The Shark has Jumped...

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.)

 

Hope you enjoyed this brief tour.

Show and Tell

 

I came across this picture while sifting through my old photographs today.  It tells a story of youth and enthusiasm - and it was taken in 1993.  That was two years after we were allocated our allotment - the first flush of enthusiasm. Since then our four children have grown up and while they still appreciate good fresh veg, the level of participation dropped off rapidly.  My wife got a job which was all consuming, so when I started my blog in 2003 it was called "Mal's Allotment".  

Showing didn't last long as I fell out with the allotment association organisers (FEDAGA ) after they proposed a voluntary hike in allotment rents from £40 to £100. (There has been regime change since, but only after the Council proposed tripling the annual rent from £100 to £300 at a stroke.) We grow for eating rather than showing anyway and with two working parents productivity and keeping ahead of the weeds took precedence over the niceties.  Now retired we could contemplate showing again, but the pandemic has put paid to that.  There has been no show  for three years now. 

The reward I get from the allotment has not diminished at all.  Every year is a new challenge.  Can the successes be repeated, can last years disasters be turned around.  The craving for novelty is stoked up in TV and radio programmes, blogs  and seed catalogues - as well as by competitive neighbours. I like to set annual goals like: Can we be self sufficient in carrots, garlic, potatoes.. etc. Can I grow a decent celeriac (No) Celery (No) Fennel (Yes) Asparagus (the jury is out).  You are pitting your wits against nature, weather as well as weeds, every year. And every year is different. So I can manage without the show.    

Winter Vegetable Bed - Judgement Day

It is time to revisit the 4 seasons square foot vegetable bed for the winter harvest.  The above picture was taken on 21st December and the ones below were taken today as the crop was lifted. ( If you want to see previous seasons posts just click on "4 Seasons" in the labels list.) 

Here is the day's harvest 

    

First prize has to go to parsnips. 5 roots out of 5 and all of them stout and long,  The only problem with them was that they grew so strongly that their leaves flopped over their neighbours, depriving them of light.

The leeks also showed well with 6 out of 6 transplants growing long if slender.  Some bonus parsley was also grown in the same square foot.

Celeriac was a bit bullied by the parsnip foliage, One tennis ball sized bulb (or swollen stem) would be a fine addition to a stew.

I left the swiss chard in the ground.  It has already provided several meals worth from earlier harvest. Light picking over winter progresses but there is plenty more to come in late winter and early spring before new seedlings will catch up with it. 

The pigeons had a good go at the Swedes but three survived and grew larger than tennis ball size after netting.  These would have happily waited for Burns' night on 25th January.

Beetroots were only salad size, despite the long growing season.  To be fair I think the larger ones were raided to make soup by one of the classes.  These are just the tiddlers left behind.  Also featuring in the picture below is the one mooli (white radish) that reached any size.  There were some tiddlers too but this crop  was the victim of being overshadowed by it's neighbour - parsnip.

Next is a real experiment: scorzonera.  Plenty grew.  The roots are long thin and whippy. Very hard to dig out without snapping. There is also the challenge of how to prepare them.  Once peeled the white flesh oozes latex and rapidly turns brown.  You need to turn to French cuisine to get tips on how to use this exotic ingredient.  That said, they grew well regardless of the cold.

The only no show was carrots, which was a victim of its popularity with badgers.  No sooner had they reached a reasonable size that the whole square foot was excavated and only the tops left as evidence!  I am just relieved that the badgers restricted their mining activities to these (and some potatoes).

It is only a shame that this exercise can only be reported virtually as it was designed as an educational exercise for the children to participate in,  Perhaps next year?

Oh Oh - We're in Trouble

 

Context is everything when it comes to raptors.

This lady sparrowhawk was sitting in the plum tree where we hang the bird feeders...

...and had already feasted on a kill.

While I agree with Monty Don on most things (garden centres and peat compost for example) there is a limit to my tolerance when it comes to predating on small songbirds. One is enough! So out I went to photograph it away.

For light relief I headed off to the allotment to harvest carrots. Some of them are whoppers and only a few are forked.

I am about halfway through the crop now. The net was originally to keep the carrot fly away but now serves as frost protection.

For the record, here is the first parsnip of the year - and that's my first celeriac, destined for a warming Winter Casserole of Vegetables.

Now a return of the music in honour of our visitor:

In the Summertime - 4 Seasons in One

The summer solstice has arrived and it is time to review the four seasons square foot beds: 

Summer

Swiss Chard			Garlic			Onions
Parsley			Pea Jaguar			Strawberry
Radish			Leaf Beet			Elephant Garlic

These items should be ready for harvesting in a week's time. All except the radish which seedlings the birds demolished!

December Crops - School Garden

Dadah!

4 Seasons Beds (Brassicas behind)

It's time for the harvest from the 4 seasons "winter" bed in the school garden.  The aim of these square meter beds is to demonstrate that there is something to be harvested in every quarter of the year. The winter harvest has been bolstered by produce from the brassica bed, notably brussel sprouts:

The school celeriac has rubbed salt into the wound by producing better celeriac than I have ever managed to grow on my allotment. (Despite the plants the from the same batch of seedlings)
Other pickings are:

Seakale Beet 

Swede or ' Neep'

Kohlrabi

Beetroot

Once you re picking parsnips it begins to feel a bit like Christmas:

A Short Post for the Shortest Day

To mark the winter equinox I went to the plot and dug up our first parsnip.  A single row at the edge of the bed overshadowed by a high grassy path they had been rather overlooked this year, but I have got some return for the very little effort I lavished on them.   Roast parsnips are on for Christmas dinner!
While the parsnips have developed multiple side shoots the carrots growing next door remain nice and cylindrical.  This reverses our tradition of "good parsnips, rubbish carrots"  !

Pitta Patter Parsnip

Rustling up a batch of pitta bread I was pleased with the results. Can you spot the one that refused to puff up?

Back at the plot there is not much happening since the fall in temperature. It's all swede cabbage and parsnip.  Here's a snap of the first parsnips pulled:

Tour of the Plot - Green is the Theme

 Returning from holiday  (OK I've remembered this is a gardening blog) everything is green

Admittedly that's because most weeds are green.. but the potatoes have formed a nice canopy:

The first green courgette has arrived:

Through the (admittedly black) fabric the sweetcorn is shooting up.

and under the mesh the carrots are making headway:

The French Beans are growing

with the Canadian Wonder taking the lead,

Here's a busy fringe of Salad Bowl lettuces and Swedes.

Jerusalem Artechokes

Globe Artechokes:

Parsnips

The raspberries are nearly done cropping, but still very verdant.

To complete the tour there are the alliums and...

...beyond them the brassicas.

Provided I can get back on top of the weeding these crops should thrive.

Hope you enjoyed the end of July tour.