The strawberries are coming

With our recent good fortune of the beautiful sunny days these last few weeks, followed by some nice showers over the last couple of days, I wanted to get down to the plot and see how the seeds were coming along and get on top of any weeds.

I was amazed to see 2 red strawberries, as you can see below and as a result dug out the netting I used last year and have now covered the strawberry patch, otherwise those birds will enjoy all of that tasty fruit. This took a little while in the wind, but got there in the end and with a little weeding, this is looking great. I hope we get a bumper crop this year.



In addition, I cut down some more of the grass on the paths edging the plot and will continue this next week, to get it looking respectable.

Other than that, I weeded around the peas and dwarf beans that have shot up in this last week, earthed up the Earlies and planted the last of my Mains. I was going to plant some other veg, but ran out of time, so will try that next week.



All in all, the effort I put in over the last few weeks has paid off and we are looking good, ready for the season. After a quick tidy of the shed, I then set off home to watch the Grand Prix. Excellent stuff.

Early May and it's looking good....

As you can see from the photo above, I've really succeeded in catching up on the plot over the last couple of weeks and we are starting to make headway for this years growing season.

To summarise, having dug all the plot and spread 6 bags of manure over some of it, I planted the Early Pots and have now done most of the Mains too. Weeded and mulched the strawberries and raspberries and planted out over 12 new strawberry plants from the shoots to extend the strawberry patch. Cleared the grass and weeds from the shed and area outside, as well as some of the path, put down weed cover and used the shredded wood to cover the ground, so with luck this will keep the weeds and grass down a bit. On the growing front, I put in peas, dwarf beans and carrots and the kids came with me on Sunday to plant some of their plants and seeds in the raised bed, so with luck this will be full of colour over the summer.

Here's the raised bed with some netting and wire to try and stop the birds getting their beaks on the seeds.


Lots and lots of strawberry flowers and new fruits starting to grow. Once all the flowers have gone, I'll cover them with the netting and wait for those lovely red fruits to show themselves.


Ricky stayed up, even in all the wind, so we pushed him down a bit more. You can see the rows of potatoes behind him and the Earlies, which I had to start earthing up are behind him to the left. (his right)

Finally, here are my two helpers, happy to be out and about on their bikes, racing each other down the tracks.....luckily no accidents.
Next step is a little more planting, cut down the grass paths, stain the shed and sort the guttering out, all before I (hopefully) get some gifts from my Dad.

Happy Growing.

Ricky is on guard!

Had an opportunity to go to the plot again on Wednesday, so managed to get a little bit more done, ahead of the Easter weekend. Also, 'Ricky', my scarecrow that we made last weekend was keen to get out in the fields and start having a go at the birds, so I took him down with me too.

Here he is!!


Cleared all around the shed and laid down some plastic sheeting and also covered some of it with the wood chips, so this is starting to take shape. The water butt has been moved to the rear of the shed in preparation for the guttering.



Finally, spent some time weeding and clearing the strawberries, as well as mulching them and also, doing the same for the last row of raspberries.



This leaves me to complete the strawberries, plant the potatoes and also some peas and dwarf beans at the weekend. I'll also try to finish off the area by the shed and weed the raised bed too. Lots to do, but we are getting there!

Back in the saddle.....finally

View of my plot, facing West from the side of the shed.


Well I'll be honest, I just haven't had the time over the winter the prepare the plot for the coming season and with the knowledge that I needed to catch up and quickly, I set about digging, weeding and clearing up over the last few weeks, to finally get to a point where I'm just about ready.



I'm now at the point where I've dug over the majority of the plot and improved one half of the plot with the top quality manure provided by Nigel in the Trading Hut, to help the soil along. In addition, although I also failed to order my potatoes last autumn, there were extras for sale and I purchased some Early and Mains. My first time for Rooster's. I planted out 3 rows of Earlies the other week and will continue to do so as April turns to May.....

My strawberries and raspberries were getting out of hand and having sorted out the raspberries and cut down the old canes, I weeded and have mulched around the bases as I'm sure they'll need that this year too. The strawberries also need the same amount of work and there are plenty of new plants, which I am transplanting in the extra section I have finally got around to digging. This will increase the size of my fruit area, but as they are very popular, then I'm more than happy.



Over the coming week or so, I will complete this and mulch in and around these too.

I have a real problem with the grass, especially couch grass, which just takes over. I had hoped to avoid it growing around the shed area, but no luck, so I've had to completely clear this area again and am putting plastic sheeting and weed cover down, which I'll then cover with wood chips. With luck this will work a little better and stop it intruding on everything. Once this is completed, I'll put my water butt at the rear of the shed, buy and set up my guttering to collect some water.



I can then cut down the grass to a reasonable level on the paths around the plot, as I always take down my shears, but never get time to do this. Once day I will!

Anyway, feeling a little better about the situation now and am also looking forward to planting some lettuce, carrots, peas and dwarf beans over the coming weeks too. Oh and one last thing. Last year for my 40th Birthday, I was given a scarecrow kit and finally yesterday afternoon in the beautiful sunshine, I made it. (with a little help from my daughter). His name is Ricky.

Happy Growing.

Preparing for winter

I haven't had a great deal of time, of late, to spend some time at the allotment and begin preparations for winter. However, having taken my Uncle down to have a look during his visit from Canada, I realised there was some urgent work to do.

With the weather improving, I took a day off and spent the morning, weeding the entire area previously occupied by the potatoes and around the remaining carrots. Also, I took all of the netting off the strawberries and raspberries weeded around the strawberries and lastly weeded the raised bed area by the shed.

So a good start, but still about the same amount to be done over the coming weeks.

Here's how it looked before I started;-


...and a couple of hours later, here's the result... oh and I got bitten by something too, so now have marks on my chest....a rabid spider or snake....well, something wanting a meal and not happy about being disturbed.


Now the strawberry bed. There are lots of tubers, so I will split them over the coming weeks too and put more of them elsewhere. There are some more coming too, so we'll see if they survive if the weather changes.

...and the final photo looking back at all of my hard work.


Looking a lot better, but still work to be done. With luck over the coming weeks, I'll get all of the clearing up and weeding done. I shall then sort out the strawberries, stain the shed (which I still haven't done), find some guttering to collect water for next year in my new butt and dig over the remaining grassed area to extend the strawberries. Let's hope we have a few more pleasant days or even a day or two off work to help me achieve all this.

Back from holiday....how's it been?

After an excellent week away in Devon, I came back to see how the plot had fared, with some good and some bad news.

Unfortunately and much to my disappointment, all of the sweetcorn had either blown over or been pushed and were all sodden, destroyed and dead as you can see form the photo. It's a real shame as they were growing really well, but have now been ruined. Sorry Dad.



On the plus side all of the tomatoes have continued to grow and I was able to pick a tupperware tub full of a mixture of normal and cherry tomatoes and they taste delicious. with plenty more on the plants they should be good over the coming weeks.



The peas and dwarf beans have also had a really tough time of it with the peas drying out entirely and the beans under attack from the black flies, although I noticed the ladybirds were quite happy to be feasting on them. The slugs and snails ate their way through the young plants and now the flies...arrghhh. Once again a real shame as last year these were really good.



The lettuces were growing well, so I picked a couple and also weeded the whole area and generally tidied up.

Also, dug up some of my main crop of potatoes and we enjoyed these with our Sunday Dinner, along with the few dwarf beans that survived and nice sized carrots...so all is not lost.....



I anticipate digging up the remaining potatoes over the coming weeks, for storage, plating a few things for over the winter and continuing with the tomato picking. Also, there are still the Autumn raspberries, but the dry weather hasn't helped them too much, but there are a few at least.



It seems to me that this year has been very tricky with the weather and as I don't get the chance to come down each night to water, I do tend to leave the plants to the elements and this year, they've not done too well.....but there are some successes and I think I shall continue with the fruit and will look much more closely at companion planting for the peas and beans to see if I can help them. I have a great book to help me.

A little belated, but here's where we are now

Originally, I had intended to update the blog a few weeks ago, following a lot of planting and preparation, but alas, then best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

However, to give you a guide and with a big thank you to my Dad once again, I was lucky enough to receive some sweetcorn, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumber and marigolds, which I planted just prior to our 2 week holiday. In addition, I had to spend some money on wood to make up a fruit cage for the strawberries and also supports for the autumn raspberries, which I'd also made up, so I was going to do a 'before and after' to see if they survived, etc.

Well, with once again a big thank you to Ali for helping with the watering while we were away, everything is looking just fine and after a few long hours of weeding, I also uncovered some good looking peas, spinach and lettuce and although the carrots, dwarf french beans and all year round lettuce grown from seed in the ground hadn't amounted to much, there were a few coming through, so with additional planting in the gaps, I'm still hopeful.

Also, the potatoes continue to do well, although some of my Earlies were affected by the frost, but I covered them with soil and will leave them to see what happens.

In addition to the weeding, my Dad also let me have a bag full of netting, which I fixed up on the frame to cover the strawberries as I already have a few turning red and I want to try and make sure the birds don't get to them first this year.

OK, so here's the photo's

1. Potatoes.
2. Sweetcorn, cucumber and marigolds on newly dug and cleared area I spent hours on this year.
3. Tomatoes and sweet peas in the foreground, with lettuce and spinach in the background. Also just see the sweetcorn on rear right.
4. Peas, carrots and dwarf french beans.
5. Strawberry fruit frame and netting, with raspberries in the background.