Picking Up At The Plot

 I have been indulging my newfound interest in flowering plants and particularly wildflowers recently. Despite appearances I have been keeping up with the production of edibles too.  To bring the record up to date, here is a statement of the current state of play.

I went for alliums in a bigger way this year growing autumn and spring planted garlic as well as shallots and onions from seed. These were sown indoors in February .  The garlic has emerged and shallot and onion have been planted out on site yesterday and today. 

Broad beans sown in cells and planted out a month ago are now sitting pretty at the plot. 

Peas on the other hand have refused to be cajoled into germinating early. As a last resort I have started them sprouting in a jam jar in the kitchen and only "sown" them in cells after germination and exporting them to the greenhouse and then the plot.

Still on legumes I have sown 5 varieties of Dwarf French Bean into deep cells in the hope that the improved night temperatures will help them get started.

The greenhouse has been stuffed full each night with the paraffin heater lit on any night when the threat of frost is flagged up by the weatherman.  The main beneficiaries are flowers: Cosmos, Marigold, Lobelia, but also tomato, cucumber and pepper 

Tomatoes and Cucumber

Pepper Hungarian Hot Wax

I have attempted direct sowing at the allotment but tend to hedge my bets by using up remnant seed supplies (open packets from last year or out of date ones).  This way I don't get upset when they fail - although failure is also more likely as a result!  Parsnip, carrot, Swish chard have been experimented with in this way - and have all been resown recently..

Good Friday is a traditional potato planting day.  Easter Saturday and Sunday saw me getting all but the maincrop Rooster in. 

Potatoes in waiting

The patch allocated to potatoes in my rotational plan still had "spring" cabbages at one end and leeks at the other.  Now that's what I call bad planning! The leeks are going into the cookpot.

The ground for runner beans, celery and celeriac has been thoroughly prepped with plenty of buried organic matter.  The celery and celeriac have been growing on at home

Celery and Celeriac  - Can you tell which is which?

 but the runner beans have yet to be sown.  The courgettes squashes and sweetcorn haven't been sown either yet, but I have recently prepared a bed for them too.  My method is to bag all my weeds and trimmings in old black lined compost bags and leave them for a year or two to rot down in the hope that after another year buried underground any weed seeds will not be viable.  This keeps all the nutrients recycled on the site - all except the edible part of any crops.  

Weed suppression is something I take very seriously.  The best method is to have a crop growing but failing that deployment of weed suppressant fabric in the early part of the growing season saves hours of repetitive weeding.  As the sowing season progresses so the aesthetically unpleasing fabric gets rolled back. 

Brassicas tend to be at their best late in the growing year. None more so than purple sprouting broccoli which is currently in full production mode. 

 One again my lack of planning means the row of PSB plants is right in the middle of this year's carrot patch (under the fine mesh).  The PSB needs nets to keep the pigeons off while the carrots need fine netting to keep the carrot root fly off. so it is a bit of a logistic nightmare to cater for them both simultaneously.  As the early carrot sowing show no sign of germination yet perhaps there is no imminent prospect of running out of space just yet - the main crop carrots can wait until the PSB harvesting season is over.

This years brassicas and leeks are coming on at home in readiness for planting out. It iis going to be busy for the next month or two!

Early season brassicas

Leeks

 

Allotment Tour Summer 2021

It is a sure sign of summer progressing when your fennel is ready for harvest.  After a summer where my focus has been elsewhere I realise it is time to do my "warts and all" tour of the plot. 

The parsnips are progressing steadily regardless of the stop start weather.  Alongside I have some second sowing of  autumn crops where the elephant garlic was.

The fruit cage is looking very green where the gooseberries and redcurrants are, A really good redcurrant crop but only a few gooseberries. I might have been a bit vigorous with my winter pruning?  The blackberries and autumn raspberries behind are yet to come. The two summer varieties are finished

Spring planted Onion from sets are flopping over of their own accord.  The early leeks behind show no such tendancy. 

For the first time I have tried to grow onions from seed too.  They are behind the celery and celeriac in this bed.  (It is also the first time I have tried to grow celery)

Moving along to the brassica patch there are three distinct phases as indicated by the height of the plants. The early cabbages and cauliflower are all gone but the Brussels remain tall and now suitably distanced. 

Further along the beans are hitting their peak.  Both Runners.

and Dwarf French

The winter squashes are the sea of green next door to the beans - although there are some flowers.  Fruits?  So far three marrow sized courgettes.

The foreground bare patch here is where the peas were and are now sown with winter leaves (Land Cress , Claytonia and Lamb's Lettuce.

Bringing up the rear I have hedged my bets trying to establish an asparagus bed but growing strawberries in between - at least until the asparagus gets going. It was grown from seed. (The rhubarb blueberries and globe artichoke just get on with their business year after year.)    

The final area is not very pretty,  It is the potato patch with nearly all of the tops cut off.  It looked like this in the middle of June.

But now it looks like this.

Hope you enjoyed the tour around my patch.

4 Seasons Square Foot Beds - Autumn

4 Seasons Bed today 9/9/20

Now that it is  Meteorological Autumn it is time to see how the crops in the Autumn bed are faring.  Under the 4 seasons scheme all crops should be ready for harvesting before the month is out.  There are some successes and some failures. Lets take a look:

AUTUMN

The autumn planting scheme was:

Beetroot			Tomato			Carrot
Fennel			Pepper (Cyklon)			Celeriac
Leeks (Jolant)			Dwarf French Beans			Kohlrabi

Here are pictures of each square in turn with notes:

Leeks

Although an early variety (Jolant) these leeks are lagging behind and will need to be left for another month or two before harvesting.  They could probably do with a bit of liquid feed.  Leeks feature in Autumn, Winter and Spring beds.  An earlier start is required for the Autumn ones.

Dwarf French Beans

Rammed full of greenery there has been a reasonable crop.  Not sure that this variety is the best.  A yellow or purple variety would help as the beans got "lost" behind the greenery.

Kohlrabi

 A good choice but early growth was pecked to death by pigeons.  Netting now in place and resowing has worked.  Next year protection will be in place from the start.

Fennel

Peaked too early so the three remaining  stems have bolted.  Abundant feathery leaves.  One stunning bulb was harvested in July by an unknown agency.  5 plants in a square foot was too many so the perpetrator probably did us a favour by thinning the crop! 

Red Pepper Cyklon

 A bit ambitious growing this outdoors in Scotland.  Healthy green leaves, some flowers, but not any significant fruit.  Squeezed in the middle it was not a fair contest. Verdict  Not an appropriate choice for this location. Grow indoors in future.

Celeriac

 Celeriac has been a bugbear for me in the past but I was encouraged by the results in the school garden last year.  A single plant in this square. There is a picture of the root development below.  Could do with a liquid feed.  Also growing this in Winter with similar results.

Carrots - Missing!

 Carrot are a bad choice for the school garden.  Even with fleece the badger seeks them out and totally wipes them out.  The two carrot square feet (Autumn and Winter) hove both been deeply excavated!

Tomato Totem

With more time for ripening this is an ideal variety for square foot growing.  Some support helps:.  A totem pole(?) Otherwise they keep themselves to themselves.

Beetroot 

Old reliable beetroot has been happily growing overcrowded and uncared for it delivers without getting too big to crowd out its neighbours.  Recommended for square foot gardening.

Beetroot Roots

Tomato Fruit

Celeriac Root

Hope you enjoyed this review.

Just for the record here are the other three seasons beds

Winter - bursting with growth

Spring - Some longterm residents some fillers

Summer - Strawberry greenery and some hangers on.

The Changing of the Season

Pea Kelvedon Wonder and Bean Dior

Now the first beans are cropping it is time to clear away the broad beans and early peas.  But not to worry, the replacements are ready to go out into the vacant space:

Lettuce, Endive/Chicory

  I have got a bit carried away with my seed order experimenting with endive and chicory, as well as a wide range of lettuces. Hopefully this will mean a harvest extending into the colder months ahead. Here they are in the gap site.  There are four of each variety which I have been careful to mark with a label.  The lettuces are Marveille de Quatre Saisons, Lollo Rosso, Freckles and Gilaad. The endives are all called Cornet de (Insert Name of French/Italian Town) except Pancalieri which is a curly form of endive commonly called Frisee Lettuce. 

Away from the Chicory/Endive/Lettuce confusion the bean and cucurbit  zone is going hell for leather, except for those Climbing French  and Runner Beans on the left which are being a bit coy. (The wigwam on the right is Barlotti beans)

Right in front is the row of  Dior dwarf French beans which you can see in the first picture .  I may have overcrowded the squashes which are now running rampant across their neighbours. A random sunflower has popped up in the middle of the picture.  As you can see it is all green currently.  This includes the potato patch which will soon be 'on the turn'.

Those yellowing in the foreground are some Charlotte I planted as an afterthought once the maincrop was already in.

A change of season is afoot.

Let's Go!

Beans awaiting release!

The weatherman advises that the risk of frost is past!  It's time to release those cramped plants from their night time confinement in the greenhouse. 20 cucurbits went off to the school garden today. More to the allotment over the weekend. Time to sow  the sweetcorn.  Time to reconfigure the greenhouse shelves for tomatoes and peppers and cucumber.  Also the last impediment to direct sowing has been removed. 

Cucurbits for the Allotment 

Dwarf French Beans and Italian Climbers (Barlotti)

Peas and leeks at the ready

Brassica seedlings 

A selection of flower seedlings itching to be released!

 The song should be "Happy Days Are Here Again" but I have gone for something more contemporary: