Friday 23rd September 2016 – Good old Ikea blue bags!!

Posted on September 23, 2016 by

September is still being glorious, even though we are now technically in Autumn. Another lovely warm and sunny day today 23 degrees and blue sky. I spent a little over 3 hours on the allotment today, mainly weeding and working through each bed as I go. I was very pleased with what I managed to get through which is always a good feeling. I have now completely cleared and weeded one of my Rhubarb patches, the other one is nearly done. But I’ve harvested the last of this years Rhubarb, which again has grown really well. Cover the Rhubarb crowns with a thick layer of rotten manure once they’re cleared, and this will feed the plants over the winter. Then the following year you will be rewarded with yet more wonderful Rhubarb. It’s difficult to know what container to put your Rhubarb pickings in as the stems vary so much in shape and size. But today, after all these years, I found the perfect thing. The Ikea blue bag!! You can buy these from any store and they’re about 50p I think. I’ve had mine for years, and I think mine was only about 20p when I got it. They’re strong bags as well, and have short and long handles.

The Ikea blue bag is useful for so many things.

The Ikea blue bag is useful for so many things.

I continued with my weeding and managed 3 barrow loads of stuff. Some for the compost heap and the weedy stuff and couch grass roots for the green waste pile. There is still a lot to do before everything is ready for winter, but I feel like I’m making some head way which is great. I sat on my bench to have my lunch and left my trowel on the wood chip path. When I came back to continue with the weeding a couple of snail wanted to join in with my weeding. I told them they wouldn’t be very helpful as they don’t have posable thumbs, so put them somewhere else. I’m all for having a helping hand when it comes to weeding, but snail aren’t very helpful.

Snail wanting to help with the weeding....I don't think so!

Snail wanting to help with the weeding….I don’t think so!

 

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Wednesday 21st September 2016 – It’s clearing up nicely.

Posted on September 21, 2016 by

Don’t worry I don’t have a rash or anything. I’m working through each bed on my allotment clearing the rubbish and weeding, and generally getting them ready for winter. Today I finished sorting all the finished Tomato plants in the greenhouse and now it’s all clean and tidy. As I moved each tray I had to be very careful as there were some rather large spiders about. I’m glad I had on my wellingtons. I didn’t kill any of the spiders, but just let them pottle off and find another home for themselves. Once the greenhouse was all sorted then I continued with the bed in which the Runner and French beans grew this year. They both did very well this year, but all the plants have now finished and I’ve now tidied them away. Remember to leave in the roots because the will release lots of goodness into the soil for the plants next year. Also in that bed I have some “Lancer” Sprouting Broccoli growing. The plants are growing amazingly well and are about 3 foot tall. There are no signs yet of the sprouts growing. But I should start harvesting them from November onwards. I’ll keep you updated on their progress. Then finally before I left I started to clear one of the Rhubarb patches. I removed any rotten leaves. Yes I know you can leave them to rot down, but let them rot away in the compost heap rather than round the base of the Rhubarb crown instead. This is just incase they are diseased, then you don’t loose the plant. So after about 3 hours I came home. A great time on the allotment today. I can’t get down tomorrow morning as I’m working, but I may be able to sneak a couple of hours in the afternoon. Still it’s all weather dependant.

Lancer Mixed Sprouting Broccoli. I've got to wait until November to harvest the first of it.

Lancer Mixed Sprouting Broccoli. I’ve got to wait until November to harvest the first of it.

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Tuesday 20th September 2016 – The last of the Tomatoes.

Posted on September 20, 2016 by

A drizzly start to the day, but it soon cleared up. The sun didn’t shine, but we’ve had a lot of sun over the past week so I didn’t mind. I can feel my tan slowly fading and soon I’ll be back to my white pasty self again. Never mind, it was good while it lasted. The shorts are now away and I doubt very much if they’ll come out again this year. Because the day was a bit damp to start with, I still went down the allotment. Now that I have the greenhouse I can still do work under cover even when the weather is a bit unfriendly for us gardeners. I spent the morning sorting out the Tomato plants in the greenhouse. They’ve practically finished now, so I picked off the final few tomatoes, whatever colour they were, and then got rid of the plants. The old plants are great to pop straight in the compost heap as they’ll break down very quickly and the compost will be ready to use on the allotment next year. I spent a couple of house working my way through as many as I could, but have only managed to get half way. I’ll finish the rest tomorrow where I’ll be able to stay on the allotment for longer, so will take some lunch with me. The weather is supposed to be more gardener friendly tomorrow, so that’s good.

The last of this years tomatoes. They did very well this year.

The last of this years tomatoes. They did very well this year.

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Monday 19th September 2016 – Just a few currants.

Posted on September 19, 2016 by

Another pleasant couple of hours on the allotment this morning. There was only one other person on site. Well I say one other person, but I didn’t see them, all I saw was a car. So I’m assuming there was someone about, and that a car hadn’t just been dumped on the site? I continued where I’d left off last week with the weeding. But today was the turn of the bed where my Raspberries and Currant bushes are planted. The bind weed, which is such a bind (sorry for the pun), is trying to take over the plot. Awful stuff!! But I managed to get lots of it, and it’s roots up today. The currant bushes which I have one each of White, Red and Black are in their first year and seem to be very settled in their bed. I didn’t seem to get any fruit from the Black Currant this year, but there are a few currants on both the White and the Red.

If you look really, really carefully then you'll see just a few Red Currant berries.

If you look really, really carefully then you’ll see just a few Red Currant berries.

There’s not quite enough Red Currants to make any jelly yet, but hopefully in a couple of year time there will be.

And a few on the White Currant as well.

And a few on the White Currant as well.

Once this bed was finished, I then moved on to taking down the French and Runner beans. They’ve all finished, and are looking rather shabby now. If you have any beans that have gone too far, then leave them on the plant to go brown. Then harvest, and dry throughly on the window sill before putting them in an envelope to store for the following year. Don’t pull the entire plant up. Cut the plants just above soil level and leave the roots in the soil as they have all sorts of goodies that will go back in the soil and help the plants the following year. The old bean plants can go in the compost heap as they break down very well. Well that was it for today. I came home had some lunch and then went to the cinema to see “Cafe Society”. Very good and funny. There were only 3 of us in Screen 3. I think my favourite line was said by the mother “First a murderer, and now a Christian. I don’t know what’s worse?”

 

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Friday 16th September 2016 – Are these the storm clouds you’re looking for?

Posted on September 16, 2016 by

Well sort of! With the weather forecast looking very wet and noisy, last night and today, I’d resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn’t be going to the allotment today. Where I live we did get some rain last night, and a few flashes and bangs, but nothing to get excited about. We must have been the lucky ones. I was woken up last night, sometime but don’t know when, by thunder and lightning, but it was a long way off and we must have got the tail end of several storms that rattled past. The kids and Mark left for work and school in the rain this morning, but nothing too bad, and I went and made some cakes for us all, and then did all the usual house stuff.

Some for now, some for later. Hopefully they'll last us for a week.

Some for now, some for later. Hopefully they’ll last us for a week.

Then after lunch the skies became lighter (no sun though) and the drizzle suddenly stopped, so I went in my greenhouse to sort out all my tomatoes. All the plants are coming to an end now, so I harvested all the remaining ones and bought them inside. If you have any that are still green, you can either make some Green Tomato Chutney, or put them on a tray, cover them with a clean tea towel and place them on the top of a cupboard. Check them once a week and very soon they’ll have ripened.

Place any green tomatoes on a tray and cover with a tea towel. They'll soon ripen.

Place any green tomatoes on a tray and cover with a tea towel. They’ll soon ripen.

Some of the Beef Tomatoes are a really good size. I’ve never been very successful with large tomatoes, but this year they seem to have been very good. This is my largest, and I’m very proud of it.

Not as massive as some people, but the largest tomato I've ever grown.

Not as massive as some peoples, but the largest tomato I’ve ever grown at 6.2 oz!

Once they were all harvested and washed, I weighed them out into 1 pound bags. They then go in the freezer and when I need a tin of tomatoes for dinner, I’ll use a bag of tomatoes instead.

That's another 4 bags ready for the freezer.

That’s another 4 bags ready for the freezer.

So here in more detail is what I got up to today in my greenhouse at home. I hope you like it.

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Thursday 15th September – My first Squashes!!

Posted on September 15, 2016 by

It was another hot day up the allotment today. We reached 30 degrees!! It’s supposed to be about 20 degrees, so what is going on with the weather? It’s all supposed to come to an end tomorrow, with rain and storms due, but we’ll soon see if either of those appear. We do need a decent amount of rain, we’ve not had any for quite a while. The stream by us became stagnant and the water company tried twice to sort it out, by pumping water into it. We’ve lived here for 15 years and I’ve never know it to go dry ever!! I managed about 3 hours on my allotment today, but didn’t work too hard (well I tried not to, but you know me). I weeded another few of beds and cleared out a load of debris. I was hoping to clear one of the compost beds, which you may remember I couldn’t earlier on this year because some bumble bees were living in. They seem to have gone, but now some wasps seem to be using it for a home instead. I can’t get stung by a wasp as I react very badly. So I’ll just keep my distance and hope they buzz off soon.

I still can't take this down because some wasps have now made a home in it!!

I still can’t take this down because some wasps have now made a home in it!!

I cleared the bed with the Globe Artichokes and Red Veined Sorrel in and weeded it as well. The Horseradish is in the same bed and is doing fantastically. I’ll wait until the leaves have gone brown before I try and harvest some of it. I also weeded the Pumpkin and Squash beds and sorted out the plants. A busy time on the allotment.

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Wednesday 14th September 2016 – I never grow anything normal!

Posted on September 14, 2016 by

It was another hot one today (sorry if you’ve had rain and thunder, especially yesterday). Today reached about 29 degrees in the South East, where as yesterday we got up to 34!! Yes I know for September that it’s unheard of, and even for the UK it’s a rarity. I was working all day yesterday so was unable to get to the allotment. To be honest it was a little too hot to be out in the open for any length of time. Still I did get to sit in the park at lunch time and enjoy the sun. Today it was cooler (not by much) and I wasn’t working, so I went down the allotment for 3 hours!! Don’t worry I took plenty of water with me, and some lunch. I’m now working through each bed and weeding and harvesting what I need. After the summer holidays and all that came before, I feel like I’m making some headway again. Hopefully that’ll last and the weeds won’t take over again. I managed just over 2 barrow loads of weeds and grass, so that felt good. Some vegetables like the beans have come to an end, but I’ve harvest loads. Others are still growing like the Squashes and the Pumpkins. The Pumpkins are swelling up nicely, nothing massive, but still good sizes. Of course nothing is the perfect shape, but then that’s just boring, and not my style. I’m particularly proud of the Pumpkin and it’s extra growth.

My perfectly shaped pumpkin!!

My perfectly shaped pumpkin!!

Some of the large sunflowers have also come to an end, and my tallest this year is a little taller than me, so must stand around 6 foot tall. I checked to see if the chickens would eat the seeds from the head, and yes they can. It’s helps them in their egg production. So I harvest one massive head (it must be 12 inches across if not a little more) and I’ll dry it out on the garden table for a couple of days in the sun. Then I’ll pop it in the chicken run, and hope the girls enjoy it. There are plenty for them all to share, so there should be no fighting between them.

A sunflowers head for the chickens to share.

A sunflowers head for the chickens to share.

I’m off out tonight, so I’d better have a bath before I go. I’m a little on the yucky side, and shouldn’t really be near anyone else.

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