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

Its been a while since I last updated my blog, so I thought I'd better at least put up some photos to record this years progress.
I had several longish breaks in progress on the plots this year, unavoidable..... but never the less several things failed and some crops are later than I would normally have liked.
Thankfully in recent weeks the warm and reasonably wet weather have helped to get things  nearly back on track.
The addition of an extra greenhouse, obtained from free cycle, will allow for a larger crop of tomatoes this year.
I'm growing four varieties of Toms, Shirley F1, Ailsa craig, Golden sunrise and Milla

I've also sown more Parsnips, sprouts and planted more Potatoes and Onion sets this year.

Runners with protection from a cold wind at the time of planting, using old shower screens

                                   

A selection of plants in Green house

Garlic and Onions in the foreground, Potatoes,Parsnips and Broad bean(sown on 9th Dec)

Another view of Garlic and onions( both autumn and spring sown)

Garlic,Onions

Runners

The new greenhouse, showing its new topsoil/compost mix 

Parsnips, I had
an excellent germination rate, they can be tricky!

A second sowing of Broad beans and the three new Rhubarb plants

Sprouts and Lettuce under netting to keep the Pigeons off.

Strawberries, netted and ready for the crop to ripen in a bed of straw

Toms planted in new Green house

2.5 Cubic metres of topsoil/compost mix ready to go down to the plots