Been a bit busy since my last post. Too much gardening, and especially weeding to do. The school had a plant sale to be prepared for. To add to the mix I was allocated a place "on the shelf" at our allotment site just as the growing season got into full swing. Happily there have been family events too. The shark is a visitor to Alnwick Castle Gardens - a great otherwise safe place to take grandchildren without foregoing horticulture! (Mind you they do have "The Poison Garden" behind a closed gate.)
Excuses aside, here is the current state of play at the plot:
Pride of place goes to the potatoes. Here's the maincrop
and here's the earlies:
The soft fruit has only recently been netted
This shot takes in the broad beans, cucurbits and bean wigwams. (There are two Shark's fin Melons amongst them!!)
And here is the reverse view of the broad beans with Jerusalem artichoke, rhubarb and peas in front
This picture shows the end of the spring cabbages with short rows of parsnip, celeriac and celery beyond
And on to the brassicas hiding under their protective netting.
and the alliums all grown from seed. (The bed to the left is going to be carrots now that the rain has finally arrived.)
It is raining again today, but yesterday was a surprise sunny day. I took the opportunity to take some snaps of the allotment. First, appropriately, the potato patch.
The shaws are appearing above ground and very soon it will be time to mound them.
Beyond the potatoes is the fruit cage. The first of the three bays was strawberries. Notoriously these have to be moved around in order to avoid build up of disease. So currently this bay is garlic, Elephant to the left, ordinary to the right. In between are two rows of parsnips which are indistinguishable from the germinating weeds currently. But believe me they are there!
The remainder of the fruit cage is more conventionally raspberries and a mixture of currants and berries:
Reaching the turn at the end I am most pleasantly surprised by these autumn planted red onion sets. I had given them up for lost but come the new year they have reappeared and are thriving.
Also at that end are spring planted onion sets (tent to the left ) Carrots (temple to the right) and leeks between them. Next is onions and shallots from seed (I went a bit mad on alliums this year) and the start of the brassica patch in front of that in the picture below.
Working back to the start I have covered the ground, temporarily with weed suppressant fabric. This is going to be the the other half of the brassica patch and the legume/cucurbit patch which currently only has broad beans and a row of peas on the go along with some salads. The runner bean poles are up in readiness but the runner beans are only now germinating back at home.
Broad beans (under netting)
For the sake of completeness here is the last section with strawberries and blueberries to the left, rhubarb to the right and asparagus bed featured in my last post in the middle.
So there you have it. Together with the seedling nursery at home this is my vegetable home! Hope you enjoyed the tour.
Be they red, blue, black or green the berries are most welcome at this time of year.
Black? The blackcurrants seem to be enjoying a bumper year. What surprised me was that the fruit appeared from tip to toe of each branch. Here is a picture taken at ground level:
The reason for my surprise was that I have always understood that you want to encourage new growth from ground level with blackcurrants and prune accordingly. The newer plant (set out in November 2018) didn't yield half as much as the older plants like this one, which also had larger berries. Have I misunderstood the advice I wonder?
Here is the current state of play in my warts and all circuit of the plot:
Rhubarb is at one end (together with a globe artichoke). The bare patch before the blueberry pen and strawberries is my aspiring asparagus patch.
...beyond which is the potato patch...
...then peas and beans (with their scrap heap supports) ...
...climbing beans and cucurbits (currently finding their feet under netting). The cages are protecting celeriac. ...
Beyond that is currently a sight for sore eyes - soon to house sweetcorn and my brassica patch.
That takes you from end to end on one side. Heading back along the other side in the reverse direction you start with the fruit cage. This is three bays (Berries/Raspberries/Strawberries)...
...but the last (former strawberry bay) now has been given over to new salad sowings...
We are big on carrots - but so is the carrot root fly so they have to be covered .
Bringing up the rear are the alliums. Onions to the left, garlic and elephant garlic to the right.
Having been away for the weekend it was a case of reacquainting myself with the state of play at the plot. Soft fruit is now cropping heavily.
Legumes are on their way but needed support and weeding. Potatoes second early potatoes are flowering and it is time to start on the earlies. (The single Jerusalem artichoke, in the corner, is the odd one out here. I have decided to treat this as a perennial rather than moving it around with the rotation). The runner beans are shooting up the poles, higher and higher.
Edinburgh has had a terribly dry, dull, cold April and early May this year but things seem to progressing even before the promised rain of this weekend. My early early row of potatoes has started emerging (and are being dutifully mounded). I've never been keen on watering spuds but I made an exception for the really early ones and they seem to have responded.
The Potato Patch
As you can see there are a lot more yet to emerge. Even the weeds have been discouraged by the conditions!
The soft fruit area is getting a move on too and soon I will have to sling a net over the newly painted wooden frame
Soft Fruit Cage
The redcurrants are shaping up nicely....
,,,and so are the gooseberries:
Three rows of raspberries seem to have sprung to life.
Raspberries
Not forgetting the strawberries
Strawberry Patch
Next door to the soft fruit the alliums are leaning to the light source from the south. The latest planting of sets is to the left and that's two rows of elephant garlic on the right with ordinary garlic between it and four rows of onion sets in varying degrees of development as some were presprouted at home and others set out directly.
Alliums
Squeezed in at the end I've recently planted out the first leeks (Jolant). Not sure where I will put the next lot (Musselburgh) when they are ready.
Leek planting and Rhubarb
Maybe I have been over generous in the space allocated to carrots. All the more because they have to be netted. I really am trying to make a success of carrots this year, being one of the crops that we eat most of all the year round, and yet they did miserably last year. (The tunnel to the left is sown but the hooped tunnel is going to house our main crop - and, hopefully keep out the root fly.
Carrot Nets
These peas and broad been are squatting between the weed suppressant fabric for the brassicas and the WSF for the cucurbits. The runner beans and French beans have been allocated another similar sized area on the other side of the brassicas which is currently still covered with WSF - which won't be removed until the last moment before planting out.
Broad Beans and Peas
It's the bit with the bricks in the foreground here:
Room for Brassicas and Beans
With these preparations and the sowing and growing in the greenhouse at home, and the promise of rain this weekend, it really is all about to go in a clatter!
We operate a 5 year rotation* on our allotment. There are five zones which are prepared each year according to the next year's crop. In addition there is a sixth growing zone, the soft fruit area which is static and has a wooden framework to support netting in the summer. The internal path separates two zones to the East from the four to the West. The picture above is of the two zones to the East. In the distance is the soft fruit area. In the foreground is this year's potato zone - and it is fully planted up! This is making me feel really positive - because that means I can concentrate my efforts on the four remaining zones, And this is how they currently look - in need of attention. Our patch stops at the shed (or more precisely the path in from of it)
Here's a reverse view with the alliums in the foreground. There are three rows of garlic and four of onion so far. You can just see the corner of the first carrot tent to the right
*The 5 year rotation is a progression from Potatoes to Legumes to Brassicas to Curcubits to Alliums and Other Roots. This has been tinkered with a bit particularly to accommodate the use of weed suppressant fabric with all the advantages that brings.
Just now the potato zone is looking the best to me!
Mind you achieving this particular goal has left me on a high. The weather has been ... unfavourable, but I had to do something with my Christmas shopping days off work.
One remnant of the old rotation still clinging on in the middle of the new soft fruit area is parsnip:
They've certainly had their required frosting!
A substantial part of the soft fruit is already in the right place, but I will have to relocate or replace the raspberries. The blueberries already have their own pool of acidic soil and their own cage so i won't be moving them.
Height, Tanya - 6ft 6 inches but the ground slopes so it's 7ft on the other side.
