Monday, July 30, 2007
Blight
Alas, the desiree maincrop tatties do have blight. I have cut down all the haulms and binned them. The potato bed looks a bit sad now! Hopefully the tubers will be OK.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
What I did today
Three hours in the allotment cheered me up no end, despite a nasty surprise at the end of it.
This is the corner of the onion bed - I ran out of canes so I used prunings instead. This bit of staghorn sumac wasn't quite dead!
I pulled up the onions. This took ages because the clay soil was very sticky and clumped onto the fork. And there were bindweed roots to remove. Some onions were beginning to rot - probably because it has been so wet. They are in the plastic planthouse to dry off. Not an impressive crop - I lost about a third of them and many that survived are very small. Might try a different variety and overwinter some.
The ex-onion bed is now a brassica bed. I weeded, forked in some blood, fish & bonemeal, trampled then planted some cauli (snowball), PSB and kale (Black Tuscany). They are planted a bit close together at the moment but will be thinned out eventually by selective cropping.
I thought I'd try out cabbage collars. The brassicas I already have in the allotment are fine, but the caulis I planted in containers in my back garden just over the hedge all suffered from cabbage root fly.
AN's lad's cucumber is doing well! I weeded under it for him - he's a bit too young to be sent on his own to look after it. I went back later and put straw under the fruits to keep them off the soil.
I planted out two-and-a-half rows of leeks in this space vacated by the Anyas then I filled the last half row with garlic.
Also, unsnapped by camera, I tidied up the strawberry bed by removing all the runners and doing a bit of weeding. I removed weeds that were "rounding off" the corners of the beds. Not precision work, but a very satisfying grab-handfuls-and-pull technique.
My Helpful Assistant points out that I need to get the strimmer out.
Hey! What's this netting for? Where'd my onions go? What am I going to roll in now?
That's right princess - stay on the path and I won't water your backside.
These are pretty - didn't weed them out.
The bindweed amongst the tatties was thinking about flowering but it's such a thug of a plant it had to go.
On the subject of tatties:
Oh no... surely not...
I think this is blight on the Mystery Spuds.
All haulms removed and binned. The desirees on the next bed seem to be fine but I will keep a very close watch on them. The next allotment along has lost all its tomatoes, probably to blight too.
This is the corner of the onion bed - I ran out of canes so I used prunings instead. This bit of staghorn sumac wasn't quite dead!
I pulled up the onions. This took ages because the clay soil was very sticky and clumped onto the fork. And there were bindweed roots to remove. Some onions were beginning to rot - probably because it has been so wet. They are in the plastic planthouse to dry off. Not an impressive crop - I lost about a third of them and many that survived are very small. Might try a different variety and overwinter some.
The ex-onion bed is now a brassica bed. I weeded, forked in some blood, fish & bonemeal, trampled then planted some cauli (snowball), PSB and kale (Black Tuscany). They are planted a bit close together at the moment but will be thinned out eventually by selective cropping.
I thought I'd try out cabbage collars. The brassicas I already have in the allotment are fine, but the caulis I planted in containers in my back garden just over the hedge all suffered from cabbage root fly.
AN's lad's cucumber is doing well! I weeded under it for him - he's a bit too young to be sent on his own to look after it. I went back later and put straw under the fruits to keep them off the soil.
I planted out two-and-a-half rows of leeks in this space vacated by the Anyas then I filled the last half row with garlic.
Also, unsnapped by camera, I tidied up the strawberry bed by removing all the runners and doing a bit of weeding. I removed weeds that were "rounding off" the corners of the beds. Not precision work, but a very satisfying grab-handfuls-and-pull technique.
My Helpful Assistant points out that I need to get the strimmer out.
Hey! What's this netting for? Where'd my onions go? What am I going to roll in now?
That's right princess - stay on the path and I won't water your backside.
These are pretty - didn't weed them out.
The bindweed amongst the tatties was thinking about flowering but it's such a thug of a plant it had to go.
On the subject of tatties:
Oh no... surely not...
I think this is blight on the Mystery Spuds.
All haulms removed and binned. The desirees on the next bed seem to be fine but I will keep a very close watch on them. The next allotment along has lost all its tomatoes, probably to blight too.
Being realistic
We can afford a couple of acres and a house in the fens. This would suit me fine but there are others to consider and although many, many people commute into London from King's Lynn and Downham Market, I'm not asking my nearest and dearest to do likewise. The point is to reduce stress levels! But as you'd expect, suitable properties better placed for rail links are out of our price range. Waaaay out!
So until (a) I win the lottery, (b) First Capital Connect speed up their services and/or (c) my nearest and dearest finds a more portable job we will have to make do with the space we have. This has advantages as well as disadvantages:
We have a good mortgage deal - keeping our current mortgage makes better sense financially than moving before September 08. I like my neighbours. I have downsized my job a bit but I don't want to be rushed into finding a different one, I want time to find a better one. For a small gardening business, I have more chance of finding customers in town than in the countryside.
But there is still the space issue - we can't have pigs or goats because we have neighbours, we can't have Great Big Dogs while we both have to go to work most days and can't give them free access to the outdoors, we have limited growing space, we're not allowed to sell anything from the allotment, we have no room for a polytunnel or a greenhouse in the garden, we live in a conservation area so I can't cobble together a solar water heater and bolt it to the roof.
So what can we do with what we've got?
So until (a) I win the lottery, (b) First Capital Connect speed up their services and/or (c) my nearest and dearest finds a more portable job we will have to make do with the space we have. This has advantages as well as disadvantages:
We have a good mortgage deal - keeping our current mortgage makes better sense financially than moving before September 08. I like my neighbours. I have downsized my job a bit but I don't want to be rushed into finding a different one, I want time to find a better one. For a small gardening business, I have more chance of finding customers in town than in the countryside.
But there is still the space issue - we can't have pigs or goats because we have neighbours, we can't have Great Big Dogs while we both have to go to work most days and can't give them free access to the outdoors, we have limited growing space, we're not allowed to sell anything from the allotment, we have no room for a polytunnel or a greenhouse in the garden, we live in a conservation area so I can't cobble together a solar water heater and bolt it to the roof.
So what can we do with what we've got?
- As I mentioned, we can have chickens. Rescue battery hens will be arriving in September - 4 girls.
- The allotment has kept us going as far as potatoes and green veg are concerned and we've not made best use of all the space yet. We could build some raised beds in the unused spaces and have a better-planned planting scheme.
- We have a wonderful, enormous apple tree. I'd like more variety though! We could get two or three different varieties and plant as cordons along the hedge.
- We have a bigger than usual garden for a town and there is quite a bit of it unproductive - the shed could come down, the jungle behind it could be cleared out, we could have space for a new, bigger shed (subject to planning permission, not guaranteed here!) and a small greenhouse.
- I can get going with gardening as a means of generating income without worrying about having to start all over again somewhere else.
But if we both decide that we really can't hack it in the world of employment any more, we probably have enough equity on this house to buy a chunk of the Western Isles and have no mortgage. It is tempting.
Friday, July 27, 2007
What's growing where?
This is turning into a photo blog rather than a wordy one - been out with the camera again! I seem to have a mix of garden flowers, veg and native British wildflowers (in the wrong places). Here goes...
In the back garden:
We decided we wanted a pergola on the terrace. We can drape the grape vine over it and let the honeysuckle trail over too. Doesn't look like much yet!
The mr getting on with it.
We had to stop after I whacked my finger with the mallet (it bounced) and he got blisters. However, the top section is just about done.
In the front garden:
One of the dahlias I got from Wilko - a pack of three tubers for almost no money. Rather pretty, as it turns out!
Another of the cheapo dahlias. The third one isn't flowering yet.
Morning Glory. I sowed loads of seeds, about 6 germinated and two survived long enough to be planted out. Both are flowering reluctantly. They are in a very shady spot though - I hoped they would grow through the hedge. Perhaps I should have left in some of the bindweed!
Penstemon - can't remember which variety but I probably stashed the little plastic thingy with all the details somewhere. It's gorgeous.
Some purple stuff - again, I need to find my stash of "things I'll put in a safe place because I'm bound to want them again." The original plant died off and I got a circle of new plants from the roots. Better tidy it up a bit this autumn because I think it could happily spread all over the garden. It is possible to have too much of a good thing!
Lobelia. I have a red one (here) and a purple one which is just about to start flowering. I love these! The dahlia behind it has since been staked up a bit.
Is that a GAP?!?! Surely not...
And in the allotment:
The last sowing of peas (meteor) seems to be OK.
The maincrop tatties (desiree), haulms dying back. I've been obsessive about checking for signs of blight this year - lost all my tomatoes last year.
The JAs. Well over 6ft high.
Squash.
Squash problem - they're falling off and rotting.
Courgette flower. I've had about 8 courgettes off this plant, it's producing just enough for me. We had 4 plants last year and couldn't keep up.
Swede (magres) looking promising! I planted about three dozen of these altogether. Yes, I do love swede! Last time I tried to grow swede was in a freak heatwave in Glasgow yonks ago. Looks like they'll be a bit better this time.
Alas poor romanesco - most of those that started producing heads have blown.
Native British Wildflowers in the wrong place (well OK then... weeds):
Scarlet pimpernel (and some bindweed)
Speedwell (and some more bindweed)
Wild strawberry (I'm not uprooting this!)
Black Medick (free green manure?)
Not sure... Ground Ivy?
In the back garden:
We decided we wanted a pergola on the terrace. We can drape the grape vine over it and let the honeysuckle trail over too. Doesn't look like much yet!
The mr getting on with it.
We had to stop after I whacked my finger with the mallet (it bounced) and he got blisters. However, the top section is just about done.
In the front garden:
One of the dahlias I got from Wilko - a pack of three tubers for almost no money. Rather pretty, as it turns out!
Another of the cheapo dahlias. The third one isn't flowering yet.
Morning Glory. I sowed loads of seeds, about 6 germinated and two survived long enough to be planted out. Both are flowering reluctantly. They are in a very shady spot though - I hoped they would grow through the hedge. Perhaps I should have left in some of the bindweed!
Penstemon - can't remember which variety but I probably stashed the little plastic thingy with all the details somewhere. It's gorgeous.
Some purple stuff - again, I need to find my stash of "things I'll put in a safe place because I'm bound to want them again." The original plant died off and I got a circle of new plants from the roots. Better tidy it up a bit this autumn because I think it could happily spread all over the garden. It is possible to have too much of a good thing!
Lobelia. I have a red one (here) and a purple one which is just about to start flowering. I love these! The dahlia behind it has since been staked up a bit.
Is that a GAP?!?! Surely not...
And in the allotment:
The last sowing of peas (meteor) seems to be OK.
The maincrop tatties (desiree), haulms dying back. I've been obsessive about checking for signs of blight this year - lost all my tomatoes last year.
The JAs. Well over 6ft high.
Squash.
Squash problem - they're falling off and rotting.
Courgette flower. I've had about 8 courgettes off this plant, it's producing just enough for me. We had 4 plants last year and couldn't keep up.
Swede (magres) looking promising! I planted about three dozen of these altogether. Yes, I do love swede! Last time I tried to grow swede was in a freak heatwave in Glasgow yonks ago. Looks like they'll be a bit better this time.
Alas poor romanesco - most of those that started producing heads have blown.
Native British Wildflowers in the wrong place (well OK then... weeds):
Scarlet pimpernel (and some bindweed)
Speedwell (and some more bindweed)
Wild strawberry (I'm not uprooting this!)
Black Medick (free green manure?)
Not sure... Ground Ivy?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Been Busy!
and here's why
Whether you are randomly reading blogs or you are a regular visitor, it was in aid of a very worthy cause so why not sponsor us?
Whether you are randomly reading blogs or you are a regular visitor, it was in aid of a very worthy cause so why not sponsor us?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Playing with food
What I picked today:
The peas will be eaten in about 10 minutes, the garlic is in dinner already and the caulis are for later in the weekend.
Some of these Arran Pilot earlies are keeping the garlic company (with some gooey cheese, onion and thyme). You can't tell from the photo, but some of these are big enough to bake.
The peas will be eaten in about 10 minutes, the garlic is in dinner already and the caulis are for later in the weekend.
Some of these Arran Pilot earlies are keeping the garlic company (with some gooey cheese, onion and thyme). You can't tell from the photo, but some of these are big enough to bake.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Mini veg & things flowering
All the recent rain has had a good effect on the allotment and garden. Things are growing - especially the weeds! We have cropped and eaten: more Arran Pilot earlies, some Anya (mmmm!) and the remaining garlic. Must plant more!
Squash plant no. 1. Planted in a space vacated by early spuds. Watered via an upturned squash (ha ha) bottle sunk into the soil.
Squash plant no. 2 planted at the end of a bean row. No idea what variety they are - good thing I like surprises.
Courgette. Only planted one this year. We had 4 last year and they were rather prolific. I don't like courgettes all that much!
My single, lonely broccoli plant is doing well so far...
...as are the snowball cauliflowers. Might crop a few as mini veg soon! They are about the size of a golf ball at the moment.
Now for the flowers:
The clematis over the back gate is doing well this year. I might plant a contrasting one and drape it in the other direction.
Dahlia. Bigger and better than last year but can't remember the variety. It's not Bishop of Llandaf, that's the next one along.
Another dahlia. Love these.
Red Bunny Tails.
Ok now what will I bung in this gap? I did have rhubarb here (Timperley Early and very nice it was too) but I gave in to the mr's requests for something more decorative. So the rhubarb has been moved.
Squash plant no. 1. Planted in a space vacated by early spuds. Watered via an upturned squash (ha ha) bottle sunk into the soil.
Squash plant no. 2 planted at the end of a bean row. No idea what variety they are - good thing I like surprises.
Courgette. Only planted one this year. We had 4 last year and they were rather prolific. I don't like courgettes all that much!
My single, lonely broccoli plant is doing well so far...
...as are the snowball cauliflowers. Might crop a few as mini veg soon! They are about the size of a golf ball at the moment.
Now for the flowers:
The clematis over the back gate is doing well this year. I might plant a contrasting one and drape it in the other direction.
Dahlia. Bigger and better than last year but can't remember the variety. It's not Bishop of Llandaf, that's the next one along.
Another dahlia. Love these.
Red Bunny Tails.
Ok now what will I bung in this gap? I did have rhubarb here (Timperley Early and very nice it was too) but I gave in to the mr's requests for something more decorative. So the rhubarb has been moved.
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