Friday, August 08, 2014

Running away

Into the season for runner beans now and the more they're picked the more they'll produce: Much like sweet peas, once the seed starts to develop the plant stops producing more flowers and pods. Courgette plants behave similarly and one of them has now shut down because one of the fruits was allowed to develop to the size of a marrow. The dill is now flowering. All parts; leaves, flowers and seeds are great for the kitchen.

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Big roots


Harvested some early parsnips that had self-seeded on a patch where the broad beans grew, which needed clearing to make way for some winter crops. Beetroot hasn't done brilliantly this year and there probably won't be enough for pickling, but there are always enough to brighten up a salad or stain a bowl of rice or couscous.

Sunday, August 03, 2014

Little Roots

Harvested the first baby carrots, more climbing/french beans and some lettuce.

Friday, August 01, 2014

Plum Month

                                    Into August; plum month.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

Big Green


Large gnarled beefsteak tomatoes need a few more weeks of sunshine to ripen and the plants need tying up to prevent them from collapsing.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Malus Domestica

Cox's Orange Pippin: Probably should have thinned the fruit out and watered more during the hot dry spells. Many of the branches are weighed down amongst the gooseberry bushes which could do with a prune now. Cox's are particularly susceptible to scab, mildew and canker and these ones are also susceptible to being nicked by passers-by.

orangepippin.com

Monday, July 28, 2014

Fruits of labour

So hot recently that crops and seedlings need a daily watering.
 
It's been a good year for gherkins, if watered regularly.
 Courgette plants are particularly hungry and thirsty.




Sunday, July 27, 2014

First Runners

                                First crop of runner beans.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Monday, July 21, 2014

Successional

A second sowing of climbing beans to replace those recently harvested.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Redambergreen

Lots of redcurrants and gooseberries to harvest and the first of the cherry tomatoes.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Tassels No Hassle

Sweetcorn pollinated, white tassels and thin, thirsty cobs. The beans and squash amongst them have grown well.

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

Daucus carota

 Haven't seen a carrot look like this before; left in the ground from last year overwinter, it's put on a lot of growth above ground this year and is now in flower.

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Potato Salad

                                    Just add mayonnaise

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Soft fruit relay


As the strawberry season comes to an end there are blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries to harvest.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Trap crop


Flea beatles munch on radish leaves but leave the crop unaffected and are distracted from other crops.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Herbal essentials


                       Dill, parsley and coriander liking the hot weather.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Dolphin's back


Delphinium: modern Latin, from Greek delphinion ‘larkspur’, from delphin ‘dolphin’ (because of the shape of the spur, thought to resemble a dolphin's back

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Sunday, June 08, 2014

500 a day


The start of the strawberry harvest; expecting to pick around 500 grams a day for the next two weeks.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Six of the best

 
Decorative and / or useful early spring flowers; bluebells, apple blossom, broad bean, angelica, tulip and comfrey.

Friday, May 09, 2014

Monday, May 05, 2014

The nicest man on the allotment

 The nicest man on the allotment died last week. His once tidy plot is living on, unharvested brussels sprouts are flowering, the cardigan and cap wearing scarecrow works out his notice before retirement.

Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Monday, March 31, 2014

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Fire without smoke

           Meanwhile, a charcoal burner's been busy in a Dorset wood.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Beware the fires of March


There's always lots of woody waste at the allotment that won't compost or is best burned; prunings from fruit bushes, brassica, sweetcorn and sunflower stems, diseased material and old tomato vines. Allotment rules only permit bonfires between November and the end of March. After one of the wettest winters recorded, burning anything's been impossible until recently. Now everyone's at it.

Irritatingly, Plasticman - or The Fireman - as he shall be known, who has a plot 20 metres upwind, has a habit of burning plastic bags in an old bath. He sits there in his blue overalls right next to it. Instead of the not unpleasant waft of woodsmoke cut with a sharp sweet perfume from the Daphne odora bush against a background smell of earthy early spring, comes a toxic fume of pong. What's he like?

Monday, March 10, 2014

Intent to fruit

 One-year-old gooseberry bushes spring to life amongst the thorns.

 Plum blossom is the earliest of all.

Sunday, March 09, 2014

Brassica oleracea italica


Sown last summer and protected from pigeons (and the snow that never came) beneath scaffolding netting, the purple sprouting broccoli has grown well and is ready to yield a first harvest.

 Just like the kale that it replaces as the green vegetable of the season, it responds well to being picked, produces new growth rapidly and is high in vitamin C content.

Dead easy to grow (even on a heavy clay soil), yummy with a bit of butter and a warm glow when you notice what it costs to buy.

Tuesday, February 04, 2014

Rework the plot


             Rhubarb springs back to life and promises an early crop.


                 Leeks planted last summer are still a bit thin.