Friday, October 20, 2006

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.

Saturday, September 09, 2006

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.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

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 :)

Monday, June 19, 2006

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!!!!

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Pond


Did some more work on the pond by extending it.I did this by digging out more soil around the sides so instead of them slopeing they are now fairly level to the ground making it easier for the wildlife to enter and exit the pond.Still lots to do!!!

Arches



Hi,
Been very busy at the lottie the last few days.Finally finished making my walkthrough tunnel out of maple branches,it is for growing my sweetpeas up.Also made a similar one out of canes,this one is for my climbing beans.

Saturday, April 29, 2006

Wildlife pond



Planted some verbascum plants at the near side of the pond which i grew from seed along with some herbaceous plants i dug up and divided from home.Waiting for more rain to top the pond up.When it is fairly full i will then tend to the edges of the pond liner using a mixture of stones,broken slabs and plants to over hang the edges.Also i will be using tights filled with soil and shaped into boulders,i saw these at a garden show and they looked great because after a short time moss grows over them making them look real...i will post a photo of these when i have done them.I also used old tights stuffed with barley straw and a brick and sunk it in the pond,this will in time reduce the growth of blanket weed and keep the water clear.

The picture with a sheet of fleece in is where i have planted out my sweetcorn plants,it does't look it in the photo but the patch i have planted is almost 4mtrs long by 1.5mtrs.

UPDATE



Hi.
Spent most of my day today at the lottie.Planted my second crop of peas,the variety is onwards,my first crop is felthem first.I have put twiggy sticks in for the peas to climb up,will add taller twigs in a couple of weeks time.My first lot of peas are already flowering,what a pleasure to see.I have also drapped net around the peas to keep the birds off but left the top open to let the bees in.Also planted out another crop of broad beans which are under the fleece tunnels.




Sown my salad crops in the wooden boxes which are 1.5mtrs x 1mtr,aquired them from hubby's work.In these i have sown carrots (under fleece),radish,beetroot,spring onions,mazuna,pak choi and rocket.In the first box is garlic which i planted late autumn,they are doing really well.There is also red onions(red baron) in the front of one of the boxs which i have grown from seed,these can be picked as spring onions or left to form as larger red onions.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

First update 15 April 2006

Hi. Spent four hours at the allotment today transplanting cabbage,broccoli,cauliflowers.Sown carrots,radish,pak choi,mazuna,rocket,swiss chard,beetroot and spinach.Planted several herbaceous plants around my wildlife pond which is full of tiny tadpoles!!

Lots of wee plants indoors getting ready for the lottie,lots more to be sown aswell!!

Going to attempt to make an arched walkthrough tomorrow out of long branches for my sweetpeas to grow over,if i am succesfull then i will post a picture of this!

All is looking quite good at the mo,the fruit bushes i planted earlier this year are now bursting with buds,the potatoes are pushing through the surface and ready now for the first hoeing up,the onions are starting to swell,the strawberries are flowering along with the blueberries and the rhubarb is bursting out.
Hi. Spent four hours at the allotment today transplanting cabbage,broccoli,cauliflowers.Sown carrots,radish,pak choi,mazuna,rocket,swiss chard,beetroot and spinach.Planted several herbaceous plants around my wildlife pond which is full of tiny tadpoles!!
Hi. Spent four hours at the allotment today transplanting cabbage,broccoli,cauliflowers.Sown carrots,radish,pak choi,mazuna,rocket,swiss chard,beetroot and spinach.Planted several herbaceous plants around my wildlife pond which is full of tiny tadpoles!!