A long overdue update on our plot

I should warn you, this is another of those not very pretty posts, but it is part of our journey to tame our allotment and as I'm not about just sharing the pretty stuff, here it is, warts and all.  In my defence, it was a long winter wasn't it and most of that long winter I hibernated.

It seems though it was a good winter for grass, as the beds we've previously tamed and used to grow plentiful crops had reverted to grass.  Luckily though they were relatively easy to weed, although the bed that's had potatoes in was the easiest.  I must get more potatoes!

THERE'S RHUBARB IN THERE, HONEST

Even the compost bins have grown grass this year, which isn't so good, but on the plus side if the grass and weeds can grow, so can my veg.

IT'S BEEN A GOOD WINTER FOR GRASS

Our Stihl trimmer has come into its own, it's light to carry over to the allotment (there's no way I'm leaving that there), is easy to use and has good battery life.  But the real reason I know it's good is because it's got the seal of approval from MOH, not only does he use it over our older one, but the older one has been given away.  

STRIMMING IN PROGRESS

And if he wants to use it, then I'm not going to stop him - seems the right approach don't you think?

We'd gone armed with a tarpaulin too, and once the potato bed was weeded, it was quickly covered and pinned down so that we can delay the weeds return.  This year, I have to plant something else in this bed and the beans in the greenhouse are currently vying to be planted out this weekend.

WEEDED, TAMED (FOR NOW) AND COVERED UP

It wasn't all bad though, as we weeded the potato bed above we discovered a further two brown bags of potatoes so that was an added bonus, and they've been very tasty too - small, but tasty.  The artichoke under the crab apple tree is growing as well as ever, in fact I think it's doing better than normal, maybe there'll be some decent sized artichokes on it this year.

THE ARTICHOKE'S HAPPY

We've tackled the trial raised bed too, which had also sprouted grass, again it was easy to make quick progress. We realised though that we'd made a rookie error by not putting cardboard under the new soil to act as a barrier, so that's probably something we'll rectify this year.   

MORE WEEDING DONE, AND NIBBLED RHUBARB LEAVES

We pulled about a kilo of rhubarb stems, and the good news is there's still plenty left and more to come.  I think that's kind of crumble-tastic news, and it's the time of year where I tend to keep a tub of crumble in the fridge so I can make a pudding without too much fuss.

Our strawberry plants are also looking promising.  I've read somewhere that it's supposed to be a good year for strawberries, I hope that's right, and I hope my strawberry plants are also in the know.  I've more from the garden to move over to the plot, so I should be able to edge the path that leads onto the plot.

STRAWBERRY FLOWERS

As we were weeding we came up with a master plan to avoid this scenario next year, and that's when we 'close down' the allotment next autumn to make good use of those tarpaulins over the winter.  It sounds a cunning plan doesn't it, let's just hope I remember it in time.

OOPS, THE BENCH DIDN'T SURVIVE THE WINTER

Our storage bench was a casualty of winter too, it's collapsed.  We've had a couple of attempts to piece it back together, but it's way past that and this weekend a new smart wooden small shed is arriving and I'm hoping will be easy to assemble so our plot looks slightly less ramshackle, and we might even get some veg in it soon too.

Wish me luck!

A mixed year on the plot

If you've been following my "year in review" posts you'll know that they've been full of things I've enjoyed, and this one is no different, but it's also been a year of challenges. We knew when we took on our overgrown plot that it wouldn't be easy, but I don't think either of us realised quite how hard it would be either.

That said, it's still been rewarding, just a little bit more back breaking and soul destroying than we'd hoped for. And eating produce you've grown yourself makes your back ache just a little bit less, although in my case that wasn't helped by my "allotment tan" that gap between my shorts and my t-shirt, ouch!  (It's still brown now!)

But 2018 is a new year, and once again I'm already itching to thumb those seed catalogues and start planning where we'll plant things this year. And I'm determined that this year I'll make that cutting patch...

My allotment year in 2017 was a shorter year, in fact not a year at all as my posts only cover April to November, so there's another lesson for me and that's to get out there digging earlier this year.

If anything I think these two first two photos from my post in April checking in with the plot were to be indicative of our growing year - the celeriac above ground looked to be doing well, but below was just a mass of roots without the lovely celeriac bulb. We'll try again - hopefully with more success - I'm sure.

APRIL: IT LOOKS LIKE CELERIAC

...NOT QUITE SO MUCH NOW THOUGH!

But I'm grateful for one thing for our first visit last year, and that's one of my favourite photos of the year - yes the one with the lichen, and yes I still liken my lichen a lot!

APRIL: I STILL LIKEN MY LICHEN

Later that month I had potatoes chitting everywhere. Almost every surface was covered with them and it felt like the potatoes had taken over the asylum, and that's still true today.  We're still eating potatoes we harvested in autumn last year - I told you there was a lot!  And that gives me a dilemma, as it's apparent we're not big potato eaters so I should grow less, but then they've done wonders for our soil, so we'll be growing them again.

...perhaps I should look for a different solution, it would most definitely be easier to start eating more potatoes!

APRIL: POTATOES CHITTING EVERYWHERE

By May my broad beans were planted out and our plot was looking semi-respectable again, and the battle of the onions lay ahead of us.  We took a new approach to the weeds too and rather than dig them up, decided to try blocking them out with soil in a raised bed.

MAY: BROAD BEANS AND A WEED FREE PATH  (IGNORE THE REST OF THE WEEDS!)

The next month or so saw me wage that battle with the foxes over the onions. I'd like to call it a truce, but I think in reality they won and my onions never really recovered. It's the second year I've had no luck with onions so I'm going to give them a miss for a bit and hope that when we try again the foxes have forgotten, or moved on.

JULY: PROTECTING MY ONIONS TO NO AVAIL

We did have a bumper crop of strawberries, and later raspberries and later still apples and it's these small wins that made having the plot so worthwhile.  Especially so with the strawberries as they were off plants I'd moved over from our garden - most of them free plants too from the runners, and you know how much I like free plants. And strawberries!

JULY: PLENTIFUL STRAWBERRIES

The plot next to ours continues to inspire me, but there's also an element of envy too. I know how much effort our small progress has taken, and at times I think ours will never be quite as together as this, but I also know that having it right next door gives us something to aim for. I suspect our neighbouring plot owner looks at ours hoping we'd hurry up and get it sorted, but I'm sure they also know just how much effort that will take.

JULY: NOT MY PLOT (OBVS)

In August we were back on the plot and making good progress, although there were notable losses - pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers, I'm looking at you, but once again we did have some beautiful sunflowers.

AUGUST: PLENTY OF BEAUTIFUL SUNFLOWERS STILL TO COME

In September we were overrun with red and green bounty and feasted on borlotti beans and rhubarb - not together and all was good with the world. Our biggest harvest was later this year than the previous year, but it was much needed and our energy and enthusiasm was renewed. Phew.

SEPTEMBER'S RED AND GREEN BOUNTY

But that wasn't the last of our harvests, we still had the potatoes to come.  In the end that took us two attempts, and I think we've still got some in the ground (mental note: need to check on these soon) and as I said earlier in the post, we're still working our way through the almost 10kg of potatoes. 

ALMOST 10KG OF POTATOES, WHICH IS A LOT OF POTATOES...

TINY SUNFLOWERS ON A VERY THICK STEM

So thankfully there were highs in our allotment year, but there were also lows too, and lows that were lower than I'd expected to feel and I seriously questioned if we should keep our plot. There is still so much to do, but we have a plan to bring a new section of it into fruition this year, and I'm hopeful that won't be quite as bad as we hope. The section in question has been covered with tarpaulin since we took over the plot so at least there isn't the grass (above ground) to dig through.

Wish us luck - we're going to need it - and I'll keep you updated with how we get on.

On the plot: Potatoes, borlotti beans and apples

We'd been meaning to get over to the allotment to dig up the rest of our potatoes for a while, but with four weekends away from home it was much later than we'd hoped by the time we got there last weekend. Our potatoes were late in anyway, as most of them didn't make it into the ground until after our party in June. I've no idea how I managed to be so late with them, but I was hoping that they would recognise the earth and do their growing thing, even if they were a bit behind everyone elses.

And they did.  Phew.

It's our second year of growing potatoes and once again we weren't disappointed. We ended up growing them in the same part of the plot as last year, as, well as you're coming to know my plans to dig over the allotment, complete the circle work in our garden and everything else, were a tad ambitious!

But they grew, and last Sunday we dug up our second batch of potatoes. Almost 10kgs.

FRESHLY DUG SPUDS

Which is a lot of potatoes for someone that rarely buys potatoes! 

Digging them up was quite addictive, and it wasn't long before our paper carrier bag was heavy. The challenge then was to get them home without them dropping through the bottom of the bag. That would have been disastrous, but no doubt funny afterwards.

They have done their magic though and improved the soil - the picture below is where they grew, and while there are a few weeds (ignore the edges, where there are a lot of weeds!) there are significantly less than on other parts of the plot. Plus the soil is soft and crumbly and full of large worms, which must be good. I think some of those large worms got a bit peckish as some of the potatoes had large worm shaped holes in them, but I guess I can spare a few when they've put in so much work on our soil!

Elsewhere on the plot my tardiness is benefitting other wildlife, the birds have started nibbling the sunflower heads, and I'm more than happy for them to do that. I only saved a few of the sunflower heads last year and still have lots more sunflower seeds than I know what to do with. I will save some of the smaller sunflower heads, because, well... free seeds!

This year the sunflowers on the allotment have grown super thick stems, some have had a single flower at the top like the one above, but others have had smaller flowers all the way up the stem like the one below.  I like both types equally and it'll be interesting to see what kind I end up with next year!

I was pleased to see the rosemary cuttings thriving, in fact no longer cuttings and more like a bush. They've grown so well that I plan to take cuttings from this and plan to grow a rosemary edging to our plot.

Before leaving I stripped the small apple of its apples and while some of them are small the colour - and taste - is fantastic. And while they look good on our table, we will be eating them!

The potatoes also got another look over once we were home - there's three different types in here, two whites and a red - and I'm loving the colours in the box. They're now in double paper carriers in the shed, and I'm hoping that they store well. Last year we stored them in the house and even though we'd chosen a cool place, they still sprouted. 

It could be that we'll be eating our home grown spuds at Christmas if I'm lucky. I'll also be looking out for some potato recipes!

There were also more borlotti beans left than I'd thought, no longer fresh though as they'd semi-dried on the plants. They're all podded and drying fully so they can be stored. They also made for a great picture!

Being back on the plot was great, but there was also a reminder of how much we still need to do. We're aiming for our next few visits to be much sooner. We've a few more potatoes to dig, and I want to weed the edge of of this section and put down some membrane so we can avoid repeated weeding here. We've already weeded it more times than we need to, so this time we're taking further precautions.

I want to take some cuttings from the rosemary, I'll take more than I need as I expect I'll lose some over the winter.  And while our potato growing area is clear, unless we get some garlic and onions to plant there we plan to cover it with tarpaulin, which of course we need to buy.

The central bed which has been covered since we inherited the plot is on our list to dig over.  The optimist in me thinks it will be an easier dig, but the realist isn't quite so sure.  We'll see, and you never know by the start of the growing season we could end up with another section semi-tamed.

I mean, stranger things have happened!