5 September 2016 - Looking at Christmas Dinner & Beyond

We planted four nice rows of garlic cloves - wonder how many of them will make it?

There were a few unwanted visitors - tortoiseshell perhaps?

We had confusion with the carrots we sowed for winter - which were the carrot seedlings and which were weeds?

In a bid to have home-grown new potatoes we planted half a dozen maris piper tubers.

Good luck little potatoes, see you in three months!

31 August 2016 - Carrots....And The Dark Side

 

 We don't talk about this - the south side of our allotment - still pretty much a shambles. Hopefully not for too much longer.

 

The second sowing of radish is going great.

And in a bid to improve Christmas dinner, Christmas-aimed carrots.

28 August 2016 - Child Labour Again

 

Sam and Jacob posing with newly cut courgettes.

 

More posing! Almost looks like they're working doesn't it....

Jacob actually enjoys hoeing, believe it or not.

They ended up with a nice basket.

Meanwhile the spinach is off to a good start.

And the spring onions are looking good too.

23 August 2016 - High Summer

By this time one side of Plot 13D was looking not too bad.

We decided to pop three parsnips in. Our original "parsnips" were weeds! How did I make a mistake like that.

Jacob and I popped netting onto the strawberry bed.

And our radishes were tasting fab, way juicier and softer than supermarket versions.

15 August 2016 - More Planting & An RAF Tribute

The allotment day began with a nice flypast by two Typhoons from RAF Coningsby, cheers chaps, nice that you acknowledge our work....

Our marrow has gone mental and we've put boards under all this kind of crop.

Super-straight seed drills for more radish and some spring onions.

Orderly planting!

And a few tates to take home for tea. Lovely.

9 August 2016 - Potatoes Ahoy!

Jacob was delighted to dig up our first potatoes....

And the pumpkins were really starting to swell and grow.

They won't beat any records but we think they're great....

27 July 2016 - Courgettes!

In just a matter of days some courgettes were ready to harvest.

We were surprised just how quickly they grow once they get going.

We decided to chop two just to see how they taste.

And they seemed to look bigger when we got them into the kitchen. Odd.

Ta-dah!

21 July 2016 - Coming Up Trumps!

After a few weeks our parsnips were coming on strong. Well, when I say "parsnips"....

The sweetcorn was booming too and little gem was tasting great.

Apparently bucking the national trend, our solitary sunflower was facing south and loving it.

Much to our surprise we even found some tiny strawberries.

The rhubarb 9donated to us, thank you) was enjoying its wide open space for expansion.

Some of the Little Gem lettuce looked pretty nice too....

And finally, the courgettes had started making baby courgettes for us. Fantastic!

12 June 2016 - Pumpkin Progress

Great to see our pumpkins flowering, hopefully this would get them into fruiting pretty soon after....

OK the blooms weren't spectacular, but they represented home grown success to us.

Next year we'll have a better idea how to look after them.

Sadly the Rescue Rasps were not seeming to be enjoying their new homes....

8 June 2016 - Progress?

I started clearing the south side of Plot 13D ready for the greenhouse over the winter.

During which I found and rescued these raspberry plants, bonus!

Marked out rows for some parsnips.

Popped more sweetcorn seeds into pots.

The Rescue Rasps were planted at the back of the allotment for the time being.

5 June 2016 - Starting To Build Greenhouse - Goes Wrong

The day after dismantling we moved the greenhouse to Plot 13D.

Sadly some more panes didn't make it intact.

It's 8 x 6 so we're very lucky to get it for free.

Sam did the watering on this occasion.

And then Jacob sheared a bolt off. End of play for the day.