Toms and cues are coming up a treat on Vicky’s window cill. Rocket is racing away and the beans are showing no signs of slowing down. Think we are on for a good year this year. More time and planning is the key.
Well today it actually felt like the plot was starting to resemble the one I’ve had in my head with the construction of some raised beds. Simply made using old 2nd hand scaffold boards and a few nails.
Because some parts of the plot still have things growing it meant that the raised beds are scattered about. Based on 5ft square beds we made 4 singles and doubled one up to form the raised bed for the strawberries although we will have to dig these up and replant them.
So with the beds made we now need to level them up and fill them ready for planting up during March and April with all the new seeds that arrived today.
Having set the beds roughly in place we now need to lay our hands on about 20 more paving slabs to finish the paths in between them all.
Saturday 16th February 2013. A very important day for the plotting up team (yeah that’s right. Now it’s a team effort) because today we have sowed our first crops of the year. While we wait for our recent order to arrive we’ve gone ahead and started on our salad crops.
We’ve kicked off the season by filling a small 8 x 5 module tray with a mixture of “New Horizon” organic and peat free vegetable compost and “J Arthur Bower’s” vermiculite. Into this we planted 3 different types of Tomato, cucumber, 3 different types of chilli/peppers and a row of aubergines.
We filled the seed tray bottoms of 2 propagators with the same mixture. Into 1 we sowed lettuce and rocket. Into the other we sowed rows of runner and dwarf beans and a row of peas.
So 2013 here we come. And yes that is we, not as in the royal we but rather the fact that this yea I will be helped down the plot by my new lovely girlfriend Vicky (see her hard at work digging this years potato bed).
And so the work has begun. The left over cabbages that we never got to eat because they git eaten by caterpillars have been cleared. The rest of the monster parsnips have been dug up ready to be made into roasts and parsnip soup (if Vicky can be arsed to make it that is) and both those beds dug over ready for planting along with 50% of the new potato bed. A part of the plot that had previously been covered but never dug so it was hard going in comparison to those other areas that were used last year.
This is the current seeds I have left from last year. Going to to start potting up and germinating some this weekend. Really looking forward to it again this year. Hopefully we’ll have more luck.
Can’t believe it’s been over 6 weeks since I last updated this blog. Have a tendency to update via twitter feed @plottingup so will really only update this actual blog less often but with more important updates or where there is a lot to get in. Have decided to give myself a budget of £250.00 to spend between now and 1st March. This is to be spent on some necessities to keep the plot in shape and to hopefully cut down on the amount of work involved in weeding and site tidying. Firstly going to try and get hold of some old scaffold boards not so much to make raised beds but to more define the beds themselves and to stop the encroachment of the grass and weeds. Secondly going to invest in some paving slabs so that I can make proper paths around the plot and also these will help to suppress weeds and grass growing in between each bed.
I have carried out some more major pruning of the existing fruit bushes today following on apple tree a few weeks ago when I had a major plot tidy up in preparation for the onset of winter. Moved all the old timber and canes to a pile and disposed of the rubbish which was piling up in various places so this is now all in one place – a rather large compost pile of sorts. Still need to get hold of enough decent all the same pallets to construct my proper compost bins. I also raked up all the leafs form the wooded part of the plot that goes down tot he river and made a leaf pile – next time I go down I plan to take some sacks to transfer this into so that it rots down into leaf mold that I can use a a natural soil enhancer. I have 2 sacks at home form the all the leafs that fell off my neighbor’s trees.
I have also covered over the majority of the bottom end of the plot around the Bramley apple tree so that all the parts of the plot that are not currently cultivated are covered and as last year I will uncover each bit as It is dug in spring and planted. Weeds are my biggest problem!!
I have also decided that I want to plant more fruit. I see fruit as being a great way to get some low maintenance long lasting planting into the plot. The plan is to use the lower end of the plot where the existing Bramley tree is to plant up some fruit trees that will give me fruit i can eat straight form the tree. I want to plant an apple, pear and plum as a minimum but also possibly a cherry too. The lower end of the plot gets full sun all through spring, summer autumn but not winter when the sun is lowest due to the trees that line the river bank. It also means that I will be able to have a substantial part of the plot always in cultivation according tot he rules of the allotment (forming an association failed for a second time so it will remain under council control for now).
I also plan to use a few paving slabs to create a hard standing area onto which I can place a shed. I have a small toilet/shelter left from the previous tenant that I plan to use. I will need to install a better roof and some doors to make it secure. I also Plan to somehow construct/acquire a green house so that I can start to grow my salad crops more successfully that i do at present back home.
So lots to do and as always not much time. But plenty to think about, plan and gather during the winter hibernation.
With Autumn well and truly here and winter just round the corner it’s that time of year when your watching out for the first signs of frost that will put an end to any of the tender plants that are left. Luckily for me perhaps is that I don’t have much left. Still got a few main crop spuds in the ground that will need lifting along with some more of the ginormous parsnips (got a friend who says he can make parsnip wine so going to drop them off for him at some point). The late peas and dwarf beans i planted have some pods on them which i’m going to leave for one more week and then start picking – even if it’s just a handful of each its a meal!
The broad beans have started showing that I planted so hopefully we’ll get a nice early crop in Spring. Last years late crop year delicious so hopefully these will fair a bit better. No signs of the purple sprouting broccoli or carrots that I planted so have to see if that gamble pays off.
It’s now the time to start making plans for what I’m going to grown next year.
Managed to get to the plot today for a couple of hours. Originally planned of getting down there early(ish) as the sun was shining but as always tends to happen; just as I think about grabbing my stuff and heading out the sky opened and the rain fell. So lunch time it was then. Lovely sunny day with a slight chill in the air – perfect autumn day.
So with not much planting going on it was time to turn my attention to weeding and site clearance ready for next spring. I removed the big weeds form areas where I still have things growing and then set my sights on the bottom of the plot. The area near the river which over the summer had just become one big patch of nettles and bind weed. It took the best part of 2 hours but by the end the plot resembled what it did when I came to view it last October. All the various piles of waste have been neatly put into one big rubbish pile and squashed down. The big thing is to keep on top of this stuff to stop the wild plants from taking over!! Away from the growing area is another bit of the plot that is just like a another rubbish heap that is also overgrown. Too much work to try and clear this by hand so I opted for some chemical death. The one and only time so far that i have used any chemicals and i made sure to keep it well away from the part of the plot where I plan to grow things.
Over the next couple of months as things quieten down I plan to do some of the jobs that I didn’t get round to doing this year such as moving the old timber shelter/toilet structure that is down by the river. I plan to move this further up and use it as a shed. Hopefully all I will need to do is hang some doors on it and then we have a nice little shed that will actually be usable and without having to go out and buy one. Will have to bury the dead fox I found in it.
Well it’s been a whole year with my allotment plot and I must start by saying that it’s definitely been a mixed bag of success and failures. Nonetheless it has been an enjoyable year learning and experimenting. The weather had been up and down and the slug invasion has been problematic. Not wanting to get into chemicals and to try to be as organic as possible means that I have tried to love with any pests that have come along. I believe there are definitely preventive measures I can do to reduce problems in the coming year.
The successes of the year have been the potatoes, runner beans, parsnips and the established asparagus that was kindly left for me along with the existing apple tree. The failures have been the 1st crop of peas that were eaten, the brassicas, carrots and broad beans. Not all of which were entire failures it must be said.
Onwards and upwards. Plans for the coming year have already started with the planting of 30 strawberry plants a few weeks back and today I got down for a couple of hours to plant some broad beans and to see if any carrots sown now will grow and be ready for winter roasts in the coming months. The parsnips I’m harvesting are ginormous, almost mutant compared to what you buy in the shops. Going to see if I can find a parsnip crisp recipe to use on some of them. We’ve also got the first few pods on our late peas and dwarf beans showing so hopefully I’ll be harvesting them by the end of the month. Also teh first signs that the purple sprouting broccoli has germinated and so hopefully will have some of that in time for Christmas.
In preparation for the coming of winter we have also covered over some of the empty beds with weed suppression mat as before. Next year we plan to make some capital investment in the plot not that we’ve got a few things established. One of the main things we are going to do is introduce some more fruit trees as these will only need to be planted once and will keep on giving fruit year after year. I’m also going to build some raised beds as these will hopefully help in deterring some of the pests. Also going to create a separate bed to devote to salad crops.
All in all it’s been a fun first year. I’ve enjoyed the hard work and been pleased with the outcome. Hopefully the coming year will prove to be better and the plot will go from strength to strength proving me with more and more of the delicious fruit and veg to eat all year round.
