A Stormy Summers Day - Plenty planted and a general PLOT update

It was a very stormy day down the allotment today.   I did manage to get quite a lot done inbetween the heavy thundery showers, mind.

Woke up at 5am,   was in morrisons by 7am (hardly a cloud in the sky so piled on my factor fifty).   Come out of morrisons and thought, oh the storms are coming.     Did manage to have a good hour on the plot before the heavens opened.    The image below shows the storm developing,  this was taken about fifteen minutes before the thunder struck (I never saw any lightning, so im guessing we didnt have the brunt of the storm)

 This was taken, when it finally stopped raining and you can see the Sun finally trying to break through.    managed to have another half hour on the plot, before it all started again!

Today I made use of the Cold Frame which Darren Smith kindly let me have (although Daz,  i managed to smash the glass, thinking might take the glass out and have a plastic lid like the other one).   Anyhow, sowed into the compost, are mixed lettuces , other salad leaves,  some oriental salads,   mixed Radish and one or two other bits and bobs.

 My Carrots which i planted into my claysoil are not doing very well. And when i visited Darrens during the week, i was jealous of his carrots, they are growing theirs in bags (usually for patios and small gardens) and they were huge.    So today I have sown two varieties of carrots and two variaties of parsnips.    

 Look at the shed in the distance,   got quite far down the plot now!!!   looking good.

 The cucumbers which were planted last week dont seem to have grown much, mind you one day of sunshine this week, so im not surprised.

the good news is that the wet weather has helped the lettuces root themselves,  they now need a bit of sunshine just like the rest of us do.

 The Potato Bed has properly recovered now after the heavy frost early may when i thought i had lost them all.

Ive not managed to capture the flowers in this shot,  but bottom right hand corner of the bed some of the spuds have flowered already.

 The Onions (top) and fruit bushes( bottom) doing good

 On this shot to the left hand side of the onions, is the leek bed.

I have only put leeks in at the top so far, as i want to sow some leeks every month or so.

Basically tomorrow or next weekend i will sow my next leeks into small pots, and then they will be ready to transplant in about five or six weeks, depending on the sunshine

And the bench, needs weeding already!!!



BELOW : The Broad Beans - Doing really really well.  Pumpkins are planted in between.

 Under neath the netting here, are the Beans and Peas.    not doing too well at the moment, hopefully they will shoot up soon

 The Sweetcorn at the top of the picture is doing really well though.

And in the grow tunnel below, the cabbages and sprouts are struggling, still very small.

If you look closely on these photos you can see some of the Broad Beans.

Didnt pick any this weekend letting them get bigger,  but we did enjoy our first crop last weekend.


Lots done before i got rained off

The first crop of the season and transplanting baby plants

Wow what a mixed day today was, one minute red hot, next minute looking like rain.  Fortunately the rain held off and i managed to get a hell of a lot done today

As you can see below, the Broad beans are really shooting up.  But yep im quite slow at developemnt the bottom half!!!

 And the Onion Bed,   starting to come through

 Below : The Red currant and white currant bushes, seem to be taking now

The Potatoes have really recovered after i thought i lost them during early may after a heavy frost.  And how camp does my beautiful little shed look.  Awesome!!!    Also today, i painted the Shed.

 After painting the shed, I transplanted my really small CUCUMBER plants.  and in the background at the side of the shed,  some webbs wonderful lettuces.

 And below....  Today picked my first crop of the allotment season,  some broad beans.    only a few ready today,  but should be picking a lot more over the coming month or so.

Keep a eye out on my sister blog.... Robbyboys Allotment kitchen.   That blog will show some recipes and storage tips as my produce becomes ready.....

Broad Bean, Bacon and Feta Cheese Salad - on Robbyboys Allotment Kitchen.   http://robbyboyskitchen.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/broad-bean-bacon-and-feta-cheese-salad.html 

CATCHUP - The Shed is finally constructed

Today my old school Pal Richard Becker came down and he helped me with the construction of the shed for allotment.   I say shed,  but its very small,  still it keeps my tools locked away

 

Nearly there.....

Yay!!! constructed!!!!

Videos from the plot, from blackbirds to flocks of pigeons, to just old allotment normality

What a day it was.   You have seen the photos from earlier,  here are some of the videos  (oh and a video overview of what has been done so far)

Then these came along and scared off my blackbird friend.     think i need more sunday mornings like this,  i suppose its what i get for getting down very early!!!

Actually, this is a even better video of them,    caught up with them better,   lol

And finally....   a quick overview of how the plot is looking.   turnips, swede, different varieties of beans, pumpkins, leeks, all sown today

heck five minutes, i know how to go on. lol

A Blackbird Joins me for Breakfast

Had a fab day down the allotment today (Sunday)...   and as i was transplanting my beans....   and little birdie dived through my legs to catch this worm i had dug up...      did slightly scare me!   but to my astonishment my scream didnt scare the blackbird, oh no,  he stayed right with me, to allow me to get some close up pics without trying to move and frighten him!

Leave my sweetcorn alone Birdie!!!

 Thats more like it, eat your dinner   the worms, not my plants!!!

It cant be normal for Blackbirds to come this close.

I am currently uploading some videos i took on the allotment today to my youtube account, but they take hours to upload.  i will add the links later.

THURSDAY - Camping stove - sorted

Thursday, First day of my holidays.... and spent the full day down my allotment.   Sun Burnt yet again, despite putting a sun hat and glasses and tons of sun creme on.

Purchased a camping stove from B&M currently knocked down to £8.99.  they are £9.99 in morrisons, but be careful, i have seen these a damp site more expensive else where (even £35 at some outlets)/  Happy days down there so i can do me sen a bacon sarnie, and also got a wee kettle!

 Right on with the workload.    got a couple of rows of Garlic in,  top side, is the carrots coming through nicely

 The Potatoes (Below) have recovered well after being hit by a sharp frost last week

 Today i have transplanted my baby Sweetcorn plants...   got two different varieties in, hence the log!

That was Thursday,  a glorious hot and sunny day

Onions Sown - and planning the beds

Forgot to blog last weekend, got lots done and got very sun burnt....    tomatoes/ sweet corn all doing well in the trays.

Today, took this video, shows how much ive done so far, and how much is left to do (loads!!)

 

And after filming the above,  I cracked on with the onion bed,    and all the onions are now sown.

 

Spuds are in, a glorious Sunny day

Finally got all my potatoes in today.   various crops (see previous post for this years bought varieties).

 

Also dug up these Parsnips today,   a nice surprise.

 

The Plot coming along.   next week will need to dig the onion zone.