A little rain a lot of trouble!

jonathan and I decided to have a wonder down to the allotment after dinner and had to take refuge in the greenhouse during a little rain, which was fine as the tomatoes had gone a bit wild and needed tending. The rain only lasted five minutes and was little more than a normal shower,but after it died down we could still hear what sounded like a running bath. Here’s what we found…  

Just as the rain had stopped

 
 

Two minutes later and the flood channel is like a river

 

  

    
 
This is the top of our plot and behind the fence is a little road that floods really easily, thank goodness for the the flood channel that runs along the top and down to the river. 

Yesterday was a glorious day for the allotment and when I was busy with committee things Jonathan was busy harvesting some turnips and giving the place a little tidy up. Our plot was completely full until we harvested the early potatoes and the lettuce patch has slowly got smaller. We have just planted some iceburg lettuces that had been sown a few weeks ago and still have an abundance of little gem, while the courgettes keep going from strength to strength. 

 

turnips and potatoes

 
 

courgettes

  
    
   

June

 It’s been a long wait but the summer is just on the Horizon, things are starting to grow and the place actually is starting to look good. 

   
Up until the pea frame we have one bed for potatoes, followed by onions, carrots, parsnips and beetroot and then courgettes, pumpkins. 

We have rather a lot of salad growing little gem and some red salad leaves that we have forgotten to label, lots of spring onions and radishes. 

We decided to be old school and mulch our strawberries with straw and this looks so much better and will really help give the plants that extra light and keep,the strawberries of the ground until their ripe. 

As you can see I’ve gone a little crazy with the paint brush and painted any unpainted wood around. I plan to painted the whole fence in the sea grass colour and it will cheer the place up. 

    
 
Trying to net the strawberries to keep things off but I’m not so good at this job, we shall see how it turns out!

Allotment visitor

while filling my watering can up from the river I could make out an odd looking light patch at the bottom of the water, after taking a closer look I could make out a turtleish creature sitting there and decided it must be a terrapin. 

After a while I called apon our resident nature expert and explained I think I had found a terrapin in the water near my plot after one look he said yes it’s definitely a terrapin but I’m afraid it’s dead! 

   
You can just make out the shell, legs and head in the pictures. 

 After a good look and chat my fellow allotmenters had decided it must have been flushed or abandoned by its owner, I being forever optimistic quietly refused to believe it was dead and decided to return later in the day with my wellies and a net to investigate further. Unfortunately it wasn’t until the next morning when I returned and to a river clear of Terrapins, I’m unsure if someone or something got there before me and moved it or if indeed it was alive and rushed off before being disturbed. 

I’ll be keeping a look out for more interesting wildlife while I pottering on the allotment as I hear the resident kingfisher is around, fingers crossed I’m quick enough to snap a picture. 

Mid spring catch up

What a week we have had weather wise this last week, glorious sunshine and blue sky’s aplenty while everything bursts into life. We have gone seed crazy in the last month in our green house and so far have a very high success rate with the seed germination and things look very healthy. 

Outside on their allotment we have been rather busy putting on edging all the way down the plot so we can make a pebble path. I’ve been about Heaton with my wheelbarrow burning the Easter holidays carting pebbles from my front garden to the allotment to improve the look of my allotment flower and fruit garden and I think it’s starting to come together. 

   

The rhubarb has been getting rather crowded so I’ve been picking and made three crumbles over the last two weeks, With the help of @realmensow I worked out I have saved around £8.60.

As you can see from the pictures I’ve made a start on making a herb spiral at the entrance to our plot and it’s going to get rather full once the seeds are big enough to to be planted out. I’ve constructed the pea teepee and sown some peas (kelvedon wonder) outside due to our shared impatience we decided they hadn’t germinated so re-sowed in the greenhouse only to find one week later the outdoor seeds had germinated, never mind I’m sure we could pass them on to a fellow allotmenter.  

first rhubarb crumble from our plot

Relaxing afternoon sowing seeds

This afternoon I’ve had a nice relaxed time in the greenhouse re-sowing a verity of sweet peas. I had sown my sweet peas at the start of February in the house but they got very leggy and just looked wrong, so I’ve decided to sow a new lot with a bumper pack I bought in the greenhouse as this temperature will suit there germination process.



the 19 sweet peas ready for germination



I got very excited a few days ago after noticing one of the hostas I’ve sown a month ago has started to germinate, i know hostas can take quite a while to germinate (1 to 3 months) but I had quickly given up hope when everything else had grown and been potted on. But I’ve got one little hosta seedling going and have patience now for the rest. 



you can just see the tiny green spot of the hosta in the middle modual



My glut of Rhubarb crowns and growing tips

just before Christmas we got a new neighbour on the plot next door, this plot has the biggest rhubarb patch on the whole site. Early January when visiting I had noticed our new neighbour had dug over the patch but next to that freshly dug patch was a huge pile of large root chunks (rhubarb crowns).

Lucky enough rhubarb wasn’t to her liking but we were offered as many crowns as we wanted, so fifteen pots later and many offerings to friends and co workers most of the crowns have been rehomed. My fifteen potted up crowns are doing well but I need to find real homes for them. 



rhubarb crowns springing into action.

 

My rhubarb patch pre mulch 

our pallet bench and the raised fruit beds behind. 

Top tips for growing rhubarb 

• The crown or root should be planted during autumn and spring. They need planting about 1m apart to prevent crowding and to allow the plant to establish a large root system. 

• Every spring/ work a generous amount (one or two shovels) of compost or manure into the soil around the crown being careful not to cover the crown as this can cause rotting. 

• Rhubard is first timers dream, it likes well drained soil and can be placed pretty much anywhere your happy to plant it. It’s even happy in acidic soil.  
• Important, in the first year of planting your crown don’t pick the stalks or the plant will suffer for your actions. In its first year the plant uses this time to establish a good root system and picking stalks will divert its attention away from the roots. 

A greenhouse full of seedlings

so after a few months of having every window ledge in the house covered with seed trays I’ve had to transplant and move them to the greenhouse, it’s still chilly down there but hopefully it won’t stunt the growth to much it’s a risky move but I hope it pays off. 



Lupins and spinach sow in October.



Dahlia seedlings 



Hollyhock seedlings 

Jonathan and I have been down to the allotment every weekend recently pottering about and even installing a new greenhouse door. I don’t know about everyone else but May can’t come quick enough, I’m craving for longer nights, clear blue sky’s and bright sunshine but until then why not get some important jobs done before the allotment gets very busy. 

•  Improve your soil If the soil is workable, dig in a layer of compost, well rotted manure or green waste about 4-6 cm deep into your beds to prepare for the growing season ahead.

Begin weeding as the weather warms, weeds are more easily controlled if you remove then early. 

Heat up your soil Bring bags of compost into the greenhouse to warm up for a week or two before you start sowing. 

 Start sowing Start to directly sow vegetable seeds such as carrots, lettuce and radishes under cloches.

Slug control Keep an eye out for slugsas the weather warms up they want nothing more than all the new growth we have nurtured recently. Use nematodes for an effective organic control, order these easily online. 

Mulch rhubarb  a thick layer of well-rotted manure will keep your rhubarb healthy and reduce moisture loss through the soil. Don’t cover the crown though. You can also plant fresh rhubarb crowns now. For more information on planting crowns keep an eye out for my next post. 

Soil delivery!

Im off this week thanks to the wonder that is half term so it seemed like the perfect time to arrange for my soil conditioner to be delivered. At first I though maybe I’m a little crazy ordering a tonne of soil I’d have to wheelbarrow into the allotment alone on a bitter Tuesday morning, but as I got to work the sun came out and my fellow allotment folk were happy to wheel a load in while passing. 



Not a weed to be seen and we are both very proud.

It’s been a very productive day all round the soils all in place and I had time to make my raised fruit bed I’ve been day dreaming about for a while now, I had already bought the barefoot plants so it’s about time as well they needed planting before the month is out.

 Bare root trees and bushes such as Apple trees and raspberry canes should be planted before the weather starts to purkup in March, this gives them a good chance at settling in to there new homes and helps with new root growth. 

You may have noticed from the picture that Jonathan has finished his pallet fence and is very happy with the end result, it’s a little wonky in places (shh) but looks brilliant. Once the weather heats up a good lick of paint and some window box planters will finish it off nicely. 

The waiting game

It’s been a bitter few weeks down at the allotment but we now have a fence made of pallets from a local building site, don’t worry we asked and there were very happy for us to take them off their hands. You would be surprised at what people don’t want anymore, check freecycle in your area to see if there’s anything you could use. http://uk.freecycle.org  

Jonathan has done a really good job digging the pallets in and cutting them up hard work but nothing a good cup of tea couldn’t sort out.

 



I had planted some seeds in the autumn and they have grown quite a bit, I’ve got some spinach, campanula Daisy’s and some lupins going. These are the first seeds I had planted in years but unfortunately the slugs had a nice lunch with them but not all is lost. I’ve planted my strawberry plants in their planned plot and apart from a few stones mixed in there it looks pretty good. 

We are going to start and sow some seeds at home as it’s just far to cold down here for anything to germinate. I’ve ordered the top soil to level off the upper end of the allotment, well I say top soil but it’s actually soil conditioner. A few people at the allotment grumbled at the idea and others were positive as they had ordered some themselves before.  

Here are some top tips to keep you busy this January.

Order your seeds now  I like nothing more than drinking a up of tea while flipping through a seed catalog and sketching a plan of what’s going to grow where this year. 

Shred your Christmas tree  We always have a real tree at Christmas, Pine needles are acidic so would make a perfect mulch for your blueberrys or shred it for your compost heap. 

 Prune apple trees and pear trees   That’s if you haven’t done so already – this is best done whilst they are dormant. 

Harvest any parsnips and leeks. 

Start chitting early veritys of potatoes in a bright, cool frost free room. 

Water butts if you haven’t got one yet news a great time before the spring rains start. Most plants prefer rain water and it’s free everyones a winner!



The second weekend

We made a start to de-weed and found under all the weeds we have really good rich soil, I plot next door is has a giant patch of rhubarb and it’s all going to waste its such a shame but my little rhubarb looks healthy and I look forward to a harvest from it next year. 

Ive inherited around 40 strawberry plants from runners at my school garden and there all potted up and waiting for January and I’ll plant them near the rhubarb and have a fruit patch right next to the bench. 

You can see my little greenhouse at the bottom of this photo its really sturdy and has withstood the flood our allotment is prone to, it’s going to be great sowing some seeds in here next year and in the summer we will give it a lick of paint we’re not to keen on the bright blue.