at this rate there won't be anything to do in Spring !

The Douce Provence early peas that I planted up into drainpipes a couple of weeks ago are finally just poking through the soil. The drainpipes are suspended from the metal railings lining my garden wall, to try and keep them out of harms way. My biggest problem so far has been the incessant rain that the UK is currently enjoying. The drainpipes don't have any caps on the ends, so at least the rain is draining away. So far so good - hopefully they'll stay safe from the meeces ... actually I think my cats will see to that. They have turned into trained assassins every since we moved and there is now a weekly line up of little bodies :( I'm hoping word spreads and the meeces find somewhere safer to live soon.

Douce Provence early peas:

Sweet Peas:

This weekend I went home to Whitby to visit my folks and we had a trip out to Reighton Nursery in Humnanby, Scarborough. I finally got a bottle of liquid seaweed feed - quite a difficult thing to find in Sheffield ! I also got some plants for the garden: a lovely purple honeysuckle - looks like it's first year and a beautiful white clematis called 'Henri' (a nod to OH's stepdad whom we lost during my early allotment days), some beautiful purple 'Verbena', a lovely silver succulent and something called 'dancing butterflies', which is a very pretty and delicate little thing. Apparently it may need some protection over winter. I also got some onion sets - 25 Radar (white) and 25 Electric Red and they are now nestled into bed no. 1.

"Dancing Butterflies":

There is a bit of space left at the end of the bed for the Broad Beans, Bunyards Exhibition, that I sowed last week. No sign of them yet but hopefully not long :)

My globe artichokes are looking superb, despite the little leaf burrowing bug. They are filling out nicely.

My leeks are safely tucked up under their metal 'cages' and it appears that the culprit was most likely naughty kittie no. 3, as all leeks are now thriving ! He came to watch me plant my onion sets earlier, wonder if I'll need to protect those next ! Something has dug up and eaten some of the garlic - a squirrel maybe ?? they are now also under metal cage protection LOL courtesy of Vic :)

Naughty kittie no. 3 ... loving the allotments as suspected

So season prep is going pretty well so far ! Off to look at the seed sites now to see what else I can sow before winter :)

Autumn is here

It's very hard to dial down my impatience to get started, having missed a whole season and so the garlic that was planted just a couple of weeks ago is just starting to appear :)

My baby leeks are starting to thicken - although a few have disappeared ! I'm investigating the culprit ... there are three suspects:

1. the super fat pigeons
2. kittie no. 3
3. bloody slugs

I've narrowed it down to no. 2 & no. 3. I've developed a cunning plan to narrow it further and they are now encased in a chicken wire cage. Beat that kittie !

This weekend I've planted two enormous elephant garlic cloves. I've never grown them before and the chappie I bought them from has told me that they need a lot more feed than normal garlic. I paid £2 per clove (blimey) and was disappointed to realise that one of them was soft and mouldy on one side - won't have an opportunity to take it back to the food festival, so will have to cross my fingers instead. I meant to take a photo but forgot - the cloves were as big as the palm of my hand ! Need to order some seaweed feed now.

I've also got some globe artichokes on the go. I've potted them on and transferred them to the plot, where they appear to have some leaf mining insect :( Hopefully they'll 'grow out of it' - will have to google and see what natural remedies there are.

Last week I sowed some sweetpeas and today I've been busy setting off my 1st early peas !! I've never been this organised LOL. Yes it is a little early for my first early peas ;) but the packet says October and we are only a week away. Next weekend I'll be setting off my broadbeans :0

Vic's cabbages, which were battered by the slugs & caterpillars last month are starting to look a bit better as they are maturing

This is one of the raspberry patches. Vic has been told that the soil is too fertile, so the plants have just thrown up lots of green growth and no fruit. He's recommended that we dig them out, so that's one of my autumn jobs.

This is the jerusalem artichoke bed - it wasn't dug out last year, so we think it will have lots of very small roots. You might be wondering where the plant tops are - they're in the magnificent compost heap !

I think these must be Golden Delicious or a similar apple - the trees are miniature and there is so much fruit that it's falling off

Another apple tree - not sure of the variety. I think I'll have to start reading up on grease bands and the like

There are also three crab apple trees on the plot

 I've been on watering duties for Vic's tomatoes for the last 2 weeks. The leaves are looking a little mildewy, but the fruits are doing well

 He's got quite a few different varieties - none that I've grown before

plum tomatoes

 The ice plant is just colouring up

and the bees are sucking up the last of the summer nectar

The plot has lots of flowers

Vic's hops are looking very pretty - not sure if there will be enough for a brew tho !

One of our community partners at work is the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and they recently hosted a film & supper evening.  

Supper consisted of homegrown produce from Stirley Farm:

** Nettle Pesto ** crackers ** sweet beetroot & garlic 'pickle' **

followed by 

** potato & cheese pie **

(with meaty option for the meatysaurus')

The nettle pesto was very interesting - for those adventurous sorts, here is a copy of the recipe, with thanks to the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust / Chris Bax from Taste the Wild:

Really Wild Pesto

40g Hazel nuts

60g cheese (Parmesan or a more local cheese, if you like)

10 Wild Garlic leaves chopped

2 large (gloved!) handfuls of nettles, blanched and then patted dry

10g sea salt flakes

Oil (olive oil or Yorkshire Rapeseed oil, if you want to make local pesto!)

For a very smooth pesto put all the ingredients apart from the oil into a food processor and blend briefly. Now with the motor running add enough oil to make a paste consistency. Put into jars and store in the fridge for up to 10 days.

For a more course textured pesto, use a pestle and mortar. Start by pounding the hazel nuts, then add the leaves, then the cheese and lastly add the oil to get a good sauce consistency.

Top tip - apparently the nettles need to be very young ... let me know if you try it :)

Garlic time !!

sadly not for harvesting, but planting ! 

Popped out to a food festival during my lunchtime and fell across a Garlic Farm stall selling various garlicky items including 'seed garlic'.  Yippee.  So I bought two bulbs - confusingly though the man on the stall said that the variety is 'Isle of Wight' ... but there isn't an 'Isle of Wight' variety right ?  I think I'll go back tomorrow and quiz him again !!  It was a white variety, so I'll have to keep my eye open for a purple variety.  Planning to plant it September / October :)

would anybody like some Nicandra Physalodes seeds ?

Apparently it is a native of S America.  A plant self seeded in my neighbour's garden last year and he saved some seed.  It has a very unusual leaf when it is immature - vibrant green with black speckles.  The flowers are a beautiful shade of blue, but very short lived and then they form Chinese Lanterns.

I think it is related to the Nightshade family and rumour has it that it is an insect repellant ...

Think it is still fairly unusual in the UK, although it seems it self seeds as it is one of the varieties included in bird seed.

I've not managed to get a good picture yet, but here is a link to the RHS description:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Profile.aspx?pid=538

I'm collecting the lanterns as apparently the seeds are prolific, so if you would like some let me know :)

All aboard ...

... thought you might like a tour of the new plot.

The owners have had the plot for around 5 years I think - it is fantastic, you can tell that they love gardening and have green fingers.  I've been for a good look round to see what is growing and how the land lies. They've spent a lot of time making raised beds, using railway sleepers etc and all of the paths are woodchipped.  There is a huge leaf collection area and an enormous compost making area.   In addition there are 3 greenhouses, a shed and a summerhouse.  I think that Vic & Anne want to retain exclusive use of the greenhouses and I'll have use of some, or all of the 8 raised beds - we still need to discuss the finer details, but I've got so much to do in my own garden and house that it'll suit me very much to only have a few beds to maintain for a while.

This is the entrance, looking up and into the plot - to the right is the huge leaf collection area. Vic loves composting - wait til you see that bit later.  To the left are the raised beds.

Here is one of the raised beds - it is made from railway sleepers and currently has courgettes, nasturtiums, brassicas & potatoes  I'm hoping that in October I'll be able to plant some red & white onions & garlic. 

There is a funny little railway / workman type shelter at the end of the bed - Vic has quite a collection of interesting items.  I saw a few of these when we went round the open day - some have been made into sheds.

Jerusalem Artichokes ... seems they forgot to dig them up last year, vs really really really liking them LOL. Happens to us all :)

 This small-ish bed appears to be empty at the moment - looks like it may have had a small greenhouse on it originally. It has blackberries growing up the wall at the back of the bed.  I'm wondering whether this might be a good place for a couple of Globe Artichokes.  I think I'll find my seeds and get some started in preparation for next year.

Here is the master composting bay - look at the size of it.  Apparently it was full earlier in the year so all that goodness is now in the soil.  It is waiting to be filled from the various composters dotted about - I've never seen so many !!

This is the walled strawberry bed - I believe it's been a poor year for strawberries this year with all the rain - never mind, always next season - isn't that the allotmenters mantra !!

Here is a familiar sight ! It's just like being back at my previous lottie - there is a much bigger variety of birds at this site, although I have never seen such fat and satisfied looking wood pigeons are here.

I think this is a flower bed ... can you see the familiar sight of bindweed popping up?  It doesn't seem as bad as my previous plot.

Two of the raised beds are covered - one with fleece and one with polythene. The fleece one has brassicas inside and the polythene one has strawberries. Vic has a fabulous watering system through the plot.  He gathers water from his roof and diverts it down to the plot (he's got some huge water containers to store it in) and then it is distributed through a system of hoses to the various structures & beds.  It is very impressive.

This is another covered structure - it's around 10x10ft I think and currenty has a fig tree, grapevine and various veggies growing inside.

Vic & Anne also have a bug house - cool !

Then the top of the plot has been turned over to a mini orchard - in total on the plot there are 7 apple trees (eating, cooking & crab), 2 plum trees, a pear tree and a couple more that I couldn't identify yet

This is Vic's main greenhouse - it has 2 x grapevines, tomatoes & a nectarine tree - very exotic.

The plot also has a small pond with lots of froggies, which is good as slugs have been thriving with all this wet weather.

It looks great doesn't it !  So think my plans will be to plant onions & garlic in October and get my globe artichokes going.

(I'm having lots of issues with blogger at the moment, so apologies if the size of the photos is too much for your pc, I seem to have also lost my comments facility .. oh well only another 5 hours of looking through the help forum and I'm sure I'll crack it LOL)

Exciting News !!!

It was Open Allotment Day on Sunday :)

The site is a quarter of the size of my old one and seems much better cared for. Hedges are generally much lower and under control and we only saw a couple of plots that looked abandoned down towards the woods.

One lady had a nectarine tree growing in her greenhouse - it smelt delicious ... apparently she discovered that a stone had started to sprout in the compost heap, so she planted it and three years later it has loads of fruit !

Beautiful sweetcorn - apparently they don't like wind (it is tremendously windy at my new house) so they are growing in a shelter.  I didn't know that !

This chap had green fingers and then some. He loves cacti and succulents and has very impressive displays. OH had a little drool :)

The day before I was invited to have a look around the plot that adjoins my neighbours garden. The tour went well and I've been invited to become co-owner with a view to perhaps taking over when (if !!) I get to the top of the waiting list. The plot is fanstastic - about 10 fruit trees, greenhouses, summer house, proper raised beds, compost heap the size of a bus and lots of chipped paths. I am luckier than lucky at the moment ... you'll see me in the lottery queue on Friday :