Onions, the Reds going to seed

The Red Onions appear to be going to seed a bit early.

Asking other Allotment Owners what to do, it seems i can cut off the flower heads, but basically if theyve started going to seed then they are ready to pick.

So will pick them tomorrow then.


Fortunately the other onions havent shown signs of bolting or going to seed yet

 BELOW : The Elephant Garlic should be ready to pick June/July once the leaves turn yellow.









Borrowed next doors Sieve, place on the wheelbarrow, and dig a trench, and put the compost on the sieve.   Fantastic way to clear weeds and stones.

Time consuming, but look at the result.

 The Broad Beans also starting to come through good

 The Carrots also doing really well

 Finally got round to putting my Leeks into the ground.

 My Antartica Lettuces are also doing really well.  Going to pick one tomorrow for my salad this week.

 The Radish Rats Tails,  a normal variety fo Radish and Spinach also starting to come through

 The Potatoes also doing really well aswell   Below, Coffee Break!

And the Grow Cage is up

Well today, my friend Kev McDonnell was free to come down and give me a hand (or should  I say I give him a hand)  putting up my new Vegetable Grow Cage that I won from a gardening magazine competition.

So now this is up,  next weekend i will transplant the brassicas (ive lost the labels so its gonna be a right mix).

Saturday : After the rains its a big dig

Couldnt believe how much rain came down friday night.  Anyway it made digging a bed a lot easier than it was when i attempted last week and it was like digging through concrete.

So saturday it was digging an area to make it ready for the brassica cage to go up. Used my new wheelbarrow and filled it up twice with the dreaded weeds.

Still got an awful lot of the plot to dig over. 

 Below,  the peas and mangetout still looking a tad yellow but they do appear to have survived the frosts and looks they are recovering.

 Below, the cabbages under the netting, taking off slowy

 The two rows (far left) of broad beans were sown in the first week of march straight into the ground and look like they are really taking off now.  I did sow some in February but they never germinated so lesson learnt for next year, wait until march to sow them.   (November is also a good month for Broad Beans,  so i will probably sow a couple of rows in nov and a few in March)

 Also breaking through are the Potatoes I planted before going on holiday.

 The Antartica Lettuce look like theyre going to produce a good crop,  i need to lift the netting up a tad though, dont want the lettuces breaking through the netting.

Worried about the Peas! Heavy Frost may have killed them

The last few years I have had more success from Peas I have transplanted to the ground in April.  April is always a risk but the last few years I got away with it.

I planted them before I went to Gran Canaria last week, and indeed when i Checked on them on Monday they were looking healthy and had grown a good way up the posts  (I'm told it was hot over here last week),  but last night saw a very heavy frost and today they werent looking very green at all.

Still, if theyre lost, i'll just sow the rest of the packet next week in pots.

 ABOVE : The Peas and Mangetout looking very yellow, could be the dry weather but think the frost is more likely.

Good news on the second lot of Broad Beans which were planted directly at the beginning of march,  they have broken through.

The first two rows planted in February  (my seed packet said sow Nov or Jan-Mar) just havent germinated at all,  so I am guessing they have been lost.

I did sow some more in pots just before I went on holiday fearing I had lost all the direct sown ones,  so I will dig over the first two rows and transplant from the pots.









The Onion and Garlic bread which has been overwintering is looking pretty impressive.  Hoping for a bumper crop this year!

 Below :   Elephant Garlic coming on really well.

The growbag of carrots started off at the beginning of February also have come on well and survived the frosts.

 Today I sowed some more Carrots.   In previous years my Carrots / Parsnips and Beetroot have not done well with me having a Clay-Soil type allotment.    Went round last June to a mates who has a small garden and his carrots were doing superb in pots and growbags.   So I sowed some late and had a nice bumper crop of small carrots.

Below - Autumn King

 Also sowed Chantenay Red today and some packets I had left where the label had worn away.

Above : I also sowed Parsnip Hollow Crown,  hopefully will have some parsnips for Christmas Dinner!

And below,  Wheelers Imperial cabbages done pretty well.   a couple have gone to seed already.

Spuds and Barrows

After the recent hard work on getting the potato bed ready and chitting those spuds!    Today it was time to get them into the ground

 Also chance to use my new seed rule for the first time.  Hopefully this will resolve my terrible decisions i make when it comes to spacing!   No excuses now

 The Potatoes need to be spaced 12" apart.  I also allow 12 to 15" between the rows.

The first earlys I am trying this year are Casablanca.   The second earlys are Kestrel.   And the Main Crop are Amour and Maxine (which is a red variety)

Four rows of broadbeans have been planted.  Two rows first week in feb, and two rows first week in March.   There are no signs of any germination, although weeds have broken through.  So, decided to buy a cheap packet of bunyards exhibition today, and started them off in pots.    Hopng the ones in the ground do germinate, but if not, then at least i can have an emergency row!


Strange that previous years, ive opted to sow some in the ground  (granted November!) and these have done better than the pot started ones.    Has anyone else struggled to get seeds sown after cristmas to germinate?

Put my new Strawberry planter from Morrisons to good use.   I bought the planter (three tiers of pots that just stack on top of each other) for a fiver earlier in the year.  Then filled with Compost.   Morrisons currently selling the strawberry plants,  six for £2.

 Also whilst on the plot today, I assembled the wheelbarrow that i got online.

No instructions didnt make life easy!  but to be honest, it was pretty straight forward.

Bank holiday weekend, so no doubt ill be back on the plot tomorrow and monday

Sowing with a little helper

After all the digging on the allotment yesterday, decided I needed a more relaxing Sunday,  so a good opportunity to do some sorting out.   Set up the mini growhouse ready for trays of brassicas and other trays of seed to go in next month.   Still a tad early with heavy frosts at the moment to plant direct into the growhouse.   With the Tomato Growhouse, ive left the covers off, as it will be a while before the toms are transplanted into there.

So, next up I finished transplanting plants that were sown in February into the heated propegator.

In the various trays here, they are Tomato Lidl Yellow, Money maker, Ailsa Craig.

Chilli wise, Cayenna, Jalapeno and Tabasco.

 The tray of Ailsa Craig which i translanted a fortnight ago, look theyve taken a bit of a hit with the cold nights.    What I should have done is used a plastic cover (and i've got plenty) to cover these overnight to give them that extra protection.   I will be doing this tonight,  better late than never

 In the two pots with some good pencil thin green shoots, are early sown Leeks.   You can't really transplant Leeks until April, so these could do with slowing down growing!    looking very good though.  I will over the next couple of weeks sow another pot of leeks, to ensure that over next winter I will be picking regular crops of leeks but not all of them ready at once!

It was an old gentlemen a few years ago, that gave me some left over leeks to plant on my plot and he showed me a really good way.   basically sow in pots (like the pic shown), and then on your plot use a Dibbler to make fairly deep holes.  Drop a single leek into each hole, and fill the hole with WATER (not soil),   Ive had some tremendous crops of leeks, arguably one of the vegetables ive had the most success with.

 So after freeing up the propegator grow pots, it was time to sow more seeds,   as you can see with Rgio, my little helper for the morning

Here I was sowing my sprouts, a Darmar 21 variety.   Then thinly cover with compost and stick in the propegator

I sowed two varieties of Pumpkin today.  One seed per pot.  The two varieties are Pumpkin Rocket F1  and  Pumpkin Small Sugar.

I have two propegators, each can hold 7 pots.   One is a heater propagator which plugs into the electric,  and the other is a very clever seven day self watering propegator which doesnt need any electric.  








 The following were all sown in the pots today :-
Onion Karma, Pea Douce Provence, Mangetout, Sprouts Darmar 21, Turnip Milan Purple, Cabbage Express, Lettuce Antartica, Pepper sweet spanish mixed, Cherry Tomato Cerise, Tomato Tamina, Tomato Black Cherry and finally Sweetcorn Applause F1

A few weeks ago now, I took delivery of my potatoes,  and instantly put them into egg boxes in the conservatory to Chit  (see a previous blog pots). They are finally starting to show signs of shoots, and these will need to go into the ground in April.

Next weekend i need to finish digging the potato bed, because the fertilizer  (you need a potato speciifc fertasliser - do not use manure) needs to be added to the soil a few weeks before you put the spuds in,  so this in reality is a must job for next weekend.

 A very busy weekend on the allotment, and then at home.