Lottie update

 All the  early Potatoes, Maris bard,and Kestral have now been harvested, and in their place so far are another 50 Leeks,  a row of Dwarf beans (Kingshorn wax) a yellow variety and a row of Carrots(Nante5)
We still have several tubs of main crop spuds to harvest, a variety called Charlotte.

The runner beans are starting to set after a slow start, the hot dry weather was causing the flowers to drop prematurely

Brussels sprouts are growing well, firmly staked to prevent wind rock and covered with fine butterfly netting to keep the dreaded Cabbage white butterfly at bay.

Broad beans continue to crop well, plenty to eat and freeze.

The Strawberries continue to crop well with at least 25kilos picked so far and 14lb of jam made.

Our single Gooseberry bush has plenty of fruit that is almost ripe, we'll make jam with them soon.

Fridays harvest

I decided to Harvest  some potatoes today, I may be  slightly early, but it has released some much needed space for other crops.
The variety is called Kestral, it does well on the plot and seems to be totally free of any slug damage.
From a 2kg bag of seed potatoes I got a return of 19kg.

Some of them were a good size.

Most plants gave 6-12 spuds.

Cabbage plants, a spring variety, doing well under netting

The sweetcorn is growing fast

And the Morello cherries are ripening, its only a small tree so only a handful of fruit.

June, a time of plenty

Lots to harvest in this month, so far this week, 7kilos of Strawberries, new potatoes, lettuce, broad beans, Rhubarb, Radish and onions.
Theres fruit on the Gooseberry, Apple and Cherries, and loads more Strawberries to come

Heres a pano of the plot.

Heres a shot of the front path, taken from the top of the compost heap.

All change.... harvest a crop, plant another

After a slow start this year, I managed to fill the ground with crops leaving no space left for planting/sowing anything else.
Luckily my autumn planted onions ripened just in time, making space for my sweet corn to go out.
With a week away in our motorhome planned, this happened in the nick of time. So one crop out and one crop in !

Heres just a few of the onions removed from the bed and waiting to be put in the greenhouse to dry.

The sweet corn plants lined up ready for planting in the ground where the onions have just been removed. I like to have my plants in reasonably straight lines, but  I don't spend too much time being totally  obsessive about it. The main thing is to have the spacing even, so that it is easy to hoe between the plants and keep the weeds under control.

In the ground and watered.

Courgettes are flowering with small fruits on the way.

Some Chard in the bed at the front of the plots are doing well.

One of the three greenhouses, this one houses F1 Shirley and Ailsa craig toms and a Cucumber plant, plus some Cos lettuce.

Another busy day on the plots,  and very warm. The sun is ripening the Strawberries really well, managed to pick almost a punnet  full. There are loads more to come yet.

Pinched out the Broad bean tops and had them for tea, along with the first Beans.

And a furkle amongst the Potato plants produced a few of the first earlys. A variety called Maris Bard.

The grass on the paths outside our plots, and the communal area needed a cut.

The communal area was seeded last spring, and is starting to look nice, it will need a weed and feed later on, methinks!

The weather has been ideal for growing recently, a combination of warm weather with regular showers has been just the job.
True...its been good for the weeds and slugs as well, but never the less things are doing well.
The Strawberries are beginning to ripen.

 

With plenty more on the way.

Very pleased with the new Rhubarb plants, I planted three new crowns in late winter, they took a while to get going, but are now doing really well, so well in fact I may pull just a couple of stems.

The long pod Broad Beans, sown on 9th December are now producing some nice pods, and no sign of Black fly !

The second sowing made in early spring in the greenhouse and then planted out, are now in full flower.

A very late sowing of Sweetcorn are doing well in the greenhouse, they are growing fast, and should be ready to plant out in a couple of weeks when a bed becomes available, after harvesting my autumn sown onions.

Heres the Senshu (autumn sown) onion sets, just fattening up nicely.

Last years Carrots were disappointing, they were badly infested with carrot root fly. This year I'm trying some carrots in tubs, and covered in fleece to keep the pests at bay.

Also in tubs are my Courgettes.

All three greenhouses are now fully planted, this one has F1 Shirley and Alicante Toms, with some Cos lettuce in the gaps. The Lettuce will be long gone by the time the Toms are fully grown.

The next two shots are more general views, showing Early spuds Parsnip, Purple sprouting Broccoli(under green net) and Broad beans.
In the foreground there are some Garlic plants, I'm not sure how good these will be, because they are infected with Rust(fungi)

Lots to do on the plots at the moment, All three greenhouses are now planted with Tomatoes, and Cucumber.
The Leeks sown earlier in the year in the greenhouse, are now outside in the prepared bed .
Purple sprouting Broccoli has been planted out and covered with canes and a net to keep the Pigeons and Cabbage White Butterflies at bay.
I recently transplanted some seed grown Chives out to the front of the plots, I needed the tubs they were growing in for other crops

Autumn sown Onions starting to fatten.

Broad beans, starting to form pods

A nice layer of wood chips in front of the summer house.

Purple S Broccoli under protective netting

Clematis and Chives on the front fence of the plots

One of several tubs holding yellow and green Courgettes

Another view of from fence showing the wonderfully fragrant Zephirine Drouhin rose

Front fence showing newly transplanted Chives

Front of plots

Newly transplanted leeks.

Lettuce in the greenhouse

Another view of the Broccoli and protection