Spring has Sprung

Hello .

What a busy start to the season already.

I have the majority of my plants in the ground already and it is only mid April,I am quite lucky because we don't generally get frost now where I am.

I have 3 types of peas on the go,one variety is Kelvdon Wonder which is approx 8" high now.

A few types of carrots which are mainly carrot root fly resistant.

Butternut squashes are doing well.I have 3 varieties this year.

Two types of courgettes one being yellow and one dark green.

Sweetcorn a few inches high growing with pumpkins.

Broad beans and french beans.

Sprouting broccoli and cauliflowers.

Leeks and onions and garlic.

Potatoes which are Maris bard,Deserrie,Nicola,King Edwards and Kestral.

Parsnips have been sown but no sign as yet.

Strawberry,gooseberry,currants are all in flower and the raspberries are full of bud.

Who would believe it is only April.

The cows in the field next to me are enjoying the good weather too with the calf's leaping around like lambs.

cucumber

This is a photo of my cucumber plant growing in my conservatory.There is two cucumbers that are already approx 6" long and 12 plus smaller ones on the way and it's only mid April.

January update

Greetings to All
Went up to my lottie today,was cold but the sun was shining.
The main reason for going was to check for storm damage.Nothing realy apart from branches fallen off trees,a good thing realy has they do cast shade over the lottie.

While up there i was very surprised by a unexpected harvest....
Carrots,potatoes,parsnips,leeks and cabbage.
The leeks and cabbage i knew of and what i thought would be the odd carrot but to my surprise i bagged up half a carrier bag full of carrots.
I knew i had a small section of potatoes which i grew on the surface of the soil under black plastic....i thought these would be no good has they should of been harvested in autumn but when i pulled the plastic away there lay loads and loads of beautiful spuds some of which are big enough for baked potatoes.
The parnips was the biggest surprise.Again i knew they was there but i didn't think that they had developed so i just left them until today.Got a delightful shock when i decided to clear the bed,there laying in wait was a fantastic crop of beautiful sweet scented parsnips.
So all in all when i got home i had roast spuds,roast parsnips,carrots and cabbage along with roast chicken yum yum.

I know i was a bit late but i also prunned my raspberries while there and covered my rhubarb with large upturned pots without drainage holes to bring forward the shoots.
Was amazed to see the roses still in full leaf...one even had a small rose on.

Anyway i am now going to start making plans for this years crops with a few changes here and there of which i will let you know in time.

AUTUMN

Had a wonderful supply of sunflowers.Here is a picture showing a container full of sunflower heads which i have cut off to dry out.The birds in my garden absolutely love them especially the tit family and the finches.I put the whole sunflower head on the bird feeding station facing upwards so the birds can come along and help themselves.
There is more than enough here to keep them going through the winter.





This is my rainbow chard.The leaves are cooked like spinach and the stems i like to cook in the oven wrapped in tinfoil with a knob of butter...yum yum.
It is still growing like mad,the more you pick the more it grows.
The colours range from white-yellow-orange-red.

AUTUMN

Well the weather as been fantastic to say that we are halfway through October!
It is now starting to look like autumn now though with the leaves on the trees changing colour and the Robin echoing all around the garden,how sweet it is too!

Because of the long spell of good weather i have had an excellent year for carrots...this picture shows a bunch that i pulled in one go...i didn't thin them out but they still grew big and healthy,the picture doesn't really show their size,they are bigger than they look.

This is a picture of my brassica cage which is made out of 1cm square netting.My second attempt at making the cage as the first time around i used 1" square netting which allowed the cabbage white butterflies in.This time around it as worked well.

I have both savoy and hispi cabbages growing in there along with some purple sprouting broccoli.

The cabbages are forming lovely hearts so it will not be too long before they are ready.

LATE SUMMER

This is my third batch of sweetcorn which is a late variety...the cobs are beginning to really swell now....i am still harvesting batch no.2.
The carrots was sown at the end of July so i would be able to harvest these for winter...they are growing a lot quicker than i expected them to.The variety is 'Flyaway'....I have had a fantastic success rate with these all season...really recommend them.

LATE SUMMER

What an harvest i have had this summer!!!I am well chuffed with all my onions,the red ones are so strong in flavour,the picture shows just a few off them that needed to be dried off a wee bit more and the rest are in my shed in an hessian sack.Next to the red onions in this picture are my garlic corms which i grew from two corms from the supermarket...what a success they are.The other picture shows a large amount of shallots which i will be pickling most of very soon and saving some for replanting in autumn.Also i have a sack full of large cooking onions.

Sweetpeas.Took this photo after i had stripped the plants to make several bunches of sweetpeas to take into work for my freinds,it is my birthday this Sunday so i took them in instead of cream cakes along with 3 carrier bags full of mixed veg,well they all tell me they are on diets :)
My youngest son Lewis doing a bit or should i say a lot of strimming for me,the weeds grow faster than the veg!!!
Yellow courgettes,had 9 courgettes off this one plant so far,yummy.I am also growing 'black night' which is a dark green variety.

These are one crop of my 3 varieties of sweetcorn,this one is 'minipop'.I have planted a pumpkin plant in the middle of them which was given to me a couple of weeks ago,it as grown a fair bit since i took this photo last week.

This is one of my salad boxes,they are approx 36" x 48",i got them from hubby;s work,they are fold up crates that also stack onto each other to make deeper boxes...have 12 so far!In this box i have 3 rows of mixed salad leaf lettuces and 3 rows of baby beetroot.When thinning out the lettuce i pull the whole plants out and use them allowing the other plants to grow better.


Here i have beetroot growing in the forground followed by parsnips then red onions and behind them are hundreds of shallots.The rows are approx 20ft long....goodness knows what i am going to do with it all!!!Think i best save glass jars from now onwards for pickling.

Hello All,
Well what a great June it has been so far.I have already picked one and half carrier bags full of peas and loads more yet to come.The peas are felthem first which was sown late winter.I have five other varieties on the go!!!!
The broad beans are nearly ready too,wish they flowered all year round because they smell absolutelt gorgeous.
I was amazed to see how quick my broccoli had grown,i am sure i only planted it out in April.....i have cut the main heads of several plants already,lots of side shoots to develope.It melts in your mouth,bootifull :)

Grass snakes

Just come accross a family of grass snakes on my allotnent.They are nesting under the pond liner...because the pond is not at the full level the liner is easy to lift up.One of the snakes swam accross the pond and slithered under the liner,tht is how i found the nest....i had to be brave and lift the liner up with one hand while taking photos with the other....yikes!!!!