More warmth, more work...

A spell of decent weather and lighter evenings have meant a few extra trips to the plot of late. I have now started digging and preparing for the potatoes to go in, as well adding some manure to other areas where I think I will either grow salads or squashes. I'm deliberately limiting what I grow to things that store well or that I know will be used at home. To accommodate about 40 potato plants this year, I've started to ditch my bed system, that has been in place since I started in 2007. The aim is to reduce the amount of time I spend on maintaining infrastructure and increase the time on the plants. I've also tried to continue with my new found technique of actually doing something when I go to the plot rather than just standing around looking at it. I think I usually get more done when I'm on a short time limit, than when I have all day.

I've now finished pruning the raspberries but the supports for the netting have fallen down so that's another job for the future. I've also had to re-plant some of the onions I put in which have been strewn about by birds, spoiling my neat rows.

I'm fairly relaxed about when my crops will be planted this year. Most stuff can't go out until after the last frosts anyway, and in this part of the world that means the end of May. It's difficult to find the space and time to get seeds going at home so I may well cheat and buy some small plants at the garden centre when they become available. They can then go straight into my new cold frame, which, um, I still haven't begun constructing. But Rome wasn't built in a day, was it?

Tidy

It seems hard to imagine, standing on a sun-baked plot in September that just a few weeks ago we thought it might never stop raining. One of the benefits of having had most of my crops ruined by this year's weather is that I can find time to do all those tidying up jobs that I never normally get round to. So the plot is looking quite tidy at the moment and I've even managed to do some autumn digging. Today I managed to dig up and burn a lot of weed roots and got rid of a big bag of rubbish. When the plot is tidy I feel more in tune with it, I hope weather and time continues to let me keep on top of it.

It's easier to see the structure of the plot when it's tidy too. I'm thinking of making more of an effort next year to get the top part of the plot shaped a bit more like a garden, with flowers for cutting and maybe some shrubs or herbs. The end of the plot closest to the shed is never very productive for veg growing. I think maybe some wild flowers would work better if the soil is poor. It was always my intention to have the plot as a garden with a mixture of planting but sometimes, like this year, I don't plant as many flowers and I always miss them.


 

Depths of winter

I was able to supply parsnips and potatoes for the Christmas dinner table this year. Potatoes were from storage, parsnips were straight out of the ground (well cleaned and cooked first, obviously!). There are a lot of forked and twisted roots this year as I grew the parsnips in poorer soil than before, but they clean up OK with plenty left to eat. I seem to have lost my knack to roast properly and keep burning them, so more practice is definitely required.

There was one chance over Christmas when I had a clear day to go and do some more tidying up, so Scarecrow was stripped of his Christmas suit - although since I was last at the plot we've had really strong winds so I expect he'll be having a lie down when I return. I also cleared a few barrows of weeds, finished pruning the raspberry canes and mulched them ready for next year. I've found work done in the winter to prepare and keep tidy saves a lot of time in the spring and summer. I've taken to removing weeds right off the plot now, rather than composting or burning - it's too wet to burn, and I don't want them laying around rotting on the plot as they'll only re-grow. I'm pleased to report the garlic has finally decided to start growing, their familiar hard green shoots emerging like the tip of Excalibur rising from the lake. Hopefully the bulbs have put on a good amount of root growth under the soil.

I was able to donate some strawberry runners to a fellow plot holder who has done a remarkable amount of work, just round the corner out of sight from me. Pete and Jo, who are (I presume) retired have been spending every available day since late summer working on their two plots. One is a traditional veg plot, the other is like a pretty garden - still in its early stages but by summer it's going to look beautiful. I'm very impressed and will try to post some photos later in the year.

I still haven't really started my gardening 2012, despite having a bulging seed box to sort out, the latest seed catalogues to read, and a garden centre voucher burning a hole in my wallet. Hopefully I'll find time to make some plans and blog about them in the next week or two.

Summer update: jam

It's been a while since I've had time to blog. Work continues on the plot of course, assisted, sometimes punctuated by, the tiny human. Over the summer I've been combining evening trips to the plot with dog-walking duties, so Moog has had more than his normal share of visits.

Mrs Moog Keeper has mastered the art of making jam this year, so instead of having no idea what to do with all our raspberries, we now have a steady supply of delicious jam. In fact I now can't keep up the supply of raspberries to match Mrs Moog Keeper's new-found appetite for jam-making. Thankfully the autumn bliss variety is just coming through to keep her in fruit. I may have to extend the amount of fruit I grow at this rate. Jam can be very easily made in the microwave, I recommend trying it. All you need is the fruit, some jars, plus some special jam sugar (easily found in the sugar section of the supermarket)- there's a recipe on the side of the pack.

Sadly we were not able to make such good use of the strawberries which looked so promising earlier in the year. The plants were laden with young fruit at one point, but I think mainly due to a lack of watering at the critical time (remember the really dry spring we had?), lots of them dropped off the plants, still green. We had a reasonable crop but not as good as I was expecting. Better luck next year.

This is an ex-worm. Thhhhhpppp!

Well I found out why my supply of worm fertiliser has dried up, as my worms have shuffled off this mortal coil, are pushing up the daisies, have f**king snuffed it. So off to the worm farm for more worms. Meanwhile my nettle tea seems to be doing the trick.

Also today I just thought I'd write that I'm sick of raspberry picking, every time I go to the plot to do something there are hundreds more ripe raspberries to pick before they go over-ripe. I shouldn't moan, really, should I, but I've only got a small freezer. Just wizzed a load of them up with some ice cream to make fresh raspberry ice cream. Yum.

So much to do...

Time marches on and the allotment has really taken off. It's hard to keep up with the blog.

The old man opposite complimented me again and said the allotment was a credit to me; this is great, I'm glad old-timers have looked on and approved, it's a great feeling for a novice like me to keep getting compliments. Also I met Irene, who like me is in her first season on her allotment. She commented that my plot looked lovely and tidy from her side of the riding, although I was forced to point out that those lovely green paths between my beds are in fact mainly weeds rather than grass...

Here's a quick list of what's been going on:

• Onions are greening up well, stalks are about 6 inches high already. None have been uprooted by birds, as I planted the sets so that the tops were just covered, rather than leaving them visible on the surface.
• First early potato plants are getting big too, I have scooped some earth up around the stems as instructed by just about everyone.
• First row of maincrop potatoes are just starting to surface.
• Garlic is plumping up and should be ready to harvest soon. Have planted some carrot seeds in between the rows to use up the space and to confuse carrot flies.
• I have created a big fruit cage for my raspberries. Two posts with wire in between, covered in netting to keep birds off.
• Planted in short rows in the same bed, surrounded by fleece for protection: Carrots, spring onions, Cos lettuce, cut-and-come-again salad leaves.
• Germinated and growing on in the greenhouse: French climbing beans, courgettes, more salad leaves, red lettuces, tomatoes, chillis, peppers, chard, sweetcorn, leeks. They should all be in the ground in the allotment in a few weeks time
• Still to go: Parsnip seeds and peas need to go in this week if I get time.