Autumn

Well, Autumn is definitely upon us now.   The wind and rains have taken their toll this week and our hop arch has taken a bit of a battering - got to the allotment yesterday to find it seriously listing.  Some of the metal joints have rusted through and it is no longer able to support itself, let alone any hops.  Simon repaired as best he could with some bamboo canes but it looks like the whole structure will need to come down once the hops have died right back and replaced with something a bit more substantial next year.

Still lots of harvesting going on from the plot though - the kale has turned into a forest and will certainly keep us going right through the winter.  Planted 2 types this year, dwarf curled green and Starbor.  In the picture, Starbor are the short ones and the dwarf curled are the larger ones behind.  An easy decision as to which one we grow next year!

 



The chard is continuing to provide lots of greenery, particularly for our hens which love the stuff.  The perpetual spinach is still growing well too.



Todays harvest - kale and cabbage for tea tonight, a bag of sprouts (F1 Brilliant) - as good as any you would get in the shops, 2 pumpkins - for Simon to make some pumpkin beer, and two bags of Simons peppers.  Greenhouse is still proving to be very productive with lots of peppers still to come.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

A hoooge thanks for the £10 seed voucher..... going to enjoy spending it!  :)

Onions and Garlic Sorted

Put in our onions and garlic for overwintering yesterday.  Got 2 large bulbs of Provence Wight which made 21 cloves to plant.  12 elephant garlic went in as well.  Also 100 Senshyu Yellow onions.  Still got another 100 to go in but waiting for the runner beans to completely finish and come down to make some room for them!  Bought the garlic and onions from Marshalls for £28.15 which felt a little extravagent but couldnt find elephant garlic anywhere else any cheaper 12 for £8.95.  In the garden centre is was £5 for 3.  The plot they have been planted in has been enriched over the summer since the broad beans came out - lots of chicken manure.  So hopefully that will help that corner as it was a little lacking in nutrients and the broad beans suffered for it a little this year.



Put in 20 sprouting broccoli plants as well yesterday and protected them well against all the critters down there.  Plenty of room in the brassica bed for spring cabbages as well but not sorted them out yet....

Brussel sprouts are looking good - the F1 Brillants are certainly a lot more advanced than the Fillibasket variety even though they were planted at the same time.  The Brilliants are almost ready for harvesting yet the Fillibaskets are still very tiny.  Happy with that though as it means we wont have too many ready at the same time.