Pumpkins

This is what we grew for Halloween

Have gained access

Been away for a while haven't been able to access account.

Update pics

Pumpkin and courgette

Strawberry flan

My first attempt

Cucumber and iceberg lettuce

Sowed a little late I know but you never know maybe we will have a Late summer

Harvest time

Dug up my swift potatoes today and picked first lot of strawberries. A very kind allotment neighbour have me an onion.
And unfortunately had to rehome 4 of my chickens as we had too many, now we are down to 6.

Bit late I know...

Have seeded three varieties of tomato
Gardners delight
Golden sunrise and
Alicante

Also planted 16 sunflowers for the children to have a competition

And chilli pepper for the hubby

Runner beans are in !!

Sweetcorn and peas

Planted my peas and sweetcorn.

Peppers

Planted pepper seeds today :-)

Our first rhubarb crumble

It was delicious

First harvest

We harvested some asparagus and rhubarb ready for making crumble later.
Also got the largest egg I have ever seen, I wonder if it will have 2 yolks inside.

More seedlings/asparagus

Finally planted some tomato seeds :-)
Also discovered the asparagus was ready to cut, it was 9 inches tall.

17th may

In one of my potato beds I discovered asparagus growing :-)
I have seeded into small pots, pumpkin, peas, sweetcorn, nasturtium and marigolds.
And an up to date photo of the whole plot.

Update

Six brussels sprouts plants in and covered in bottles.
Raspberry plants moved.
And the cute little fella we found on the compost pile.
We also moved one compost pile into the Dalek and had a general tidy up. Replaced all the locks and gate latch.

Freecycle

I put a request on tonight and have won a dalek composting bin :-)
Just got to collect it now!!

Don't you just live freecycle?

Free compost

Free compost pretty much being delivered to my door, on wednesday. Our recycling centre that deals with our green bins are doing some sort of roadshow in my village. Residents are allowed to take as much as we like for free.
Now means I don't have to drive the 24 miles round trip to get it. :-)

iPhone app

Hey I just discovered an app for my phone I can use, so keeping my blog up to date should be a little easier now :-)

Bank holiday May day

Woke up this morning to see the sun shining so we went to the allotment.
The allotment was busy with people doing stuff everywhere.
We had dug over our first 16ft bed the other day, so gave it a rake, and planted my onions, and covered with netting to prevent those lovely bird pinching them.

The chickens were their usual chatty selves, chatting away whilst we worked. We were very kindly given a shed, which had to be put where
we wanted it, as you can see in the picture. It needs refelting and a few minor repairs, and of course painting. But hey it was free :-)

it then started to rain so decided the go home. Back again tomorrow :-)

new allotment

Our neighbour, had to give up their allotment due to work commitments. They asked us to take on their chickens. So we gave up our allotment and took on theirs with the chickens, as we didn't want to stress them out by moving them. We got this new allotment last tuesday 17th April.
It came with chickens, a strawberry patch, rhubarb and some raspberries.
Over the past week we have started with some raised beds and have finally planted the potatoes, swift, charlotte and albert red rooster.

Change of plan...

We bought lots of reclaimed wood last week to build our beds for our lotties. Weather has been a bit of a pain in the butt with our busy schedule. So we held off, luckily we did. our neighbour has asked would we take on their chickens from their allotment as they just don't have the time anymore. We jumped at the chance. So I think as of after the weekend, we will be giving up our allotment and taking on our neighbours lotties ...complete with chickens. :-)

Pictures to follow :-)

plant ID

I went to the allotment today after some not so nice weather we have had recently, and was pleased to see my onions have sprouted.

Also the rhubarb seems to be coming along, but i wanted to ask what do i do with the rhubarb? Do i just  let it grow or do i need to put something around the base of it?

Also I found something growing, see photo to the left. I have no idea what it is.

Still yet to meet the neighbours so I can get them to sign for form for putting up my shed. Hopefuly should meet them soon with the warmer weather coming. 

more shopping...

Had to go into Huntingdon, so popped into the 99p store. I managed to get some fleece, a small polytunnel, plant markers, plant, clips, small watering hose,  some pea netting,  and some weed control fabric...all 99p each what a bargain.  There was loads more other bits and pieces but didnt have enough cash on me :-(

Also another bonus today, I managed to get from freecycle, a hose, a fold up chair, watering can and a dibber (a good quality one too) and some bamboo canes.

so happy bunny today :-)

Planted my onions today

Went to the allotment for about an hour today and planted my onions. Did two rows, but forgot to count how many I put in each row (oops), I think it was about 8. Weather was lovely today. Still haven't seen any of my neighbours, I wonder if they are waiting until March?
No photos today I'm afraid I forgot to take my phone with me :-(

Trying to ID a plant

I found a plant starting to emerge at the back of my plot. I'm wandering if anyone can tell me what it is, please.

Marking the main beds

Today we went and marked the four main beds, for our main bed
rotation. Each bed is 5ft by 12 ft.

Todays weather has been gorgeous, so hoping it stays for the
 weekend, so I can get the kids to help plant the onions :-)

Chitting - potatoes

This is where you prepare the potatoes for planting in the ground. You place them in egg cartons in a cool dry place. And allow them to sprout little shoots. Apparently we wait for the sprouts to be about an inch long and then they are ready to plant. Some people don't do this and plant striaght into the ground. Some people break off some of the sprouts leaving only 2/3 or 4 so to create larger growths.
I'm going to leave these to do what they do and then plant them when it is time to do so. I have been told the only real way that you learn is to make your own mistakes, and that rome wasn't built in a day ;-p

Here are my potatoes: I have swift (7 of), charlotte (5 of) and Albert Bartlett rooster (5 of). I'm not sure if I have enough yet as not sure how many potatoes each seed potato will create. 

Shopping and sowing

Went shopping to day to trusty Poundland, ended up with some seeds and some seed potatoes and onions. Also got a small propagator and little pots.

With the weather being as it was today (very gloomy and raining) I had the children help with plant some seeds to keep in the conservatory as we don't have a greenhouse or coldframe.

We planted :-

• leeks
• broccoli
• tomato
• cucumber
• sweet pepper
• radish

Planning

A very good friend, who also has an allotment kindly lent us some books today and gave us a few do's and don't tips today. I now have decided what to grow. And have started to make plans as to where I shall plant what and where. Now I need to go and buy some plants/seeds.
I'm going to make a start with brussel sprouts, cauliflowers, chilli, peppers, potatoes, shallots, tomatoes, and raspberries. All I think are sown indoors to begin with... wish me luck!

Day one 15th Feb 2012

Approx 6 months ago I went on a waiting list for a plot at a choice of two sites. Today I received a phonecall to say I was second on the list and could choose a plot today as 5 had become available. By half past four we had signed and paid for the plot in the picture above. It has been cleared for us apart from a couple of gooseberry bushes and 2 compost bins. I can't wait to get going...however I haven't a clue where to start, nor have any tools. Best start shopping...