Spring is around the corner!

It felt like Spring today: Sunny and warm, no rain for the last week, ideal to get outside and get the allotment sorted.



The grass divider across the plot has been covered with weed-control fabric, buried either side. The plan is to break up some pallets, use the wood for edging, then cover with bark chippings next time a pile is delivered.

Brought back 5 "Autumn Bliss" raspberry canes to fill in the gaps, a redcurrant bush, and a bag of "Red Sun" shallots, which are now planted next to the garlic. Apparently there is a shortage of shallots because of the wet summer last year, but there were plenty at the garden centre today.

Preparing for the Winter

The summer is well and truly over, there was a frost on the allotment this morning!

Sweetcorn, beetroot, courgettes have all died back. The total crop of three apples have been eaten. The red onions have been lifted and stored.

Spent the morning tidying up.

Completed the netting around the brassicas, cleared the summer cabbage bed and planted with garlic bulbs.

We also cleared the legumes bed and planted Radar onion sets.

The Rainbow Chard, in the background of the picture is still doing well.

The Raspberries are also still producing well, although the fruit doesn't have the fantastic taste it did back in August. The frosts may have finished the fruit season though.

Sun, in flower form

Not seeing so much of the real thing at the moment, but Tash's sunflowers are blooming this week.


The variety is called "Earth Walker". They are smaller than the normal yellow flowers, but much more interesting!

Lots of Shallots

Cleared up the weeds along the onion and shallot rows yesterday, harvesting the remaining shallots along the way. A better harvest than the potatoes:


Cleared the pea plants, which have stopped growing peas, and sowed some new carrot, fennel, and french beans in their place. In the background my new path, built from Dez's left over patio slabs, can be seen.

Blighted!

The entire site has been hit by potato blight. Lost about 1/3 of the Desiree crop, cut off the exposed foliage last weekend, then unearthed the potatoes last night. A lot of them had been infected, including this monster:


Still, managed to fill a large bucket of good potatoes so could have been worse.

The tomatoes, on the other hand, have been a total loss. Another week and I might have been able to pick the first ones, but the blight got there first and the whole lot had to go on the bonfire.

Peas and Beans

A good crop of peas this evening, and the first few broad beans.


Fairly sure that the Catriona potatoes have blight so have removed all foliage. Will leave it a week for the blight spores to die then dig the half-row which is still in the ground. Fortunately the Desiree plants don't seem so badly affected so I am leaving them alone for the moment.

The Weeds Strike Back!

Feels like I have spent hours clearing up weeds over the last week, but they are growing faster than I can remove them. At least the compost heap is growing!



'Feltham First' peas are really getting into their stride. I picked half a carrier bag of fat pods this afternoon to add to more potatoes, courgettes, and shallots. The broad beans have plenty of pods now, some of them are getting quite fat, but not quite ready to eat today.