Gooseberries, strawberries, beetroots and my first courgette. Sunflowers, dahlias and statice.
I took over my allotment plot in January 2012, at the start it was just a grazed field, covered in grass and weeds. I dug 2/3s of it in January/February and had a very productive summer.
The story of 2012 can be found on the Dores website Dores Allotments
This blog takes up the story in Spring 2013
Friday 26 July 2013
Starting To Crop
This haul was from the allotment the other day.
Gooseberries, strawberries, beetroots and my first courgette. Sunflowers, dahlias and statice.
Gooseberries, strawberries, beetroots and my first courgette. Sunflowers, dahlias and statice.
Sunday 14 July 2013
Broad Beans
Picked my first crop of broad beans today. Not many but enough for dinner.
I planted two lots, one batch of seeds I planted in the ground back in February, the other I grew in the greenhouse and planted out in May.
I don't think either have done better than the other, but certainly the number of successful plants from seed was much better from greenhouse raised plants. Probably only about a third of seeds in the ground germinated. Probably due to the cold spring.
I also picked another punnet of strawberries this afternoon. They are some of the biggest and tastiest strawberries I've ever had. Made a strawberry flan this afternoon.
I planted two lots, one batch of seeds I planted in the ground back in February, the other I grew in the greenhouse and planted out in May.I don't think either have done better than the other, but certainly the number of successful plants from seed was much better from greenhouse raised plants. Probably only about a third of seeds in the ground germinated. Probably due to the cold spring.
I also picked another punnet of strawberries this afternoon. They are some of the biggest and tastiest strawberries I've ever had. Made a strawberry flan this afternoon.
Friday 12 July 2013
Warm Weather, Works For Some Things
A few more crops are ready recently, the two most exciting for me are new potatoes and strawberries, neither of which I've managed to grow before.
I dug into the soil at the end of June to check my new potatoes (Epicure) but they were still quite small so I left them for another 2 weeks.
Now they look like this and are lovely cooked with sprigs of mint and served with butter.
You can't beat the taste of home grown spuds.
I netted my strawberries about a week ago, I thought the birds wouldn't find them up their, but one afternoon I went up to weed and found a couple of strawberries scattered with chunks missing even though the weren't ripe.
So I loosely draped a net over the whole row and
yesterday went and picked my first crop.
Alas not everything on the allotment is enjoying the recent weather, my cauliflowers are a disaster. I think the ground is too dry for them as we've not had any proper rain for weeks. Most of the row have just flopped over and died, I have about 5 plants left from a row of 20. Strangely the cabbages are doing really well, they don't seem to mind the dry.
Now they look like this and are lovely cooked with sprigs of mint and served with butter.
You can't beat the taste of home grown spuds.
I netted my strawberries about a week ago, I thought the birds wouldn't find them up their, but one afternoon I went up to weed and found a couple of strawberries scattered with chunks missing even though the weren't ripe.So I loosely draped a net over the whole row and
yesterday went and picked my first crop.
Alas not everything on the allotment is enjoying the recent weather, my cauliflowers are a disaster. I think the ground is too dry for them as we've not had any proper rain for weeks. Most of the row have just flopped over and died, I have about 5 plants left from a row of 20. Strangely the cabbages are doing really well, they don't seem to mind the dry.
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