Progress update

Well with the recent rain things have been growing very well at the allotment. We have started eating the potatoes which are delicious and will sample our first peas tomorrow. Everything else is growing well and we should have even more stuff soon.

The beans well on their way

Beetroot and carrots coming on well.

The onion bed - still need to wait a bit before this is ready

Parsnips and chillis in the background

The peas - going to cook the first ones tomorrow

Herb bed - herbs are coming on well and being used in a lot of dishes

Cucumber and courgette plants - again these seem to have leaped forward with the recent rain

Cauliflower! Only small at the moment but really coming along

A small update

Well we have been rather busy recently but here is a small update on the things we have been growing

Coriander, thyme and chives

Peas and beans

The salad bed - plenty to eat from here

Brassicas - a mixed bunch but some big ones

The potatoes

The latest developments...

Well another busy day on the allotment. There was a lot of weeding to catch up on - only small weeds but its easier to get them up when they are small. Everything looks a lot neater now though and everything seems to be starting to come through the soil. Growing from seed has meant it has taken a while for some things to appear.

New things to go in today...the runner beans have gone in along with the construction of the A-frame. The cucumber plant has gone into the soil as well so we will see how that gets on and another row of carrots and beetroot (the first carrots planted still aren't showing so we are getting a little concerned that something might have gone wrong).

Finally we have got to eat the first the produce from the allotment - some small salad leaves to thin out the crop have gone in the salad for lunch tomorrow. And some fresh rocket leaves went on top of the freshly made ham and mushroom pizza that were delicious. It is very rewarding to get the first crops through already barely 5 weeks after we started.

The first produce...rocket on top of a home
made ham and mushroom pizza - delicious!

The A-frame and beans. You can just see the peas
starting to show at the bottom of the picture.

Cucumber plant next to the random flowers we planted.

The rows of salads starting to show through.
Should keep us going through the summer!

Further progress

So progress has been steady on the allotment so far. Things are starting to come through the soil and the salads are coming on well. The first construction project has been a frame with netting to protect the brassicas from the birds although the dears might be a bigger issue seeing as they have attacked our strawberries.

The chilli plants also went into the ground today as they have been nurtured from seed. They seem to be coming on well so hopefully they should have some good fruit on them. We used a bit of the compost left by the previous owner which seems a good quality compost so that should help them along as well.

All in all things seem to be progressing well.

The chilli plants going in - 9 planted in total so
hoping for a plentiful supply for curries later in the year!

The first structure on the allotment - total cost about £8. Just waiting
on a staple gun from ebay to finish of the netting but will protect them
from the deers at the moment. Might have to make something similar for
the strawberries!

Another busy day on the allottment!

Well this weekend has been very busy indeed. Saturday involved digging out the top raised bed ready to plant the onions as well as cutting the grass in the walkways (with hand shears - think we might have to find another way!).

Today we had some help on the allotment from my parents, sister, brother in law and niece. It allowed us to do a lot on there today. We started off digging out the two remaining raised beds ready for planting. Into these went some more potatos (maris piper main crop), some cauliflower plants, red and white onion sets and some peas with plenty of space left for other items later in the season. We also dug up the remaning leeks and trimmed the raspberries and gooseberry bushes and moved one of the compost bins.

So all in all a very busy weekend and lots achieved. The main part of the allotment is now sorted and we can now tidy up and plant the rest of it at our leisure.

Thanks to Mum, Dad, Dot and Darren for your help and also little Chloe (who slept through the whole thing!)

The pea trenches being dug and some of the home made compost being put in the bottom.

Onion sets have gone in here - going to be a lot of onions later in the year!

Maris piper main crops potatoes and the cauliflowers at the end. We need to get some netting to protect the brasicas from the birds!

Some more rows of the salads have gone in to stagger the crops!

The whole allotment - a work in progress but is going well. Later in the month the broad beans will go in and the chilli plants should be closer to going into some of the spaces.

The first shoots of spring

Well we havent had much time to do much else on the allottment at the moment but what we have already planted seems to be coming on well.

There are many shoots coming up mainly from the salad crops.

This weekend we will dig the two and half remaining raised beds and dig the bean pit and get some onion sets in the ground as well so a busy weekend ahead.

The Tom Thumb lettuces

First sign of the radishes

Potatoes and Parnsips

So got home from work today, nipped in the house got changed and headed straight out to get on with the next raised bed. This was to be the first real challenge as the weeds were much more thicker in this raised bed. Still 90 mins later the be was clear and dug through. This soil seemed much sandier than the others but there was some compost put through it. It might not be ideal for the potatoes and parsnips but unfortunately we found signs of potatoes in the other 3 beds we dug out yesterday so in the interests of crop rotation this was to be the one for the spuds!

We planted out 3 rows of Charlotte potatoes to save a bit of room for some later potatoes like a Maris Piper or something. We also did 3 rows of parsnips at the other side of this bed and just managed to get them in before the light disappeared. So another good evening and it was important to get them in tonight as time will be limited over the next days so will be restricted to keeping on top of what has been done already before starting anything else.

Here is a pic of the pots and snips bed with the heaped lines for the pots.