. Should I cover them? Any advice? I've taken some of the old leaves and put round the base since this picture was taken, but maybe I should do more.

I've got to do some digging to prepare some beds which I didn't cultivate this year for planting next year but too wet for digging at the moment. This is the bit not grown on this year, I've used it as a bit of dumping ground for other weeds. There are thistles and some buttercups which need clearing. I just want to get going on it now!

Seedy sunday

I spent a lovely relaxing afternoon at the weekend sorting all the seeds that I have been collecting over the summer, I've gone a bit mad this year, but I figure they are a free resource so why not make the most of them. I always collect them on a dry day and store them in saved paper bags or old envelopes and actually I  was quite good at labelling things this year only one mystery bag (I think they are poppy seeds).

So I bought the paper bags down from the back bedroom where they have been drying and set to sorting them on my kitchen table. I either break them from pods, split them from their casing, lots of shaking and breaking up of dried material. When they are all on the paper, you blow gently to clear the seeds from all the other detritus. I then store them in small envelopes, in a cool dry place ready for sowing in the spring.

As always my cat, Bob is never far away.

I find the variety in the different seeds amazing to look at. There are the fine, airy grass seeds, the seeds I'd collected from a Stipa gigantea plant growing at the allotments looked like little black grasshoppers! The sea creature-like seeds of Calendula, the bottle brush seeds of the cornflowers and the ball bearing seeds from sweet peas. Some are tiny, like those from the poppy and some are much bigger like those from Cerinthe major 'Purpurescens'.

The seed heads of the scabious looked so lovely I had to take a picture.

As a member of the RHS you can get to buy some seeds collected from the RHS gardens across the country and for the first time last year I did that. There were some unusual seeds, but the most successful was a variety of hardy annual pea (Lathyrus tingitanus) also known as the Tangier Pea. It was extremely vigorous and covered the wigwam very quickly in a year when my sweet peas were a bit slow. Unfortunately it is not scented but the flowers are a delicate pink and look great picked and amassed in a jar. I was picking them for weeks in the summer. I've collected loads of seed and will definitely grow it again next year.

Other seed collected include from herbs which I grow every year, like Bronze Fennel, Borage, Salad Burnet and Chives.  Annuals which I also sow or let self sow each year like Nigella damascena, Ammi majus, Calendula, Sunflowers, Zinnia, cornflowers, cerinthe and poppies. Some plants that I've not collected seed from before like Datura, Nicotiana langsdorfii, Scabious, Catananche caerulea, Morning Glory, Thrift, Campanula persicifolia and Nicandra physaloides. We'll see how successful they are at germination in the spring. Oh the waiting....

Here is the final collection and paper bags ready to start over again next year.

Autumn colour in the garden

I'd forgotten that I'd taken these photos of my garden a week or so ago on a sunny autumn day. I have two dark leafed Acers on either side of my garden, both grown from small plants. The one on left as you look down the garden is in full sun and so changes colour first (and loses its leaves first).

It looks great with the sun glowing through it.

When I look in the garden today the ground beneath the Acer is carpeted in the dark red leaves.

In the garden

I've not posted much about the garden this year, been spending most of my gardening time at the allotment this summer, getting that up and running. So the garden has been a little bit neglected if I'm honest. Its a good job I'm so relaxed about gardening. I do need to have a rethink about the garden again this year as I want to squeeze in a greenhouse! So thats what I'll be spending the next few weeks planning.
Here are a few pictures from the summer, to cheer me up on this grey November day. It has been as abundant as ever, if a bit out of control!

The plot where I used to grow my vegetables before I got the allotment I have had as a cutting garden. With sweet peas, Cobaea, Cornflowers, nigella, sunflowers and nicotiana. It has been reasonably successful but could be better. I think I'm going to get rid of my strawberries next year as they are probably a bit exhausted now and I've got some new plants up at the allotment. These have been in over three years so will be ready to give up now. I've also got some raspberry canes in the garden which really get in the way now. I'm not sure whether to try and move them to the allotment. Not sure how successful that would be or whether to just dig them up and plant new ones at the allotment.
To remind me of summer days, my favourite cut flowers...