Photo of the week

The photo was taken last night after watering. Bye bye for a week, we're off on holidays.

Cycling to the plot!

The allotment on 2nd May

And here lies the proof that today I cycled to the allotment! It was hard (especially pushing the bike up Whitehill)

One can see, it hasn't rained much last night, despite the promising weather forecast, so today I watered well. I also removed the attempted netting for the Brussel sprouts. I decided I will repot them in bigger pots and transplant them in the allotment when we're back from France. I also sowed two rows of parsnips and fancied sowing leeks too, but then realised that the packet suggested to start them off in a planter, which I will do presto.

The tomato plants are looking a bit better today, I think the lack of water wasn't very good to them. the courgettes on the other hand seem a bit pale to me, compared the the one at home. We need to get some netting and create a windbreak somehow.

So the work for tonight at home is:

1. Repot brussel sprouts, tomato, pepper and purple sprouting in bigger pots.

2. Sow leeks

3. Water

4. Relax (if I have time)

Progress Photo 21st May 2011

The allotment as we arrived

I always make the mistake to forget to take an after photo so I will do so as I'll go to the plot tomorrow. The weather was great this morning, it was sunny and warm, ideal for a morning in the allotment.

Will came with me today and insulated the shed, that will be good to store things over the winter, such as dahlia tubers.

On my side, I de-weeded, then planted some sweetcorn, a dahlia, 2 tomato plants and some marigold around the tomatoes.

Our other growing place: Home

Our home plot

The allotment isn't the only place where we grow. Last summer we decided to dig up a small plot in our front garden, with the approval of our landlord. We filled it up with green manure over the winter and it was ready to plant in spring. These broad beans "Giant Exhibition Long pods" has been sown early spring and they are looking good and in bloom. as a reference the cold frame on the right is 43.5cm high, so the broad beans are about half a meter high.
Behind is our lovely big cat Lucas, who is helping us keeping the birds away (not that he can catch them but he scares the birds away at least...) Behind the broad beans are the climbing beans and runners beans, and on the left are the sugar-snap peas.

I mentioned in an earlier blog that we were keeping a courgette plant in a pot at home, I noticed today that some male flowers were fused and couldn't resist and take a photo, maybe some of you have already seen this... The plant is also much bigger than the two we planted in the allotment, that must be because it is less windy here and also the compost is probably more fertile than the soil in the allotment.

Courgette plant with fused male flowers

One more photo: reading a magazine, we saw a potato planter offer that we decided to try. We bought two of them (Will's parents ordered another one for us) and the potato plants looks like they really like it there. Let's hope they're producing as much inside as they do on top... 

Potato bags

Today's work

Nettle tea preparation

So today Will and I went to the allotment in the morning and did a bit of work on it.

My first task of the day was to inspect the plants and how they are growing.

The potatoes are coming out nicely, so are the garlic and onions. The tomato plants and getting a nice dark green colour. Rocket and radish are coming out too.

On the not so good side, the courgette plants don't look very well. I think they are lacking a bit of water, but they'll be fine once they settle down in the soil... The lavender doesn't look very healthy either, we'll see.

Then after my inspection, I put the gloves on and went in the surroundings to pick some nettle to do some nettle tea. I shredded the leaves in a bucket and poured water over. Then I sealed the bucket and will leave it rot for some time. once it's ready, it will be used to fertilise my tomato plants...

Once this was done, I planted some strawberry plants, yeah! 16 plants all together. They probably won't give a good harvest this year but I can't wait for next year and the strawberry jam I'll be able to do. I have also 10 plant in the post from Gardener's wold offer. Can't wait to plant them down.

While I was looking, chatting tot he neighbours and doing my nettle tea and planting my strawberries, Will was very hard at work and placed 3 patio slabs in front of the shed and did some more digging.

Weekly photo

The allotment on 13th May 2011

A friend of mine suggested that I post a photo a week of the allotment as a whole so people could see the progress. I thought it was a brilliant idea and I will also try to take the photo from the same angle every week.

After a year I should be able to do a small clip that will show the growing changes...

For the not-so-techy people, it is possible to click on the photo to enlarge it.

This photo was taken yesterday as I arrived to water the plant after two days not visiting the plot. Some plants are a bit droopy but the tomato plants did really good and hae a much nicer dark green colour than when they where in their pots...

Dwarf Beans

I had a think about the courgette space yesterday and instead of sowing a new courgette I decided to use the space for  some dwarf beans. I did a seed swap earlier this year with a work colleague and got some dwarf beans among other seeds.

I have three varieties: Borlotto di Vigevano, Meraviglia di Venezia, and purple king.
I wasn't sure how to plant them as I forgot to write this down on the envelope so I called dad. He said there's two schools in France for planting French dwarf beans: either you plant a seed every 2 cm, and space them in rows of 45cm, or you sow 5-6 seeds together, every 20-22cm, spaced in rows again of 45cm. My dad tried both and prefers the second technique. So because he's been growing vegetables since before I was born, and that was in the late 70s, then I trust his expertise and used technique number 2.

He also advised me to do the same as for potatoes, ie dwarf beans need earthing up when they reach 10cm in height. But they only need earthing up once. That's so the plant develop a better root system.

I also checked the tomato plant and they are doing fine. I also removed a few dock leaves as, now that it rained a few times, they are coming out again...