Berries

We ordered three berry plants which arrived last week, so this morning we were down at the patch planting them.

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One Tayberry, one Loganberry and one Boysenberry have been planted in a 22′ row with 6′ spacing between them.  I will be erecting posts at either end of the row and then stretching wires between them so that we can tie-in the canes as they grow.

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Raised Beds

As it was a very pleasant morning in Compton, we took the opportunity to construct another raised bed.

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The new bed is the nearest one on this picture and was built around the carrots remaining from the summer sowing and the shallots which were planted in October. 

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The raised bed behind is one constructed earlier this year where three rows of garlic are being grown.

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Once these crops have been lifted, the beds will be topped up with a mix of fresh soil and compost and used to grow squash and courgettes.

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November wood smoke

We’ve had a productive afternoon down at the patch.  I finally got round to fixing the door handle on the polytunnel and Heather got a fire going to burn the prunings from fruit bushes… there’s something very evocative about Autumnal wood smoke.

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We have built one of our planned six raised beds in the polytunnel and have sown Winter leaves (mizuna, mustard greens and spinach) which we hope will provide us with a cut-and-come-again leafy greens.

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Mission Accomplished

The door is on, the floor levelled and the frames for the raised beds will be constructed sometime in the coming weeks.

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Meanwhile,  there are plenty of other jobs to be getting on with :

• The bed where we will be growing climbing beans has been cleared and two trenches dug out… these will be filled with newspaper and waste that would normally go on the compost heap.  The trenches will then be filled in and the bed covered with a layer of cardboard until we are ready to sow seeds in April.
• The soft-fruit bushes will be pruned back to maintain a good shape and encourage more fruits.
• The step-cordon apples will also be pruned and side branches tied into the wires.
• Another bin will be constructed to hold leaf litter… the leaves will slowly break down to produce a very rich compost.

What we did today...

We have already cleared all the perennial weeds from around the polytunnel, fixed gravel boards along the outside, lined the gap between the boards and the tunnel with black polythene and filled this with shingle to  prevent any weeds growing close to the tunnel walls and to allow the areas around the tunnel to be strimmed without damaging the walls.

This is what we did today :

• Attached a mesh screen to the back doorway of the polytunnel.

• Hung a polythene blind at the back doorway to raise/lower as temperature dictates.

•  Rebuilt the front door and re-covered it in UV stabilised polythene sheeting.

On Wednesday, the door will be hung and we will then concentrate our efforts on preparing the allotment beds, leaving the remaining work inside the polytunnel for those cold and rainy days when it is not possible to work outside.
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Light at the end of the tunnel...

We have acquired a polytunnel !

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A neighbouring allotment holder has given up his plot, leaving this polytunnel which abuts on to our patch.

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We have managed to clear the jungle that was growing inside and removed the door and the curtain, both of which will need repairing.  The door will then be hung so that it faces onto our plot.

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As you can see from the picture, we have been washing the inside and outside of the tunnel with a solution of Jeyes Fluid to remove the algae.

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The next task will be to construct raised beds inside the tunnel and fill them with compost ready for planting in late-Winter.

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Rodima

Comparison time again !
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Last year we grew a variety of red cabbage called 'Kalibos' which produced heads of an insipid pink colour. 

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This year we obtained seeds of a variety called 'Rodima' from vegetableseeds.net and these produced some beautiful, deep red cabbages that are superb when pickled.

We will be looking to grow more of these next year.

Autumn Planting

We had a poor harvest of shallots and garlic this year, which I believe was caused by using our own bulbs for planting.  

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So, this year, no expense spared !  We bought garlic bulbs ('Solent Wight' & 'Picardy Wight') and shallots ('Jermor') which were planted yesterday.

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I will be sowing broad beans 'Aquadulce' during the week.

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Thinking forward

We are looking to create a series of fixed raised-beds at the patch with grass paths running between them. I have been trying to calculate where the beds should be, bearing in mind that we have crops that will be standing over the Winter months.

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The Uchiki Kuri squash were grown in a bed that had been filled with manure, but my initial calculations had a path running through it !  So this morning we have been recalculating the layout so that the manured area would be fully utilised.

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The area has now been weeded and dug over and we will fix boards along the edges before adding more manure to raise the bed.  We will plant garlic here in the next few weeks and plant more squash when the garlic is harvested in June next year.

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Marina di Chioggia

This wonderful squash originates from the seaside town of Chioggia near Venice. The Italians use it for many local dishes, including a rather tasty gnocchi.

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We grew two plants in a container of manure next to the compost bin and they have run riot. We have been cutting their leading tips back  to encourage the plants energy into the fruits and have been rewarded by three monsters.

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The one shown here was hanging precariously from the wire fence, so I decided to remove it for it's own safety !

 

Sunny September Sunday Morning

We've just got back from a productive morning down at the patch. Heather planted a row of daffodils which will be used for cut flowers in the Spring and I took down the enviromesh that was protecting our leeks.

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The picture shows our late-sown carrots (Autumn King) in front of squash (Uchiki Kuri). Behind these are our leeks (Bleue de Solaise and Autumn Giant), then sweetcorn with Love-Lies-Bleeding in front of the brassica cage.

Guildford In Bloom 2011

Heather & I attended the Guildford In Bloom Awards Ceremony yesterday evening and were delighted to receive a Gold in The Best Allotment category.

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Apples

Two years ago we set about creating a step cordon using 1-year-old apple 'whips'... two 'Egremont Russets' and one 'Sturmer Pippin'.

In the first year we had problems with insect damage and last year we lost nearly all of the blossom in late frost.  This year, however, all three trees are producing some fine fruit.

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September Harvest

All of our crops have given us a good yield this year.
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In June I blogged about the 'Early Crookneck'  Squashes we had grown and they are continuing to provide us with these yellow, courgette-sized fruit.  We will certainly grow more of these next year.

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This year we grew a yellow variety of courgette called 'Jemmer' and a pale green 'cousa' variety called 'Trieste', which was supposed to be one of the best flavoured... it wasn't and it looked anaemic when used in a salad.  We will be growing a dark-green variety next year.

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A 'patty pan' variety of courgette, 'Sunburst', is being grown in among the sweetcorn giving a good yield and cucumbers 'Marketmore' are being grown outside, providing us with some nice fruit.

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Our winter squashes are doing remarkably well and I will write more about them when they are harvested.

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Our Prize-Winning Onions

We grew three varieties of onions : Autumn sown 'Radar' and 'Electric' which gave a reasonable quantity of bulbs and Spring sown 'Hercules' which produced a very good yield of large bulbs suitable for storing.

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Onions with 'thick necks' and blemishes making them usuitable for storing were used to make our Sweet Pickled Onion Rings.

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Ingredients:

• 6 pounds small to medium mild onions
• 72 whole cloves
• 72 whole black peppercorns
• 12 teaspoons mustard seed
• 6 teaspoons celery seed
• 8 cups cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

To each sterilized pint jar add 6 cloves, 6 peppercorns, 1 teaspoon mustard seed and 1/2 teaspoon celery seed.  Set aside.

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Peel and slice the onions into 1/4″ thick rings.  Separate the onion rings carefully and divide among the jars.

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In a large nonreactive (in other words, glass, enamel or stainless steel) saucepan, stir together the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, turmeric and cinnamon over high heat.  Heat the syrup to boiling and then allow to simmer for 2 minutes. 

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Pour the hot liquid over the onion rings being sure to leave 1/4″ of headspace.  Use a chopstick or skewer to remove air pockets that might be in the jars by running it along the inside wall of the jar.  If needed, add more hot syrup to maintain the 1/4″ headspace.  This prevents bacteria from growing, so don’t be tempted to half fill a jar.

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Spuds !

It's potato harvest time and we have now lifted all of our potatoes.

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We picked two rows of 'Kerrs Pink' (shown below) which were all shapes and sizes with a few that were a bit scabby, but overall a decent harvest. 

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Our four rows of 'Cara' produced the best yields we have ever seen down at The Patch with five of the tubers good enough to take First Prize at the Farncombe Village Show.

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Farncombe Show

Another successful year at the Farncombe Village Show !

We won First Prize for Potatoes, Onions (under 250g) and Beetroot and Second Prize for Courgettes. Our Crookneck Squash also took Second Prize in the 'Any Other Vegetable' class.

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Heather's Vase of Mixed Flowers won First Prize and Best in Class and so did her Flower Arrangement 'Reflections'. A Second Prize was gained for her exhibit of Asters and a Third Prize for Miniature Flower Arrangement.

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With additional points from Second Prizes for Chutney and Plain Scones, Heather was awarded The Show Trophy for the second year running.

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Sunday morning

We had been meaning to clean up inside the brassica cage for a few weeks now, but it was one of those things that got put off. This morning, though, we grasped the nettle (both metaphorically and literally) and removed the netting to get to grips with the weeds and dead leaves. It proved to be a particularly useful exercise as the debris was giving shelter to large numbers of slugs.

The picture above shows the results of our efforts :  A nearly weed-free bed with red cabbage Rodima in the centre ground, purple sprouting broccoli Cardinal to the right and, on the left,  a mix of savoy cabbage Cappricio, brussels sprouts Agincourt and kale Tosco di Nero.

We grow marigolds in with the brassicas in an attempt to reduce whitefly. It has made virtually no difference at all as the plants are covered in huge swarms of the little critters… the marigolds do look nice though !

Beanz Meanz

On our journey back to Porto Airport after our holiday in Galicia we stopped off at the market in Viana Do Castelo where we found this stall that was selling loose seeds. 

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We bought a cup full of seeds that were labelled  feijao trepar... which we think means climbing bean in Portuguese, but are most likely to be butter bean seeds.

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I can't recall ever seeing these bean seeds being offered for sale by any of the UK seed merchants !

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We like growing beans down on The Patch, particularly those that can be dried and used over the Winter months, so these will be a useful addition.  

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Facebook

A picture from Heather Markham's Facebook Album :

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Saturday aftenoon

We are getting ready for the 'Guildford in Bloom' inspection... assuming that it has not already been done !

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So, it was a nice afternoon down at the patch where we sowed some biennial flower seeds for plants that should be ready for transplanting in Autumn.  We sowed Honesty, Sweet Rocket and Sweet William.

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The picture below shows our shed and the grass path that we have been carefully cultivating.

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The next picture shows our raised bed with Courgettes and Tomatoes growing in front.

Heather's cut flower bed.

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Calabrese

Six plants were selected from the seed bed and grown-on in the brassica cage to protect them from pigeons and  the caterpillars of cabbage white butterflies.

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Today we harvested the heads from five plants and we are expecting further crops as the plant starts producing side-shoots.

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The variety is 'Belstar F1' which was chosen for it's ability to crop throughout the Summer.

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Here comes the Sun !

Hopefully, this is the end of the miserable wet weather we have had to endure over recent weeks !

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We have been growing 'Early Crookneck' squashes from seeds that we obtained from a gardener out in Manitoba, Canada as part of a seed swap programme.  

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The plants were raised indoors and then planted out under cloches.  As you can see, the first fruits are now setting and should be ready for the table next week. Apparently, they have a better flavour than courgettes, but we will have to confirm this.

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Candid Charm

Our first Cauliflower of the year !

The seeds were sown in a seed bed under cover on March 10th and the young plants transplanted on May 18th. 

This F1 hybrid 'Candid Charm' is an early variety producing lovely tight heads that are just the right size for a meal for two.
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Sowing more seeds...

In between the rain showers this afternoon I managed to sow some seeds for Calabrese 'Samson F1', a late variety that should provide us with crops through the Autumn and into early Winter.

I needed some more Kohl Rabi seeds and ordered these from vegetableseeds.net along with some Broad Bean and Pea seeds for Autumn sowing.  These arrived this morning along with freebie packs of Spinach 'Hector' and Squash 'Turks Turban'. 

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Old Potatoes

We may have to wait a bit longer before we enjoy our maincrop potatoes : Two rows of 'Kerrs Pink' and four rows of 'Cara'

New Potatoes

We lifted the remaining first-earlies on Saturday and should be able to feast on these superbly flavoured spuds over the next few days.

Jam Today !

The recent warm weather has helped our 'Cambridge Favourite' and 'Flamenco' plants to produce a glut of strawberries.

Heather has taken this opportunity to produce some more of her excellent strawberry jam.

... and then it rained !

We've put in a really long shift down at the patch today and have now planted and sown everything we need for a Summer harvest.

• Tomatoes : Rutgers, Roma & Koralik 
• Squash : Uchiki Kuri, Black Futsu & Sunburst
• Courgettes : Bianco di Trieste & Jemmer
• Sweet Peppers : Rubens & Cabernet
• Chillis : Heatwave
• Sweetcorn : Seville F1 & Lark F1

We transplanted our Leeks (Bleu de Solaise) and have sown another row of Broad Beans (Aquadulce Claudia) which should be ready for harvest later in the year.

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We had been concerned that the crops we planted would suffer in such dry weather... fortunately the rain started as we were planting and has continued all evening.
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Waiting for the rain

It's getting rather dry down at the patch !
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We are spending most of our spare time watering our very thirsty fruit and vegetable beds.

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The brassicas (savoy cabbage, red cabbage, broccoli, calabrese, sprouts, kale & cauliflower) have all been transplanted from their nursery beds into their permanent beds.  They were looking extremely sad at first, sulking about being uprooted, but they now seem to have established themselves nicely.

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Everything seems to be almost a month ahead of what was happening last year. We have just about finished cropping our early peas and beans and have planted squash and tomato plants in with the garlic and onions so that they will be flourishing when these are lifted in mid-June.  We have taken a gamble with 'Early Crookneck' squash, planting these out early in the hope that they will escape any late frosts and they are already flowering... so will not be cross-pollinated with any other squashes, so we will be able to save their seeds and use these next year.  The courgettes we planted do not seem to have survived their move and we will have to use some of the spare plants we kept by for 'emergency'.

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Our order of 'Violet Globe' artichokes arrived last week and these were planted down at the bottom of the main bed alongside the wire fence. In front of these we are growing nasturtiums and a mixed row of flat-leaf parsley and bunching onions.

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We are growing many more herbs this year, for kitchen use and as a companion planting : Dill, chervil, carroway and marjoram have just been sown. The earlier-sown Summer savory, coriander, basil and curly-leaf parsley are all flourishing. 

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Return to The Patch

Returning to The Patch after a two-week holiday, we were delighted to find that our friends had been watering the young plants and seedlings in our absence.

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The peas and beans were ready for picking... and the first of the Strawberries !

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We have picked our last spears of Asparagus, allowing the plants to put on some Summer foliage that will put goodness back into the roots.  Tomatoes have been planted in amongst the Asparagus as, supposedly, this will reduce the risk of Asparagus Beetle.

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Swift as a shadow, short as any dream

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,
Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

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Our first-early potatoes, 'Swift', are shown in the picture below.
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Asparagus Days

Our asparagus bed is performing really well and we have been cutting some nice thick spears every time we visit the allotment.

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For lunch on Good Friday, I made asparagus with an hollandaise sauce using a recipe from Delia Smith... see here.  The starter was served on the beautiful asparagus dish that was given to us as a present from our friend Ann.   Simple and delicious !

Good Companions !

This year we will be planting 'companions' alongside our crops. We shall have 'Poached Egg Plant' (limnanthes) growing alongside our soft fruit because this plant attracts hover flies which will attack aphids and other nasties. 

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Alyssum will grow alongside potatoes as an attractive mulch. 

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Chervil and dill will grow in amongst the strawberries, parsley and tagetes between the apples to reduce the risk of apple scab, summer savory alongside broad beans to help repel black fly and 'Love Lies Bleeding' (amaranth) in with sweetcorn... apparently it will bring nutrients to the top soil !

Oh what a beautiful morning !

It was a beautiful, sunny morning down on the patch.   Our fruit trees and bushes are looking very good... the dwarf Cherry looking particularly nice in full blossom.
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We planted six rows of Potatoes :  Two rows of 'Kerrs Pink' and two rows of 'Cara'.  The first-earlies 'Swift' are already showing well and some should be ready for lifting in early May.
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Another row of Carrots was sown this morning alongside the other row sown earlier in the week plus Rocket, Lettuce, Beetroot and Kohl Rabi.

Strong to the finish....

  

I planted one full row of Spinach down at the patch today. Half of the row was 'Perpetual' Spinach (Spinach Beet) and the other half was Spinach "Fiorana F1", to get a better indication of which type produces the better yield.

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Up the garden path !

Now that the edging boards are in place we  have started to establish a grass path down to the compost bin and a grass area around the bin and the cold frame.

Hoopla !

We are establishing the nursery bed where leeks and brassicas are being grown.
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We have sown Bleau de Solaise and Autumn Giant Leeks,  two varieties of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts Trafalgar F1, Kale Tosco di Nero, Red Cabbage Rodima, Savoy Cabbage Tarvoy and Capriccio, Cauliflower Candid Charm and Calabrese Belstar F1.
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An 'enviromesh' cover will be placed over the hoops to prevent attack by birds and insects. In June, we will remove the plants from the nursery bed.  The brassicas will be replanted in another area.  The leeks will be replanted back under the cover where they should develop free from attack by Onion Fly and be ready for the table from November onwards.
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Onions !

I thought that we ought to have some more onions to see us through the Autumn months and bought a pack of 50 'Hercules' sets from Secretts Garden Centres.

 

This afternoon, I planted these at 6" spacing in the 22' bed and only then realised that one pack would not be sufficient for two rows... so it's back down to Secretts tomorrow for another pack of 50 !

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Update Friday, March 4th : Another pack of 50 bought and planted this afternoon !

First Earlies

Our first-early potatoes were planted today.

We have put in two rows of the very-early variety 'Swift' which could be providing us with some nice salad potatoes in 10 weeks time.

The Patch in February

We took advantage of the few days of dry weather to get down to the patch for some tidying-up.

The crops sown/planted in the Autumn have survived the Winter really well, considering how low the temperatures fell.
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The peas at the far-ends of the two cloches were badly affected by frost and we have sown additional seeds which should compensate for the losses. The remainder look healthy and are likely to produce a good crop in May.
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Our broad beans have been very successful with the young plants now reaching the top of the cloche. We will have to remove the cloche and cover the plants with fleece to prevent them being frost damaged between now and May.
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The picture above shows the garlic and two varieties of onions that we planted in September. There have been some losses, but there will be enough to provide some onions for the kitchen and the showbench in June.