Allotment Vegetable Growing in May 2009
New Gates on the Allotment 03/05/2009 It's getting really posh on the allotments. Raised beds all over the place and the site representative doing his impression of Rigsby in Rising Damp (hey, it's still going on sky!) The latest is these super smart gates complete with spikes to put children's heads on if they're caught scrumping on the plot. |
Book Signing at Burleydam Garden Centre 11/05/2009 I spent a nice day doing book signings at Burledam garden centre in the Wirral. I quite enjoy book signings, you get to meet some really interesting people. This one was brilliant, I was very impressed with the whole set up - you can read about it in my diary along with a tip on getting rid of marestail |
The Good Life Garden 11/05/2009 When I did the book signing, I spent a bit of time mooching around their good life garden which is a small vegetable garden with raised beds, chickens, composter and greenhouse. This is me telling the chooks to lay or meet the Terminator! |
Comfrey on Plot 29 11/05/2009 There's a small patch of comfrey on plot 29. It's only 3 plants but you can see just how productive comfrey is here. If you wonder why I grow comfrey check out my articles on growing & using comfrey. |
Globe Artichokes 11/05/2009 It's the second year for my globe artichokes and I've discovered they take more space than planned! Unfortunately they're swamping the rhubarb patch now. I think they're the most impressive vegetable you can grow. They'd grace the garden of a stately home. |
Onions on Plot 29 11/05/2009 The chair bases were holding up a framework with netting over to stop the pigeons uprooting the sets. These were over-wintered onions and the white ones towards the back of shot are coming on nicely. The red onions in the foreground are not performing well, a bit of feeding may boost them yet. Ignore the weeds, I must learn how to airbrush them out!! |
Potatoes in Coldframe 11/05/2009 I put some Swift first early potatoes into a coldframe and they're nearly ready to harvest. Hopefully they're forming well under there in a raised bed of compost. I've taken the lid off altogether now as I don't want them too warm, just frost free. |
Potatoes on Plot 5 with Comfrey 11/05/2009 My potatoes are popping through now and I'm putting the first cut of comfrey around them to rot down and feed them. I'm well behind this year, but I'm sure it will be OK in the end. Unless we have another monsoon year, in which case I'll look up growing rice. |
Paths Sprayed with Weed Killer 11/05/2009 The man from the council must have come and sprayed the paths as the grass is all going yellow. I'm not a great fan of chemical sprays but I suppose this is the only cost-effective way to keep the paths from becoming over grown. |
Early Potatoes Out of the Coldframe 31/05/2009 The Swift potatoes have done really well but they've outgrown the coldframe so that's come off. I think we're ready to harvest our first now. The cut slices of barrels have the carrots and parsnips in. The smallest one at the back was rescued from the site skip. |
Outdoor Tomatoes and Courgette 31/05/2009 I've 4 plum Roma outdoor bush tomatoes and a courgette in the top bed on plot 29. The weed matting will keep the tomatoes off the soil and make it easier to fight the dreaded slugs. I've planted some lettuce up the side and sowed radish as well, so it's a salad bed again.
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Tomatoes and Peppers in the Greenhouse 31/05/2009 Because I've bought in plants this year rather than raising my own from seed, I've not got quite so many. However, I'm hoping the extra space will enable me to get a high yield from each plant. Oh well, that's what you get for being busy! |
Potatoes and Weeds 31/05/2009 You turn your back for 2 minutes and boy do those weeds grow! I'm not really too bothered as the earthing up will clear them anyway until the potatoes shade them out anyway. People say potatoes are good for clearing a plot but the truth is that the cultivation of the potatoes clears the plot. |
Marestail 31/05/2009 The one weed that I get the most mail about is marestail and some people describe it but don't know what it is - so a photo of marestail on another plot. I have updated my article Control Horse or Mare’s Tail – Equisetum Arvense now that you can't get Amcide. |
Skip on the Site 31/05/2009 It amazes me how quickly the skip manages to fill. I suppose, in fairness, there are 42 plots but it still seems an awful lot of rubbish to me. My contribution was a few old compost bags and a couple of sheets of plastic that are falling apart. However - look at that sky!! |
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