Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary

Members adventures in the Vegetable Patch all year round
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by wildlifemad »

It is awful when someone steals your produce because if they were that desperate for a bit of food & asked I would gladly give them some. I have suspicions that it could be someone who has an allotment where we are as he sells his own produce, as anything that is stolen is harvested well (if that makes sense) so as not damage the plants, we had runner beans disappear a couple of years ago but they had been picked well & also the amount that is stolen, one neighbour had 12 cucumbers go overnight from his polytunnel......say no more.
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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Went to the allotment Tues,Weds,Thurs last week to check for any spuds coming through as it was frosty so threw a bit of soil over them to protect them.Lost some Asparagus to the frost but everything else was ok.When I went on Tues the Robin chicks had fledged so lets hope they kept their heads down whilst it was cold! On Sunday we did 4 hours, hubby got 4 rows of spuds ridged, 11 to go when they come up!! Dug up the last of the cabbages & weeded the bed which will have carrots in it. Also cleared another bed. The Strawberry bed may not get cleared this year after all as it looks like we may enough room without it.Picked some Asparagus for dinner.
In the greenhouse at home I potted up tomatoes into 1 litre pots.Sowed Courgettes,yellow & green varieties.Also some Sunflowers which will go on the allotment & we will sow some direct in any spare places (good to put them in with Courgettes as they are ground level), its amazing how many folks put sunflowers in, it brightens the plots up & feed the birds so its win win!
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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A good weekend had on the allotment.Hubby ridged 11 rows (!!) of Potatoes so they are now all done. Finished weeding the last beds so all ready to go now.The Strawberry bed is staying this year as we have enough room for everything without clearing it, thank goodness!! Prepared the bed for the beans, we are growing a full row (15ft ish) of French Beans then half row of Runners & Borlotti's. We put posts up & screening which hubby got from work when they updated the old stuff, then we put chicken wire round to stop the rabbits as they chomped all the tops 3 years ago when we planted them out! Also planted some Beetroot plugs. Yesterday we went for an hour when hubby got home & got 1 row of canes up & tied.
In the greenhouse at home, the beans are all coming up now. Potted more tomatoes up. I need to start hanging baskets as well. Sooo much to do & we go away in just under 3 weeks & have a grandchild due on 23rd!! So I shouldn't be sat typing this should I, I should be outside doing!!!!!!!
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by wildlifemad »

Another good week on the allotment.The rain has made everything look much happier! Got all the bean canes up ready for planting this coming weekend.Rotavated the last 3 beds which we had cleared last week. Leeks planted out, parsnips & swede sown direct. Posts & lines in ready for Tomatoes to go in but not till we get back off holiday. Marked out with pots where the Courgettes will go in the other bed & have then sown plenty of Sunflowers in between. It all looks really good now, we always (or perhaps just me!!) panic that we won't get it all finished in time as each year seems to take longer than the last!! The Robins have built another nest actually in the nestbox that has been up for 5 years & never used but was only 2ft away from the one they built in the plant pots so more babies to come!! Picked 14 spears of Asparagus on Sunday & a few during the week.
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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Forgot on the last post to say we planted 3x15ft rows of carrots, 2 rows Early Nantes & 1 row of Purple haze.We have last week finished our carrots from last year which we store in polystyrene boxes in damp compost & under the bench in the greenhouse, they hold really well.
Anyway, another weekend on the lotty done! Planted out French, Runner & Borlotti Beans. Canes put up ready for Tomatoes to go out when we get back from holiday. Hand weeded Onion/Garlic bed, the rain has given everything a boost including the weeds & especially the Marestail! Still picking good amounts of Asparagus.
Went to lotty again yesterday, mowed all paths, weeded 1 lot of Brassicas. Swede have come up so will need thinning before we go away.Carrots just starting BUT the mole has gone straight under the bed!!! I love nature but not when it decides to ruin my allotment!!! Last year we had voles in our carrot bed & they nibbled the tops of all the Purple haze carrot & hardly touched the Early Nantes which we had most of!!! Got another lot of Brassica to weed & try to hoe the Strawberry bed as well.
At home I've been busy potting all the tomatoes which will go on the plot into 2litre pots whilst we are away.We have a great neighbour who looks after the greenhouse at home & we also look after her garden when she goes away,her payment for this is any Asparagus that grows she has & at this rate she'll also be eating cucumber which are growing well!!
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kitla
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by kitla »

interesting about storing carrots. I think storing vegetables has become a largely forgotten skill now we all have freezers. When we moved here 20 years ago our elderly neighbours would give us the occasional cabbage that had been stored for months. I'd like to know more about storing stuff, I hate to be so dependant on electricity (you never know!).
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wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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We got back from Scotland on Saturday night after a lovely relaxing 2 weeks,went to the lotty Sunday morning...back to reality with a big bump!!!! We had large plum Tomatoes in 2 litre pots at home that had got blown about in the winds so we had no choice to put them in Sunday (we were going to have a relaxing day & do the bulk of the work this coming weekend!!). Luckily,we had put the canes & supports up ready before we went away so that saved time but it still time as they were rather wayward! Hubby mowed the paths which were really long so that was time consuming. We pulled back the fleece on the 3 rows of carrots I had sown, 12 seedlings! We think it was ants as there are a lot in the bed,so now we add ants to the battle!! As I have mentioned before we struggle with marestail, when we look at the beds now if we didn't have the marestail we have surprisingly little weed to clear but as it is we can barely see the garlic & oninons for the marestail. I went down yesterday & it took me 2.5 hours to clear one quarter of the bed & I filled 2 compost bags with it!! When the weeds are big I like to hand weed them but I did hoe the tomato bed off as it was hot & they began to shrivel up quickly. The 2nd nest of Robins has hatched & we have 5 healthy looking chicks!! That's it for now,I will try & go again today but have lots of other jobs to do.We have a free weekend & it looks like its going to be hot,probably too hot to work in so we'll be there early.
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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As forecast,it was hot!!! Went to the lottty at 6.45am Saturday & Sunday & came home by 10am as there is no shade & it just gets too hot. Anyway,finished weeding the onions & garlic also did the beans & courgettes so its looking a bit more presentable!The surface has gone soooo hard now its difficult to get any weeds out. Hubby strimmed the bottom area where we have compost bins,etc.Had to do quite a bit of watering but at least we have plenty of water butts & mains to connect to unlike some allotments.We harvested Lettuce,Chard,Spring Onions,a few Strawberries & the 1st two Courgettes of the season albeit small! The Robin chicks fledged on Friday & one flew straight into the shed so we had to half empty it to rescue it,lesson learned keep the shed door shut! In the greenhouse at home we are harvesting Cucumbers daily,I picked 3 large & 3 small yesterday so the neighbour is doing well! She pays for any spare produce because she said she would rather buy it from us which is organic,so we plant enough early potatoes for her as well as we have the space.The small amount of money we get is enough to pay the allotment rent & perhaps a few seeds.
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by wildlifemad »

Haven't updated this for a while! We've been going to the lotty on & off (we seem to have so much other "stuff" to do!) We have mainly just been weeding to keep everything down. We do seem to have lost our way a bit this year,mainly as I've said before due to the fact of having totally overgrown plots surrounding us.We spoke to the committee last Sunday on their walk around as they have now taken 2 of the 3 overgrown plots back but have been too slow in clearing them ready for new tenants so now the year is lost for anyone who is on the waiting list & the work needed on the plots has doubled! Anyway,moan over!! We have started harvesting Annabelle spuds which are a 2nd early but are now a good size so we've took all the tops off to stop them & will start lifting them to store.There are 3x15ft rows left! Also picking good numbers of courgettes.Have had some good (although small) Calabrese heads but yet again they have clubroot although we put lime in the bed, so we may give them a break next year to see if it clears up (we do always rotate the beds). We've also started picking French beans & the Runners have got plenty of flowers on. It seems the frost we had in April killed off all the blossom on the Apple & Pear trees we have about 4 Bramleys growing but nothing else, but talking to other plot holders they are in the same boat so Apples will be expensive this year. The Cucumbers slowed down last week with the dull weather but seem to be picking up again now. Just waiting for Tomatoes to start ripening. That's about it for now.
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by Cheshire Chick »

Sounds like you are going to have some lovely crops to harvest.
wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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Did 4hrs in total over the weekend on the lotty, really hot yesterday, we were back home by 10am! So we dug a row of Annabelle spuds (15ft), 2 rows left. Harvested all the Garlic as it was starting to die back, great crop again, ended up with 90 bulbs. Also harvested Shallots & got about 100. This year we re-planted some of our own small Shallots & they have done better than shop bought ones. We have done this with the Garlic for the last few years & it works well & saves money!!! Picked 4 Cauliflower heads but they're not great & the last few small Broccolis, as I mentioned in previous post we seem to keep suffering with clubroot so have to do some research, have any of you folks struggled with it? Picked 2lb of French beans, 10 Courgette, 4 baby Leeks & 1 large Cucumber. The Runner beans are just beginning to form so we'll be getting those in the next week or so. After all that todays job is to blanch Broccoli, make Cauliflower cheese & freeze the French beans (I don't blanch them any more & they taste better as well as taking a lot less time) I will try & get a bit done there this week as we go to Yorkshire early Friday till Sunday.
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KarenE
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by KarenE »

Sounds like you've been busy! Enjoy your harvest, it's brilliant when you can pick your own produce )t'

I'm intrigued though - that's a lot of produce! How do you store it all?
Karen
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wildlifemad
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

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Hi KarenE. It is a lot of produce & there's only 2 of us!! But I do cook all Mum in laws meals for her so that uses some more up! The Garlic we will make Garlic pickle & I also chop it,mix with butter & freeze in ice cube trays for use through the year (we haven't bought any garlic for 10yrs since we've had the plot!) The rest just gets stored in the kitchen loft which is single storey & cool along with Shallots & Onions. Courgettes tend to get made into soup & vegetable lasagnes for the freezer. Beans,etc get frozen but I don't blanch any more & the taste stays better. Potatoes are stored in paper sacks in the porch & we finished eating them in April this year! I also made a few portions of oven chips for the freezer with them. Obviously we eat it all fresh as well & the neighbour buys excess off us which usually covers the rent for the allotment. The only trouble is we seem to take 5th place on the list for harvesting these days behind the ants, voles, rabbits & humans (stealing)!!!!!!! Oh well that's life!!!!!
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KarenE
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by KarenE »

Sounds good - well except for the other 4 harvesters of course! I am going to have to think about how I store mine, if we ever get anything from our allotment - I'm expecting it to function properly next year, this year is really a set up year. I only have a small freezer, so that's out! A nice cool storage loft sounds ideal... I wonder if I could use some of the chicken coop?? As if! I'd have nothing left after a week! :-D
Karen
Alpha chick to: Smudge, Matisse and Bluebell
Chief servant to Marley the cat
Remembering Weeps, Rexie, Sage, Cassie, Toffee, Captain Gabby, Commander Nugget, Ronnie, Juno, Special Poetry and Reading Casper, Tigger, Tophenanall Rembrandt, Chestnut, Tiddly, Willow, Mango, Coco, Dorian Grey and Pokey.
Also my lost furries Charlie and Jasper
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Mo
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Re: Wildlifemad's Allotment Diary 2017

Post by Mo »

wildlifemad wrote:... we seem to take 5th place on the list for harvesting these days behind the ants, voles, rabbits & humans (stealing)!!!!!!! ...


It's the birds for fruit. Plus the pigeons or whatever has all my peas as soon as they show through (so I've stopped growing them)
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