Sunday 17th April

Well, what a glorious day - I'm pretty sure the temperature must've topped 20 today. It was beautiful. We spent a good couple of hours at the allotment this morning. Daddy and Henry cleared the weeds out of the two big beds and also dug them over ready for the vegetables to go in. In the greenhosue things were looking good apart from the 2 Gardener's Delight tomato plants which had died - not really sure why but the others look fine and we have plenty of plants still left. Henry's pumpkins (Spellbound) were both out, the tray of cabbage (Greyhound), Broccoli (Parthenon) and lettuce (Lolla Rossa) were all out and the Squash were just breaking through the surface of the pots :-) I sowed 2 trays of beetroot (Boltardy and Deltroit Globe), 2 trays of sweetcorn (Extra Sweet), a tray of climbing borlotti beans, a tray of climbing purple beans (A Cosse Violette) and a tray of runner beans (Lady Di). I also moved the net over a new row of mange tout and took it off the Cavalier peas which are looking great. We gave everything a good water and earthed up all the potatoes and then left it. Hopefully Henry and I shall pop down tomorrow and give everything another good water, the weather looks like its going to be nice for a while (Fingers crossed !!!).

Sunday 3rd April 2011

The first little leaves of the first early potatoes were showing through the soil yesterday morning which was nice to see ! Hopefully by next weekend we'll be able to see all of them poking through ! We took the tomatoes down yesterday morning and planted them in the greenhouse. I've stuck with 2 plants from each type we grew so as not to be overwhelmed by tomatoes and to leave enough room for the chillies, peppers and any lettuce we want to grow in there too. We have Shirley, Gardener's Delight, Golden Cherry and Tigerella. Hopefully they will do OK, we'll pop down after school tomorrow and water them. We will have to check on Henry's tomato plant he rescued and planted outside in his patch (he made a little bottle greenhouse for it so fingers crossed it doesn't die - he'll be upset ! The broccoli and some salad leaves were coming through in the trays as well so that is nice.

Tuesday 29th March 2011

Well, Henry had his final tooth extraction today and is now free of the teeth that have been bothering him thank goodness. It was a nasty one too - it did not want to let go at all, hopefully he won't be too bruised but we shall see. When he was feeling a bit better this afternoon we popped down to the allotment and planted the rest of the potatoes (Maincrop - Cara and King Edward), and in a space left in the potato bed we put a couple of small rows of purple topped turnip and purple kohlrabi. We did some general weeding and I pruned the tops off the raspberries and tidied them up a bit. We watered everywhere and got Henry's patch ready for planting. We planted one row of parsnips in his patch then tidied up and came home.

Second Earlies in the garden !

The second earlies (Charlotte) are now in the garden behind the garage so that's good. Just need to put the maincrop in down at the allotment maybe at the weekend if the weather is ok.

Monday 28th March - half day at work !

I made the most of the nice weather today and started clearing the allotment and getting ready for the year ahead. I did some weeding outside and also planted a row of Swiss Chard (Bright Lights) and a row of Cavalier peas. I've covered the peas with chicken wire so hopefully the birds will leave them alone and we'll have a nice lot of pea plants through in a couple of weeks or so.

Next I moved into the greenhouse and planted two Pumpkin - Spellbound, two Squash - Invincible, a tray of Greyhound cabbage, a tray of Parthenon broccoli and a tray of Lollo Rossa lettuce. I gave everything a good water and then came home !

Sunday 20th February 2011

So, the gardening year (or at least ours) has begun. We went down to the allotment this morning and planted the Sturon onion sets, and the Jermor shallots. We dug the Jerusalem artichokes out and put one back in to grow for later this year. We dug over some of the beds, and removed old dead cabbages and kale ! Then we transplanted the blackberry bush from by the greenhouse to where the cherry tree used to be before it died. Hopefully it will be OK.

The leeks look fine and the onions and garlic that were planted in the autumn are all doing well. The same could not be said about the broad beans - there is one poor lonely looking plant in a big bed by itself !! Will have to plant some new ones when the weather improves I think !

This afternoon we planted the tomatoes (Tigerella, Golden Cherry, Shirley & Gardener's Delight), the peppers (Diablo), and the chillies (Hot Mexican and Caldero). The chillies and peppers are in the airing cupboard, which hopefully will speed the germination along :-)

Monday 24th January 2011

OK, nothing much is happening but I need to keep this up to date this year so here we go. So far I have ordered some seeds from Marshalls which should be arriving in the next few days. The allotment shop opens in a couple of weeks and so we shall get the seed potatoes, beans, shallots, onions and anything else I fancy ! Will update again soon.

Saturday 17th July 2010

I have not been good and kept this up to date so will try and remember everything we have been doing in the last couple of weeks.

Today we picked some more peas, took up the rest of the garlic in the 'onion' bed - except the elephant garlic which is still there. We also picked some gooseberries as these had gone red - I'm over the moon about that as I thought it was a green gooseberry bush and red are supposed to be tastier :-) There is a nice size pumpkin growing on Henry's plant so hopefully that will get nice and big for Halloween. We planted the leeks that were still in the tray in the greenhouse into the bed where the beetroot was. On the way out of the allotment we met a local farmer who asked whether we wanted free manure - he had a trailer load - he brought it down and we shovelled it into a couple of the spare beds, he said he would come back later on and drop some more off for us - timing is everything !

We have so far had 2 tomatoes (golden cherry), and there are plenty on the plants so they will come into their own soon. There are piles of chillies on the plants - none ripe yet but they look big and juicy - looking forward to trying them ! The 2 pepper plants look absolutely fine but as of yet - no flowers. We are keeping our fingers crossed for them !

In the last couple of weeks we have also harvested all the onions and shallots, staked the two apple trees which look much better and are also laden with apples ! We have tried some small borlotti beans (whole), and they taste very much like runner beans - the rest we are leaving in the ground to dry out so we can use them in stews in the winter.

Tuesday 29th June 2010

I went down on my own today as Henry was round at Jimmy's playing after school. I moved the fruit cage we had built and put it on top of the blackberries as they are starting to form now.

I then sorted out the tomatoes by tying them to the canes and also tying the canes to the structure of the greenhouse to make sure they don't fall over with the weight of the tomatoes as they are all starting to produce them now. I picked a lettuce for Julie (Jimmy's mum) and then gave everything in there a good water - I noticed the chillies just seem to be starting to grow after a couple of flowers - it'll be nice to see the different chillies we get this year. No flowers on the peppers yet but they are supposed to be more difficult to grow, we'll keep our fingers crossed and see !

Then I went out and sowed some more spinach seeds where the gaps in the row were, and also 2 rows of beetroot as we will be harvesting the majority of the beetroot this weekend coming - it looks lovely !

Redcurrant City !

We went down at the weekend and picked Henry's redcurrants - we ended up with 1kg which was really good considering we had about 12 last year ! Once they had all cooked down we made 1 pot of redcurrant jelly and a small bottle of currant shrub (some ancient alcoholic recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's preserves book).

We did a bit of tidying and weeding and then pulled up the onions - only about 3 were infected with white rot which again is better than last year. We have 64 onions drying in the garage at home now !

Thursday 24th June 2010

Henry and I popped down to the allotment after school today - his redcurrants are bright red, juicy and looking ready for picking - we'll do that this weekend I think. The gooseberries are also ready for picking as well.

We sorted out the raspberries (allowing 3-5 main shoots per plant and cut the rest out) after Grandad advised us on Tuesday. They look so much tidier and there are some small raspberries forming already which is lovely to see as I thought I had messed them up this year !

We gave everything a really good water as it has been so hot lately and then we tied up the borlotti beans. The onions are starting to fall over so maybe they are not far off being harvested - we noticed Max's dad had harvested some of his.

We picked a lettuce for Tina, did a touch of weeding and then came home.

Weekend of 12th June 2010

On Friday Dave had the off and we went down to the allotment to water the greenhouse, pick a couple of lettuces from the greenhouse and then just as we left we sprayed a load of wasps who had very kindly set up home in the small birdhouse we had on the tree next to the shed. Nasty beasts ! Luckily the wasp nest destroyer was superb and we left after a massive spray !

On Saturday morning we went down to check the wasps nest and found just a couple of small wasps around the nest but no more activity so we sprayed again and then picked a lettuce for Grandma and Grandpa and went round to visit them.

On Sunday we went down again and luckily the wasps nest was completely destroyed and Daddy took it apart so we could see the insides of the nest and all the grubs - mmm, nice ! Then we picked all the remaining leeks, some of which we gave to Nanna and Grandad, and some of which we have in the fridge. Then Mummy planted out the Green Trevi Cauliflower. All of the brassicas are being attacked quite badly by pigeons, I only have 2 Kale plants left now, 2 died after being planted and then I think one was pulled out by a pigeon. So we all made a netting cover to go over the top of the cauliflower, cabbage and broccoli. I just need to construct another one over the rest of the cabbage, kohlrabi, kale and brussels sprouts. We gave the greenhouse another water and noticed that there are some flowers coming on the chilli plants (Hungarian Carrot look closest to flowering) Fingers crossed for that soon !

Monday 7th June

I had the day off work today as we got back from France at the weekend. We had a lovely holiday and it wasn't so good to be back, BUT when we visited the allotment on Sunday morning it had really grown and everything was looking really well so that was nice.

This morning I spent a good couple of hours down there doing some major weeding, then I tied the tomatoes up and pinched out the bits inbetween the branches. I then planted out 2 tomato plants (Uncle Carl gave us them) into Henry's plot. I planted the climbing french beans (Corona Del'Oro) in Henry's plot. I planted a squash plant (Little Dumpling) next to the pumpkin, I also then planted out all the kohlrabi (Purple Delicacy).

Then I found a load of sticks for pea sticks and put those all in. I snipped the top off all the leeks to stop them flowering before we harvest them later this week to make leek and potato soup with !

I then gave everything a good water and noticed that a few of Henry's redcurrants had started to turn pink :-)

Sunday 23rd May 2010 - Phew ! What a Scorcher !

Well, we went down to the allotment first thing this morning and it was baking hot then ! We planted out as much stuff as we could - two lots of Cabbage - (January King and Greyhound), Sweetcorn, Kale (Black Tuscany) and then we watered everywhere where we had planted new seedlings and also in the greenhouse.

We picked 2 rocket plants to add to Mummy's salad's during the week and then we went to find Erica and Nick's plot (16), Erica was busy weeding (a large job - their quarter plot looked just like ours did when we got it !). Then after a chat and we gave them some leftover cabbage we had grown we went home and Mummy got changed ready to do the Race For Life.

Thursday 13th May 2010

Henry and I popped down after school today to check how things were going, despite the very cold frosty weather the beetroot and lettuce all seem to look fine. The courgettes look a bit frost bitten (or slug bitten!) If all fails we'll buy a couple of plants from the garden centre. We watered the greenhouse, picked a load of rhubarb (for Mummy to make rhubarb and custard muffins with tomorrow), and picked some rocket for Mummy's salads. We also took some photos. This first one is of Henry with his patch in the background and his newly protected redcurrant bush next to him !

8th/9th May 2010

We planted the lettuce out today - most of them in the greenhouse in between the tomatoes, chillies and peppers, and then the rest went into Henry's patch and next to the beetroot and also inbetween the courgettes. We did some tidying and then came home.

Bank Holiday Monday

We planted out the 3 brussels sprouts plants - Bedford Fillbasket (next to the row of peas), and Henry's pumpkin (Spellbound) next to the Jerusalem Artichokes. Then we planted out all the beetroot (some in Henry's patch - Kestrel) and some in ours next to the potatoes (Detroit Crimson Globe 2 and Kestrel). Everything that has been outside seems to be doing quite well and in the greenhouse nearly everything is through and doing well.

We then did some re-arranging in the greenhouse so we could plant the 7 chilli plants (4 Hungarian Carrot and 3 Cayenne Yellow), and we also planted out the 2 Pepper plants (Carnival Mixed). We also planted a tray of Cauliflower (Green Trevi), and a tray of Kohlrabi (Purple Delicacy). 2 things we haven't grown before - green cauliflower and strange little purple spaceship looking things !!

May Bank Holiday Weekend

Well, predictably the weather is nowhere near as nice as last weekend ! Of course, it is a bank holiday and that is what happens !

We went down on Friday morning to water as Daddy had the day off with Mummy, then we went down on Sunday morning. We built a frame with netting to go around Henry's redcurrant bush as there are lots of redcurrants on it, although not starting to turn red yet so we've caught the greedy birds out ! One of the gooseberry bushes is starting to produce gooseberries, the smaller 2 that Uncle Carl gave us last year don't appear to be but we need to be patient ! At least they look nice and healthy. In the greenhouse everything looks great, the borlotti beans, swiss chard, climbing french beans, sweetcorn and the kale are all through and looking great. Mummy planted the broccoli (Parthenon) out in the large bed that had potatoes in last year. We have 3 rows of them and have kept some more in the tray in the greenhouse in case anything happens to the ones we've planted out. There are quite a few more things that need planting out so we'll go down again tomorrow if the weather is nice and sort some more stuff out :-)

Weekend of 24/25 April 2010

We watered all the plants in the greenhouse on Saturday and then on Sunday morning we went down early - the weather was lovely and really quite warm. We planted the maincrop potatoes (Cara and Sante), 3 rows of 5 potatoes and then 1 row of 5 potatoes in another bed. Everything is doing well in the greenhouse, still no sweetcorn, green beans or borlotti beans through yet. There are no sign of the peas outside yet but the new broad beans are beginning to come through.

Henry's redcurrant bush is covered in flowers, as are the apple trees and the gooseberry bushes. Graham arrived after we had been there a while and gave us some parsley and some rocket as well so we have planted them in the greenhouse.

This afternoon we sowed some radish and some lettuce leaves in the guttering Uncle Nige got for us. Then we sowed a small tray of rocket and some flowers (Petunia, Sweet peas and Mesbrymanthemums (or something like that !!!)). All of these we are keeping at home for easy picking !

Weekend of 17/18th April 2010

Only watered yesterday and collected a load of rhubarb to make jam with but this morning Henry and I went down and the weather was lovely. We sat outside the shed and planted trays of borlotti beans, Kale (Cavolo Nero - from Rachel at work), climbing french beans (Corona D'Oro), lettuce and sweetcorn. We had a lovely time, watered everything and most things are through now which is great. We watered the chard, peas, spinach outside and harvested one of the leeks for tea.

This afternoon when tidying up the back garden we noticed that one of the potatoes (Amorosa) has come through which is good to see !