Below Zero

The greenhouse thermometer is giving us an idea of how cold its getting at night now, only had a couple of very light frosts at home, only had to de-ice the car once.  Coldest recorded so far in the greenhouse is -3.5.  Chillies are still doing OK in there and there are even some flowers on the Super Chilli!  Forecast is supposed to be for mild weather for the next week or so but expect we will see much lower figures before the winter is over.  Shortest day in a couple of weeks though so Spring wont be too long in coming.



Interesting to see how the 2 different brussel sprouts varieties I planted have performed this year, did a couple of rows of F1 Brilliant and a little block of Fillibasket.  F1 Brilliant has proved to be very productive, have had lots of meals from these already.



Yet the Fillibasket variety are very tall and weedy with not many decent sprouts, some have not a single sprout on.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No prizes for guessing which I'll be doing next year......

So, more mulching and chicken muck spreading today and a general check around, all is very quiet down there.  Still got to get down there with pen and paper and do some planning for next year.

 

November

Well, it's been a quiet month down the plot, in fact I've hardly been there as been laid low with flu for a couple of weeks.  Simon has been down there though to keep things ticking over and tidying things up in readiness for the winter.  Harvesting of chillies has been continuing and about 10% still remain in the greenhouse, not planning to try and overwinter any this year.  Plenty of seeds ready for next year.  Polytunnel is empty and ready for next year.  Onions and garlic are all up and not attacked by pigeons.. yet.   Kale and brussel sprouts are still providing us with lots of veg and look likely to for some time to come as well.

Simon has begun to prep the big holes for the two flag poles for his hops to grow up next year, he has cleared it with the committee as well so hopefully no problems when he puts them up!  Each pole is 20ft high so they will certainly be eyecatching!  Next plan would be to plant some barley then his homebrewing would really be completely DIY!

Hopefully my flu is departing so will be able to get out and give Simon a hand tidying very soon and then the plans can start for next year..... :)



 

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.



 

Fruit Plot Planning

September has been a month of harvesting and planning for next season.  The Blue Lake beans have been good again this year but going to try Cobra next year as this is supposed to be even heavier cropping.  Not going to bother with too many runner beans next year as not everyones favourite at home, might just do one row of Equator as they were stringless and the most successful out of all the varieties we have tried.  Learnt lots of lessons this year.  Cabbages = nightmare.  Everything wants to eat them.  Need more protection.   Florence fennel = not to bother, didnt produce bulbs.  Courgettes = grow in the ground rather than grow bags as they dry out too quick.  Aubergines = dont bother.  2nd year of failure.  Sorted out most of our seeds for next year and sat down with paper and pen to plan the plot.... rotation is proving to be a little difficult but hopefully we will work it out eventually.

 

Main job for September was taking up all the potatoes - had an excellent crop of Pink Fir Apples and Nicolas, Roosters were good as well but the skins were quite tough.  Got enough stored in the garage to last us quite a while.  Used the last of the garlic last night though so our decision to grow a lot more next year was the right one.  Ordered 2 Provence Wight bulbs and  12 Elephant garlic from Marshalls, and a few hundred Senshyu Yellow onions so will put them in as soon as they arrive.

Other big job was planting the new fruit bushes.  Picked up some cheap and cheerful ones from the Range, 4 for £10 so a bargain and look healthy enough.  Got some blackcurrants, a fig tree to go in a big planter, a blueberry, some yellow raspberries and some redcurrants.  Together with the rhubarb, currants, jostaberry, gooseberries and raspberries we already had it has turned the right hand side of plot 119 into a proper fruit patch.  Just got to sort out some sort of fruit cage for next year.



 

Job of the Day

Thanks to Monty Don and his inspirational compost heaps Simon has been working really hard to create the same sort of thing.  He managed to get some good quality pallets via our plot manager and today he cleared the area to the rear of the greenhouse and made a system of three compost bins.  First bin for fresh allotment waste, second bin for when it is partially rotted down and a bit more crumbly and the third bin for when it is sieved and ready to use.  So far the first bin is filling up nicely with the contents of the old compost heap.  Already got some of the organice matter from the bottome of the heap into bin number two though.  Looks a lot better than the compost heap we had before and hopefully the system will provide us with some brilliant usable compost next year.  He just has to do the front slats now so we can get in and out of them easily.  Got to empty the two plastic compost bins yet too, however not in any hurry as we know a slow worm has taken up residence in one of them!



Just a couple of other pictures - firstly Simons little melon in the greehouse - its surviving and getting bigger by the day!



And his lovely hops looking lovely in the sunshine today....