Raised beds

28. SEPTEMBER

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As I could actually get to the composter bin I wanted to empty it today and use the soil in two places. One had to be the latest little greenhouse I got because the borders were not deep enough. I have changed the wood on the edges and made them much higher so I could put much more soil there. It is only a small  area but I have used four large soft buckets. It looks much better and I’m  sure the peppers that I plan to grow there next year will do well.

There was an amazing amount of perfect soil in the bin, it took quite an effort to get it all out. Everything was perfect.

I even had two large sacks left after filling the greenhouse beds so they went in the raised bed. Now I have everything ready for planting the garlic. I have even ordered some more, we like garlic, I use it a lot in my cooking and home grown is certainly the best.

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24.SEPTEMBER

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It is difficult to believe that we are entering autumn, even though the evenings are getting darker every day. All my harvesting is slowing down, I gathered another box of tomatoes and a few cucumbers but all this will be coming to an end very soon.

I started preparing the ground for planting garlic after watching Monty Don last night. He gave me a great idea and as soon as I got to the allotment I started working on it. I have got four large raised beds and I’ve been growing strawberries there for a number of years. A couple of these beds aren’t producing good enough fruit so they will be emptied, the ground enriched, all in time for planting. Garlic is on order from one seed company but I will try to get some more on Tuesday when I go to town, the stall in the market might have some.

5. MAY

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Everything on the allotment is doing well and as the weather is nice ( the forecast is good for the next number of days) I decided to plant out my sunflower plants. These are the Johnson competition sunflowers, they were in flowerpots on the veranda so they were ready to go out. I gained a strip of ground between two of my greenhouses, they will be sheltered there and it should be a bit warmer too.

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I also dug some rich compost in before planting three sunflowers, supported with a cane.

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I had more plants, they were not so big and I just placed them randomly here and there, it’ll brighten the plot, all 12 of them.

The strawberries are flowering very well, I even saw some fruit on the plants and I’m sure the birds have spotted it as well. That meant my next job was to cover all the raised beds. I have got the nets for the job, the biggest problem is to remember which net goes where. The beds are not all the same size but I think I have managed.

I will have a little break now as the next vegetables will be all kinds of climbing beans and courgettes and squashes. These are now in seed trays and are already sprouting. There is also sweetcorn – first of all I thought I’d wait for the weather to warm up even more and sow them in the ground directly but there was the possibility of mice eating the seed. Better be safe, there was room in the big greenhouse in the back garden.

ONE MAN’S RUBBISH IS

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another man’ treasure. This was the story of my morning today. This story started some months ago. On the street where I walk to the allotment a house was raided by the police. It was a canabis growing place. The police took the occupants away and boarded the doors and windows of the house. So far so good. As I was walking to the allotment in the morning I saw a van in front of this ordinary terraced house with a couple of men carrying pots and bags out and loading them in the van. When I asked what they are going to do with the pots etc I was told that they would donate them to me – and the bags with the compost if I wanted it.. Of course I agreed, got my wheelbarrow from the allotment, which is just down a short passage, and started taking it all there. In the end it proved a bit much for me so I phoned Frank to come and help and between the two of us we finished the job. The compost in the bags was used but only once after one lot of plants grew in it so it is still very good.

I had a piece of land where I harvested my garlic and had nothing growing there now so that is my latest storage area. I’ll be able to share the pots with my friends on the site and the compost will be excellent for topping up the level of soil in my raised beds. All this has saved me quite a bit of money and effort – I don’t have to drive to a garden centre to get  the compost and the pots will be just right to grow my tomatoes or peppers.

Waste not want not and the guys from the clearing company had much less to take to the tip.

SPRING IS HERE

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Finally it all came together. First of all I managed to harvest my very first spring rhubarb – I think it is the tastiest of all the pickings.20210318_111901

Last year in the autumn I have acquired another greenhouse, a very old one at that. It belonged to an elderly lady who lived in a house right next to our allotments. We were very friendly, she was used to come to see me quite often . She had a little gate in her fence as her husband was used to have a plot on our site quite a number of years ago. She died a few years ago and the people who bought her house didn’t want the greenhouse so I rescued it. The structure was sound but as we dismantled it quite a lot of the panes of glass broke – it was very old and brittle. Anyway, with help I moved it all to my plot and stored it very carefully. My friend Dave said he would help me to put it together. Soon after the New Year he surprised me by getting the structure up and in position. It formed a neat group of greenhouses. Next job was harder – sorting out the panes of glass. As so much of it broke I decided to do a bit of mix and match – I ordered eight polycarbonate sheets for the side panels and decided that the rest and the roof would be glass. Had to buy some more glass but it all started to take shape. I’m delighted to say that the only thing to do now is to fix new runner wheels on top of the door – on order – and all is done. Nevertheless I have constructed my raised beds inside, filled them with the contents of one composter bin and a number of sacks of Dalefoot compost. This way I can have one greenhouse for tomatoes, one for peppers and chillies and one for aubergines and the occasional cucumber will be placed where I will find space. I am very happy but all this was possible only with a huge lot of work by Dave. Thank you Dave. A friend in need is a friend indeed.

MAY ACTIVITIES

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It is all go on the allotment now. Fortunately the weather has been good so far, so I was able to plant and build. I was also able to harvest some of my produce – lettuce, that has been going for some time and now some young broad beans. Never mind waiting for the pods to mature and then shell them – we like to pick the young pods and chop them whole and add to a salad. Delicious!

Last year was not good at all, the pigeons had a great time eating all my young plants, so this time I planted a lot in one of my net cages. I put them in the ground in October, they grew well and continued to do well in the spring. As they started flowering I was wondering if I will get any beans, seeing that they were under cover. I didn’t have to worry, they are producing lovely pods and I don’t have to share them with pigeons.

It seems I have to cover quite a lot – lettuce for example. I did have a poly tunnel some years ago but the plastic started breaking. The structure was sound so with a bit of help from Mike we covered it in green netting and it works a treat. I even managed to build raised beds in there.

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Strawberries were the next thing to cover – I have got a number of raised beds, just to make it easier to put the net over them. It pays off, I harvested my first two sweet strawberries yesterday.

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Every year I try to grow something new. This year it is water melon. I have got three plants, all inside a greenhouse and one of them is showing signs of wanting to start climbing. Keep fingers crossed! I’d be happy with just one melon.

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It is not just vegetables that are doing well – my beautiful rose and clematis are a delight.

I did a count of my tomato plants – I think this year will be a bumper year, I have 80! It may seem a lot but they are all different varieties – Costoluto Fiorentino, Long Tom, Super Marmande, Ailsa Craig, Czech Bush, just to name a few! I didn’t have this many last year and I still use the last few I bottled. They freeze well, cooked of course. A win-win situation.

MORE WORK

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There was just enough wood left to build another structure in one of my net cages and also for improving an edge of one of the paths.

I wanted to make the path edge a bit higher – when I first did that one I didn’t have the right sort of wood.

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All is done now.

Even the raised beds in the last net cage are finished – can’t do any more work, all the wood is gone. I just have to hope now that the builders are going to give me some more pieces of wood.

MAY…

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…is here and it is rather chilly. All the same, work on the allotment is going on – building raised beds inside one of my net cages. I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, got a nice lot of timber from the friendly builders next door and it took a few trips with my wheelbarrow to take it to the allotment.

The tomato plants were outside already so this wasn’t too much of a shock for them as they got planted here. I used some old flower pots, cut off the bottom and embedded them in the compost, that way the tomato plants will have more depth for their roots. In the empty spaces will be lettuce Webs wonderful.

The same goes for my sunflowers – they stood in one of the net cages for a week or so ; they’ll be fine planted here as they have a bit of protection from the greenhouse.

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Last but not least – I covered four of my strawberry beds, they are flowering very well and some small strawberries are already there. I just don’t want to share them with the birds.

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The mason bees are doing what they are supposed to do, it is wonderful to see that.

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JUNE

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After a fairly dismal start everything seems to be growing well – not quite everything, the carrots, parsnips and beetroot didn’t germinate well, I had to re-seed them and even that is struggling. Never mind, I live in hope.

The squashes are doing much better though. As usual I will grow my tromboncino and zucca da marmelata and I add some new ones to it – zucca Hubbard and a Maltese pumpkin.

The squashes had a lovely structure last year but as one zucca da marmelata was about 7 kilo it pulled the structure down – with the help of a fairly fierce wind. Back to the drawing board then and I have constructed a new structure this year, in fact three of them. Much sturdier and I very much hope they will last a few years.

I planted a couple of squashes beside each vertical and with a little bit of coaxing they will climb.

After this I harvested one part of the garlic plants, purely to get it out of the ground to clear a square piece of land to implement my plan.

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I have rescued two raised beds – they were abandoned on an empty plot so I thought I’d give them a chance to be useful. And useful they are for me – they are made in such a way that the corners are hinged so they can fold flat. Well, they’re not flat any more, I have put them on the plot, ready to plant with the autumn broad beans. That means that I can cover them with some netting as last autumn the pigeons ate all of my broad bean plants!!

BROAD BEANS

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Last October I did what I usually do that time of year – decided to sow one long bed of broad beans. They started growing well, got to a certain size and then the pigeons noticed them. The wretched birds just stripped them completely bare, only little twigs remained in the ground. I know I should have protected them but I never needed to do that in the past.

Never mind, I had loads of beans left so I started them in little individual cells, they grew well and I had them standing in the veranda for the past two weeks, just to get them used to the weather.

Today was the day to plant them out on the allotment.

Everything could have been done quickly, the soil was just right but then I had to construct some kind of a cage to drape the net over.

One lot of the beans is planted in one of my raised beds so that was much easier. Never mind, all is done so now I can hope for good weather and plentiful harvest later.