Broad Beans.. and Flower Beds!

A busy half day down the plot, morning spent at garden centre then afternoon doing some actual work.  Best to be fortified with a English Breakfast!  Planted out zillions of broad beans that had been started off in the greenhouse at home, a mixture of Bunyards Exhibition, Dreadnought and Suttons.  Not much of a headstart doing them in root trainers this year though as the ones we direct planted are already up and doing well.  Never mind.



Whilst I was doing that Simon was busy on the other plot sorting out the flower beds under the hop arches, lots of hard work, turning turf areas into a decent raised bed for our sweetpeas, sunflowers and cosmos.

Looking good!

Also today I planted up 6 courgettes into growbags in the new polytunnel, three traditional shape and three round ones just to be different.  Still room to put in some tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines which are all started at home and doing ok.  Simon planted his Ogen Melons in the greenhouse too, bit of an experiment this year just to see what happens.

 

New Polytunnel

Busy day on Sunday, off to one of our local garden centres in the morning to pick up a roll of heavy duty weed suppressant material and 5 growbags.  Had a £5 off voucher to use so that helped.  Then down to the allotment to put up the new polytunnel we had bought the weekend before.  Again, had a £5 off voucher to use last weekend and put it towards a half price polytunnel.  We weren't sure whether we were going to replace the big old polytunnel we had before as the crop we had from it last year was poor in relation to money spent out on growbags etc, however this new polytunnel is a bit smaller, wont be leaking like a sieve, wont be like a wind tunnel and we may have more success!  So we raked over the top left hand corner of the plot and then dug it over and levelled it.  Put down the weed suppressant - we did think about planting direct or building up raised beds but for its first year we are just using grow bags.  If we have more success this year we may invest in a bigger, better quality one, we shall wait and see....

The polytunnel went up and so far so good.  All seems very sturdy and plenty of room for at least 7 or 8 decent sized growbags.  Got some tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines started off at home so they will have a home to go to now.  Also started off some courgettes but expect they will grow outside as they tend to take up a lot of room.  Will see how things go.





 

 

Had some 'help' from a new little friend that joined us for the day.... young male cat with lots of energy and enthusiasm, more energy and enthusiasm than we had by the end of the day!



........... And we harvested some January King cabbage to take home to have with tea.

 

 

Chillies in the Greenhouse

Well at long last spring has sprung.. Most of the Hot and Sweet Peppers are now in the allotment greenhouse at long last. All potted up in their final 10 litre growing pots. The "Super Hot" peppers are still under lights at home for a while as they are still on the small side, but it won't be long until they join them down the allotment. The only ones left in the house are; Demon Red, Loco (F1), Birdseye, Bengal Naga, Jolokia Naga, Long Hot habanero, Paper Lantern  habanero and of course the Krakatoa F1 which is the house chilli.



Managed to acquire 3 good panes of greenhouse glass via Freecycle so now the greenhouse is draft proof at last. Also via Ebay grabbed a micro irrigation kit and hooked it all up. It's really meant for mains water, but it kind of works via gravity so it should help when I can't get to water them every day as it trickles from the 80 litre tub full of water.



Couldn't quite fit all the peppers on the floor so two are up on the bench. As they grow the smaller plants will live up on here while the taller ones will get put down on the floor as I'm not sure how tall each of these peppers will get. That is the main reason that they have all been planted up in large pots so I can move them around nice and easy.



It's seems to have paid off germinating the peppers very early in the year as a couple of the peppers are starting to fruit and quite a few are showing signs of flowering. So maybe this year I'll get a good load of peppers and hot chillies.



So the race is on to find out which sweet and hot peppers produce the most and best fruit to go in the greenhouse next year, as I'm not going to grow 24 different types next season, but only grow two or three types but lots of each plant for the table.

Roll on Spring!!!

When is the warmer weather going to appear?? I have seedlings that want to be out in the sunshine growing lots of lovely goodness but the nights are still sub-zero around here (Somerset).

I have Green Mint, Parsley Grune Perle and Parsley Extra Curled, Sweet Basil, Coriander all waiting in the light box to be put in the herb beds. The Ogen Melon's are still indoors in 10cm pots,  Some Garden Perle Tomato’s on the windowsills ready for the hanging baskets.

Not to mention the 21 hot and sweet pepper plants that are on every windowsill in the house all waiting to go to their new home in the unheated allotment greenhouse.

And that is just my plants, Jane has got a mini greenhouse full of things starting to germinate, come on Spring warm up a bit.

Easter Sunshine and Shed Painting!

Another full day down the allotment today, taking advantage of that big yellow thing in the sky...  managed to get loads done!  Finished the 2nd bed on plot 120, officially the broad bean section (and some climbing beans).  Heavy digging, lots of serious weeds - nettles, thistles and comfrey.  Bit soul destroying to start with but good to see it finished!  Already some broad beans in there from yesterdays planting.  Put up 2 sets of climbing bean canes in preparation for later on when we put in the Blue Lake climbers and maybe some runner beans - had far too many runner beans last year so planning on doing a lot less this time and more Blue Lake as they were rather special, eating the last lot from the freezer tonight with tea!  Can't believe Plot 120 is looking so much better already.



Just 2 more beds to be done that side now, one will be for brassicas and the other will be for 'odds and ends' - my curiosity corner!

Simon sorted out his irrigation system for the greenhouse too today, taking advantage of rainwater collection, should work well hopefully, especially when we are away on holiday and his chillies need watering!



Last but not least today, I got busy with the paint brush and some paint I had lying around at home in the garage.  Might not last long as not proper outdoor paint but better than just throwing it away!  Turned our dreary unloved shed into a happy, smiley blue shed!  Still wonky and still has some holes in it but Simon patched the roof and it looks a whole lot better with its new coat on!



Simon says it looks like a beach hut, but thats not such a bad thing!  We like it, its cheerful!

Busy Easter Saturday

Down to the plots to do some more digging today.  Weather was on our side too which makes a change.  Finished the onion bed on Plot 120 and put in 100 more white onions.  50 Stuttgarter and 50 Hercules, the more onions the better as we got through loads last year.  Made a start on the next bed too and put in a couple of handfuls broadbeans that I had left over from sowing in root trainers at home.  Mixture of Suttons and Dreadnought.  The first shoots are appearing on the ones at home so as soon as they are a decent size they will be taken down the allotment.



Met some new neighbours that have just taken the plot across from us, nice to meet some new faces!  Hopefully they will enjoy the site as much as we do, it certainly is a nice atmosphere down there.

Simon picked the first of this years rhubarb today, very tender and sweet and enough to make two rhubarb crumbles, one for us and one for his parents as an alternative Easter present!

An Allotment First!

Had some exciting news at our AGM - the NGS, the National Gardens Scheme, have asked our allotment site to be the first allotment to be featured in their Gardens Open for Charity annual national event.  Hadn't realised what a big deal it was until I looked at their website, an honour indeed.  No wonder our plot seccretary is going around making sure everything is going to be spick and span!

http://www.ngs.org.uk/gardens/gardenfinder/garden.aspx?search=type:advanced-c:Somerset,+Bristol+&+South+Gloucestershire-d:0-d1:20130811000000-d2:20130829235900-t:True&id=30543

Gardening for all! Over 100 individual plots in 5.5 acres, all very different, growing seasonal fruit and vegetables, herbs and flowers. We have built our own garden room from recycled materials as our Community centre. We also have an orchard where Taunton Transition Group will demonstrate Seasonal Cooking. Teas at Garden Room, plant stall and preserves on sale. Children's Discovery Trail.

Should be a good event so got to get the new plot sorted before 18th August, cant let the side down!