Blight

As said before it has arrived with a vengeance, especially in the walk in greenhouse , there are 4 varieties in there and the Sungold and Gardeners Delight have taken a beating. I have stripped the leaves from them to try and slow but not sure if it will make much difference.





What makes me feel more uneasy is that it has got into the stems of the plants:



I have removed one plant totally and am tempted to do the same to the other Sungold soon.

Funny though, the outdoor tomatoes are not faring so badly and the spray seems to be working…..famous last words!!!



On the potato front things are not as bad as I thought. The Ratte are a right off but the second earlies have formed good tuber and the foliage, though slightly effected for blight, is dying back as normal. I will strip the foliage this week and leave the spuds in the ground for a couple of weeks.



The Arran Victory though is showing signs of infection but it is not getting any worse at the moment:





Trouble is, this is a late maturing variety so I really need it to get a few more weeks under it’s belt before I remove the foliage, bit of a gamble!!!

But it is not all doom and gloom, the sweet corn is busy flowering away and there are plenty of silks and cobs!





I have the smallest Aubergine……



And I am sure this was not there last night when I looked!!!



I fear we are about to sink under a wave of various courgettes.

Beetroot are great at the moment, very sweet and lovely baked in the oven and drizzled with walnut oil when still warm:



First Earlies are still going on very well and will feed us for a few weeks yet, this is Foremost:



I have Mimi ready now as well.

Carrots, my daughter is now happy as we have plenty, she more than content to munch on a raw carrot which is excellent:



And we are now picking black currents, filled this bowl this morning but needed another, will have to pop back later:



And despite the blight I am picking toms.

Tumbler:



And the first Ferline, not huge but ready and perfect!



So, not all good news and not all bad news either, typical gardening really then!

Jerry

Back to the Plot

After the excesses of Hampton Court it was back to my little plot…or plots!

It was funny old weekend, Saturday was not too bad but Sunday dawned cool damp and very windy! We need the rain but not the wind.

At first it was not a great deal of rain Sunday early morning and I managed to get to the plot to try a couple of new video’s taken with the Handy Cam rather than my still digital. The quality is a bit better but the sound is awful as it was so windy and I even managed to call the Rhubarb a cucumber! Some dodgy camera work too…….end result deserves the mark of “Could do better!”

Any way, these are the links to the two scenes, you have to copy the link to your address bar in your web browser and it should work:

Plot One

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/sandersj89/Allotment%20July06/?action=view¤t=Plot1July.flv

Plot Two

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/sandersj89/Allotment%20July06/?action=view¤t=Plot2July.flv

Having said how bad the wind is most things seems to be doing well and we are enjoying the harvest, but there is plenty to come!

Courgettes, well we will always have plenty!



Calabrese….not just yet!



The outdoor main crop toms are just starting to colour, the weather conditions though mean a spray against blight is on the cards in the next day or two:



If at all worried I recommend monitoring the blight situation from Bight Watch, a free web site run for commercial growers. Obviously blight effects both spuds and toms.

http://www.blightwatch.co.uk

You have to register but it is free and could save your crop!

Today also allowed me to put up more secure netting for the Black Kale, Autumn King Cabbage and some White Excel Cauliflower. I am using blue piping this year to support the netting and I am very pleased with how it does the job and the ease of use:



And we are now picking rudbeckia to go with the pinks, freesias, dahlias and sweet peas!



I would like a bit more rain and bit less wind for the next week. Though I am sowing the next back of lettuce and beetroot to try and spread the seasons a little!

Jerry

A day out at Hampton Court Flower Show

I decided to treat my self to a day at the Hampton Court, with out kids! So the day started with an early run up the M23/M25 to be at Hampton Court for 9am. The gates did not open until 10am but I wanted to be in as soon as it opened to get the best of the day. In fact I ended up being the first in the queue for the show which made a huge difference for the first 45 mins.

But, before I went into the show I had a mooch around Hampton Court Palace gardens. The building is stunning and the gardens are very well put together. I did not realise they also have the worlds largest vine, it lives in a glass house and was smothered in grapes. The bed outside the house is kept clear of all vegetation and is well mulched with manure as the roots of the vine extend well past the house. They had a good crop of mushrooms on the bed as well.









So, the gates opened and I dived in……and headed to the floral marques to start with the avoid the crowds.

Now seeing as this is a website about allotments I thought I better include a few pics of veg, and where better to start than in the Floral Marquee and the king of Vegetable Displays, Medwyn William.:

I do not know how he grows so much stuff to be all ready at one time and it was a shame he was not there as he has recently broken his leg. His wife though was very happy to talk.





But this was not the only stand with a touch of veggies:

Ken Muir had a stand doing a good trade in frozen straw berry plants:



And Chillies put on a good show, some of the plants where 6 years plus old and still cropping, made me laugh though that some plants were being sold for £10 plus! !



Not sure who this was but they had loads of veg on show:





Indeed the veggie theme carried on outside in the show gardens:



And in the Daily Mail Garden, not strictly outdoors but very impressive:



In fact this was a lovely country cottage built under cover:







But back to the floral marquee,

Sweet Peas to die for:


(Next years seeds are sorted)

Ferns by a famous company, seen them on TV, Fernattics?



Loved these carnivorous plants:



And as for colour……









And then I come on to show gardens, I struggle here a bit as I find these hard to translate into the real word. The sand mounds in one seemed very odd to me but I could not get close for a picture…

But I did enjoy some of them and I hope to pinch the odd idea here and there:





I loved this water garden:









All in all it was a great day out, the weather behaved in that it was not too hot and it only rained for about 40 minutes.

Getting there at the outset allowed me time to wander with out being too crowded.

The highlights for me were the floral marquees, the heritage hall and the small independent nursery stands and the chance to talk to the exhibitors. I did buy a few things but not too much:



But what I did buy was very cheap compared to locally and far better quality and unique.

And I can but dream about a real greenhouse one day…….



All in all a very good day out very much enjoyed by myself.

Jerry

Summer is truly here…..

Well the temperatures have continued to rise, over 30 degrees Celsius at the weekend and it was baking working outside. I must admit to getting up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to try and beat the worst of the heat!

Te other sign of summer is picking the first Tomatoes and I did so on Saturday:



The first toms were Tumbler, started off inside and moved outdoors a few weeks ago into a sheltered spot. Very pleased to be picking so early though the main crop is still some way off. Looks like Sungold, another cherry, is going to crop next, again outside. Just in time too as we are down to the last jar of last years oven dried toms!

Along with the heat of course comes dry soil, and we are now very dry. I am trying to avoid working the soil too much as that accelerates water loss, but I have had to do some digging.

Firstly there was some garlic to harvest. I was a bit worried about this due to the white rot problem I have so it was with a more than a little trepidation that I push the fork into the row of Purple Wight and Albigensian Wight. However it has not done too bad and I have only lost a few heads.

It is now drying prior to storing:



I still have to lift the Solent Wight which does not look to be so good, 3 rows of this and I hope to get them out of the ground soon this week.

The garlic will be followed with Cabbage and Kale transplanted from the pots they have been started off in to help beat club root. Blimey this makes my plots sound disease ridden!!!

Hopefully also by the end of this week I shall have all my brassicas planted out, the weekend saw me get all the sprouts in and covered by net to stop the pigeons and butterflies. Only the next batch of cauli and black kale to go.

Speaking of cauli I picked my first few heads of All Year Round at the weekend, sowed back last autumn in pots and over wintered in a cold frame. Very pleased with the result:





Also exciting news of the flower front, a Dianthus/Pink my father has been working on developing has now officially been named and a commercial producer is looking to trial it soon. It has been named after my Mum, Hilary May.



I have a few plants on my second plot and will be expanding the stock this autumn with more cuttings.

Finally, if you want to see a couple of short video’s of the plots click below, hope it works!

Plot 1 Video

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/sandersj89/Allotment%20June06/?action=view¤t=134_3475.flv

Plot 2 Video

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/sandersj89/Allotment%20June06/?action=view¤t=134_3471.flv

It is hotting hot up

Time for an update, seems a bit of time since I have done so and things have moved on quite a lot with the weather swing from very hot and dry to cooler with some rain. Over all things have not been too bad though and plant growth has been much better now things have warmed up to reasonable levels.

All of last years crops bar the garlic have now been lifted and we had a great harvest of leeks and parsnips to see us through the winter. However it has not all been good news, my over wintered onion sets have been hit hard by Onion White Rot and I have lost approx 50% of the crop:



It is also affecting the garlic but not so badly it seems, unlike the rust!!!



I have dug one clove of Purple Wight and it seems fine so I hope to get to store about 80% of the crop which will see up though to the early part of next year, fingers crossed.

Everything has been moved out of the cold frames now and either been potted on or planted out. Due to having club root on both plots I dare not plant out brassicas until they are very well established with a good robust root system. As such they stay in pots for a little while yet, planting them out in July in the main.

These are a mixture of calabrese, cabbage, sprouts, kale and cauliflowers.



Of course I also over wintered some cauli in the cold frame and these were planted out in the spring, these are just heading up now and will be eaten in the next few weeks:



Whilst talking about under cover items the plastic greenhouse is doing it’s usual sterling work:



Pot grown spuds that were in the house have been moved outside and also eaten by us, and very nice they were too, this has left room for the Toms.

These are a variety of tomatoes, Marmande, Ferline, Gardeners Delight, Sungold and San Marzona with a couple of cucumbers lurking in there too.

Before these cordon types got too tall I also had tumbler on the shelves but these are now outside and just starting to crop:



Also during the nights I move Aubergines back under cover so keep them snug:



The rest of the toms are outside, mainly San Marzona and Ferline.



As it has been so windy at times these have been well staked and also I have erected a wind break on two sides to give them a bit of respite. This has also had the added benefit of helping reduce water loss. I will increase the wind breaks this year to surround the whole of the top plot which is far more exposed than the bottom plot.

All the sweet corn has now be transplanted out from their starting point in root trainers in the heated greenhouse at home. Their first staging point was a cold frame and them outside for a few days prior to transplanting. There are two blocks, one on each plot. One block of swift:



And one block of Northern Extra Early Sweet:



Hoping fro a good crop to store in the freezer for a taste of summer in the depths of winter.

Other crops destined for the freezer are peas (sowed in lengths of gutter), which we have just started to pick:



Runner and Barllotti beans:



Broad Beans:



Under the netting infront of the beans are the caulis that are just about ready and a new cabbage, Kalixy, that is meant to be club root tolerant. So far it seems fine but is a long way from hearting up just yet.

All my roots are in one area this year, carrots under fleece and parsnips out in the open. The fleece stays on until harvest to beat carrot fly and it does give a better growing environment.



Spuds, well this year there are 5 on the go.

First earlies are Mimi and Foremost. Foremost is ready and we had the first crop at the weekend. Mimi are a few weeks away but the two combined will see us through a good few weeks into August I hope.

To follow are Second Earlies are Marfona and Kestrel with late main crops being Aran Victory and Ratte. These should see us through well into next year and mean we wont buy any spuds for nearly 3 years.

The real summer crops such as Courgette:



and Lettuce:



are also well under way. I grew a few types of courgette, Romanesco, Parthenon and Defender, leaving so to mature into marrows for stuffing in the autumn. For lettuce I grow hearting varieties such as 4 Seasons, Little Gem and Sherwood, along with loose leaf and oriental leaf lettuce mixes.

So at the moment it is pretty busy weeding, watering and now harvesting. Podding peas and beans always takes a bit of effort but is helped along with a glass of wine by my side while sat out in the garden.

Also I still have to construct more pipe hoops for supporting the pigeon netting over the remaining brassicas to be planted out and spraying for blight will have to start soon if the forecast holds true.

But even though there always seems something to do it is hugely rewarding and great to be eating so much home grown food.

Fingers crossed for a warm summer with rain at times!

It is starting to warm up at last

Looks like we should get some heat that will get things moving, things still seem a bit behind to be honest. The again the lateness of the season means we are still harvesting winter crops such as these Leeks, Porvite, that have done us very well indeed!!



But the warm weather means that I can start to rotate things out of the greenhouse into cold frames and move the current contents of the frames outside.

At the moment my main cold frame is stuffed to the gills with lettuce, lambs lettuce and my main brassica crops, sprouts, cabbage, cauli, cabbage, etc.



The second smaller one has carrots, lettuce and onions in there still, onions need transplanting really.



But with the warmth comes the ever present problem on my heavy clay soil of capping over and cracking if it is dry. And it is a bit dry as can bee seen here in the shallot bed:



Still we are forecasted some rain for the weekend and there is still plenty of moisture under the surface. A good soak wont go a miss though and will help fill the water butts.

It will also give the rhubarb a boost, we have been picking of the first crown, Timperley Early for a few weeks now, the Victoria is now coming on line. These are crowns I planted autumn 2004 so this is the first cropping year.



Talking of sweet things, the current bushes are now full of promise!





More later….

Bank holiday weekend and it rained……….

But that was good as we need a drop of rain and it decided to rain mainly at night so that did not stop play too much!

My daily routine at the moment is to visit the allotment first thing every day to open the flap on the plastic greenhouse to prevent things getting cooked in the day when I am at work. I also remove the fleece from the tender stuff that I covered the night before in case of a cold bite to the night air.

The greenhouse is now pretty full.

There are 4 large tubs of early spuds:



The benching is covered with Dahlia plants:



And I have risked a few tomatoes ready to go into the boarder of the house before the end of the month:



On the floor I also have more dahlias, rudbeckia and toms.


So Saturday morning saw be there to check things were OK and I then quickly mowed my paths and did the edging. A quick run around with the hoe in the onion and garlic bed and a check on the spuds showed my first and second earlies are just poking up.

Then back home to do some work in the main greenhouse, potting up, pricking out and making up hanging baskets!

Sunday night it rained off and on for a few hours and but my new water butts and guttering to the test, pleased to see Sunday morning that they have collected a few gallons of water from only a small roof space. I would like them to be full come the end of this month if at all possible. At the moment I am moving all spare water to the butt inside the greenhouse to help it act as a heat sump for the cooler nights.

I then harvested a few leeks and rhubarb for that evenings meal. I had planned to get in a row or two of parsnips and carrots but the soil was too wet really so I consoled myself with erecting a fleece tunnel over the first sowing of carrots made a week ago.



The back home again to the greenhouse and planting up some tomatoes into their grow bags. Thanks to a member on the Allotments 4 All website, thank you Tim, you will see I am trying an unconventional approach. I have cut the bags in two and then stood each half on it’s end and planted the tomato into the bag. This has allowed me to plant them very deep and has given them a good mass of compost to get their roots into. Will be interesting to see how they do, I have high hopes!!!

(Photo to follow)

Monday was a day on little gardening, though I did potter around a bit here and there, the main event of the day was taking the family to the Amberley Working Museum for a great and fascinating day out, having to explain how to use an old rotary phone was a surreal experience and demonstrated just how far and how fast technology is moving!!!!!