Penellype's Allotment

[Logunner]

Feel your pain.

Took over an abandoned plot in May that was over 75% covered in horsetail, so thick it was difficult to walk through. Currently digging out the roots after never seeing a shoot since July. Roots below 8” are still alive but everything else above that was killed by the compost accelerator.

It will take years to get it sorted but not a problem..

[Penellype]

Things did not go to plan yesterday, as the man came to cut the top of the hedge at home, so I couldn't go out in the morning. When he had finished I just had time to nip down to the plot and pick a courgette and some lettuce for lunch. The lettuces (salad bowl) that I planted in the balconniere trough in the tunnel are doing superbly well and are much bigger and more productive than the ones I kept at home in pots under grow lights from the same sowing. They are also doing better than ones I planted in my friend's hotbed, which are being nibbled by slugs. I will definitely do this again.

The afternoon was similarly frustrating, with little jobs that needed to be done tying me to home while I waited for a response. I got gardening done - laws mowed, deadheading, freezing tomatoes and harvesting potatoes, but I hadn't enough time to go to the plot until evening. By then I was too tired to do anything but water things in pots, and it was starting to get dark anyway. The nights are noticeably drawing in now

[Penellype]

A better day today.

There were a few showers around in the morning, but looking at the radar I was pretty sure that I could spend a couple of hours at the plot before the next one arrived. I went round the whole plot (apart from the tunnel) and removed all of the horsetail that I could find - this has all grown in the past couple of days. It didn't take all that long, and I set off round again to remove all the annual weeds. I'd completely forgotten about the possibility of showers.

I was just weeding past the compost bins when I noticed a few spots of rain. It was nearly lunchtime, so I decided to pick some raspberries and go home. I'd picked just one fruit when the heavens opened and I had to take refuge in the shed. There hadn't been anything showing on the radar that looked that heavy, so this had popped up out of nowhere. It rained hard for about 5 minutes before easing off, at which point I legged it home.

I'd hoped that the grass at the plot would dry out enough to cut today, but after the rain that wasn't going to happen, so it will have to wait. I went back in the afternoon (when the sun came out) and continued with the weeding. I also picked up a bag full of bits of rubbish that had either blown or been thrown into the plot and put it in the roadside bin.

I pruned some more finished branches off the raspberries and picked all the ripe fruit, then picked the last 6 pods of peas and pulled the plants out. No more fresh peas this year . The pea bed is next on the list for digging out horsetail. I also picked a bag full of tomatoes, mostly Red Alert.

This evening I was back to do some watering and also to deliver some mushroom trays that I intend to grow winter salads in. A friend at the stables has a boyfriend who works at Tescos, and he got them for me .

[Penellype]

No gardening on Thursday.

Yesterday I intended to cut the grass, but after a chilly night there was such a heavy dew that it was very wet. I changed the plan for the morning and dug the onion bed instead. There was surprisingly little horsetail root except in the bit near the grass path and the edge near the path between this bed and the pea bed, which I had dug less than the other side - I was part way through digging this bed the day we got flooded. The soil was still very wet underneath. The plan now is to move the wooden surround to the pea bed so that it is close up against the brassica bed, covering the path (which I have now put back down) and the part of the onion bed that has less horsetail. I can then take up the path between the onion and pea beds completely and dig horsetail out of that more easily.

In the afternoon I was going to cut the grass, but decided to check the hedge line for horsetail growth first. That took me to the wildlife area, which was a mass of horsetail and nettles, obstructing access to the hedge corner, which needs cutting. I decided that it was a better use of my time to start to clear this. I cut back the nettles carefully, and teased out the horsetail. Clearing half of it took all afternoon, but it made a huge difference. There is a piece of the orange fencing covering a gap in the hedge, and I left that there with some nettles behind it. There is a pile of chopped wood under the hedge for wildlife - the only wildlife I came across were lots of snails, spiders and woodlice.

Its forecast to be a nice weekend, which is just as well as there is plenty more to do!

[Nicos]

Loving following this thread Pen

[Penellype]

Took the camera down today for a beginning of the month update.

Two angles from the south side of the plot:



Sarpo Axona potatoes starting to die down. Parsnips behind are getting too big for their net. There are also some yellow beetroot in there that need eating. Red Alert tomatoes in the bed behind are very floppy but producing huge numbers of fruit. Courgettes in the hotbed and tomatoes Oh Happy Day and Crimson Crush near the road are producing huge fruit. The runner beans are doing well but the yellow french beans are nearly finished. Peas have been removed and bed is ready to clear. The onion bed has been dug and there are turnips, swede, kohlrabi and a savoy cabbage under the nearest net.

Two angles from the road end:



Rhubarb, nasturtiums under the beans. The 2nd photo shows the new raspberry canes, which are nearly as tall as the leylandii hedge.

Along the roadside:



Grass needing cutting - I did this after the photo was taken. This gives a better view of the enormous number of huge tomatoes. The lettuces in the balconniere trough are on the shelf in the tunnel. At the far end of the grass path is the wildlife corner which has partly been cleared - I did some more this afternoon.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel:



From the road end, on the left are beetroot and leeks. In the middle brokali and on the right are the rampant cucumbers and huge romanesco.



From the shed end, calabrese and romanesco on the left, calabrese and PSB in the middle, more beetroot this side of the leeks on the right. At the door end are the gooseberry in its pot and the lettuces on the shelf.



The compost area, already shady at around 2pm. There are pots of strawberries littered about here.



I couldn't resist a close up of the ridiculous tomatoes.



These are some of the Oh Happy Day (top) and Red Alert tomatoes from the allotment.

[Penellype]

Yesterday I had intended to clear the pea bed and start digging, but with that area of the plot in full sun, on a warm and humid day I simply couldn't face it. I removed the stakes and mesh and moved the upper wooden layer back over the onion bed, then decided to leave the rest for a cooler day.

Instead I finished removing the nettles and horsetail from the wildlife area, which now looks much tidier. Then I went home to cook some of the tomatoes for the freezer.

[Penellype]

Went down as early as work would allow this morning as rain was forecast for the afternoon. I wanted to make a start on the pea bed.

First job was to remove the coverings, which were a mixture of disintegrating fleece and mesh to keep the birds off. The fleece was never meant to be on the beds all summer, but I had to keep the beds covered with something and the pea bed couldn't be netted as the peas were too tall. Next year I may grow the peas in the tunnel.

I then removed all of the filling from the bed and put it in the new compost bin, trying hard to avoid taking any horsetail with it. There is quite a bit of it growing in this bed, so I had to be very careful. I then moved the wooden surround so that it is on top of the other one, on the onion bed.

By this point I was getting tired and also felt that I should go and check work (and the position of the rain), so I went home, taking a cucumber and a beetroot with me for lunch.

The rain wasn't really making much progress towards York, so after a coffee and dealing with some work, I went back to the allotment. I peeled back the path between the onion and pea beds and started digging. It was hard going as the path was very compacted, but I got about half of the path done before it was lunch time.

I didn't go back in the afternoon as I thought I had probably done enough digging for one day and there were jobs to do in the garden at home. It still hasn't started raining, but it has been looking as though it is about to for the last 3 hours or so!

[Penellype]

The main job today was to try to finish the first dig over of the pea bed and path, getting out as much horsetail as possible. I also needed to go to the tip as I was running out of trug space for horsetail roots.

There was a small job I wanted to do first. I'd asked a friend whose boyfriend works at Tescos to get me some mushroom trays, which he did. The lettuces that were still in modules on the shelf in the tunnel were ready to pot up, so I filled 2 of the trays with compost and planted 6 lettuces (Warpath) in each. These went back on the shelf in the tunnel, the longer term plan being to use the plastic tunnel that covered the hotbed to make a mini greenhouse over one of the raised beds to grow lettuce over winter. The trays can sit on the raised bed, and be moved when I need to dig the horsetail out, or if I need that area for something else.

I finished digging the path area in the morning, then went and got the car and loaded the trugs of horsetail, took them to the tip and went shopping on my way home. As I passed the allotment on the way back I found that I couldn't park the car nearby as they were resurfacing the bit of road at the bus stop. I'd been extremely lucky - I could easily have decided to go to the tip after lunch, in which case I would have had to abandon the idea as the trugs were too heavy to carry far. The tip is closed on Wednesdays so this would have been a real nuisance.

I went back in the afternoon and dug over the whole area of the pea bed. This was much easier than the path area as it had not been trodden on all summer. Even so it took me a couple of hours and I was tired by the time I'd finished. I picked all the french beans, which have about finished now, and went home.

A letter arrived today from the parish council about the allotment. The letter says that they are going to remove the leylandii hedge in October, and asks allotment holders to remove any storage and water butts from the hedge side. It also says that the contractors will need to cross the plot to take the tree waste to the road and that crops should be removed where possible to minimize damage.

This sent me into a complete panic at first. I had visions of JCBs and tractors trundling across the allotment demolishing raised beds, raspberries and tunnel, and having to try to move the shed, which I certainly can't do on my own. When I had calmed down a bit I rang the guy at the council and asked him whether I needed to move the shed and if the raised beds and raspberries would be in the way. He said that he'd been down to look and my shed was fine - they were going to cut the trees down, not pull them up by the roots. Where possible the men would use the paths to take the rubbish away, and I didn't need to worry about the tunnel, raspberries or raised beds. Phew!

Of course there are major benefits to removing the leylandii, apart from the reasons mentioned in the letter (roots damaging the drainage system, damage to residents fencing). Whatever they decide to put there (if anything), it won't be 10 or 12 feet tall so there will be much more sun in winter (the hedge is on the south side). It is also quite a wide hedge, and if the residents behind have fences, that means that the whole width of the hedge belongs to the plot. This makes sense, as he said when I got the allotment that the council had planted the leylandii. I could have upto an extra 4ft of space. it will be shady, but I'm sure I can cope with that!

[Penellype]

Today was supposed to be dry and sunny but in fact it was cloudy with drizzle at times, and fairly chilly too. I'd intended to cut grass today, mainly because the forecast is for rain on Friday and Saturday and unsettled next week too, and I wanted to get it cut before it got too wet. No chance - it was wet first thing and never dried out.

The climbing french beans had clearly had it as the leaves were going yellow and falling off, so I spent some time this morning cutting them down and disentangling them from the runner beans, which are still green and healthy and producing more flowers. I also had a closer look (with a tape measure) at the leylandii hedge to see if I could see how much extra space there will be, particularly behind the shed, as I was hoping to be able to get a water tank in there. From what I can see, there is a wire fence the other side of the trunks, which is only about 2ft from my side of the hedge. Not as much space as I thought, but there should be room for something. I picked a cucumber (there are loads of these ready now) and went home for lunch.

This afternoon I spent most of the time in the tunnel, weeding, digging horsetail and reorganizing the shelf. So far I have been happy with one 2-shelf unit, but now that I have more trays of lettuces I wanted them all to have plenty of light. I'd therefore brought some joints to put on the bottom of the top layer to act as feet, and I split the unit into 2 low shelves. I put copper tape round the legs to keep the slugs off. I had to find space to stand this on, so I needed to encroach on Mr Toad's corner. He was still there, hiding under the pile of weed matting. I spread some of this out to cover the soil under the shelves to keep the weeds down, and left Mr Toad a roll of matting in the corner.

I picked some calabrese shoots and a bag full of tomatoes and went home to cook some more tomatoes for the freezer. I am currently harvesting them faster than I can use them.

No time for gardening tomorrow

[Penellype]

After a mostly dry day on Thursday which I was unable to make any use of at all, yesterday's forecast was for a dry morning and showers in the afternoon. When I got up the sky was a clear blue from corner to corner. There is an old weather saying: "Never trust a clear blue sky, even when the glass (barometer) points high" (see below). Although this sounds bonkers, there is actually a lot of truth in it, and therefore the first thing I did was look at the rain radar. Sure enough there were already showers to the north, clearly coming this way. I went down to the allotment as soon as I could.

I wanted to dig over the pea bed again before the soil got too wet, so that was the first job. I removed enough horsetail roots to show that this was a good idea.

Having finished that I cut down a couple more raspberry canes that had finished fruiting and removed some of the smaller, weak new shoots where they were crowded. The stronger canes are very tall and are all leaning to the east, where most of the light comes from. This will be helped by the wind and I can see them ending up at quite an angle even though they are tied to the wires. I therefore started to tie them to the supporting uprights with longer pieces of string. The sun was still out, but something made me look up - and the sky to the north was black. I put everything away as fast as I could, grabbed some lettuce and a cucumber for lunch and legged it home, arriving just as the rain started to come down.

That was it for yesterday. Although it was only showery, the showers were too frequent, and some of them too heavy for it to be worth going back down. I'd rather tie in the raspberries when they are not dripping wet and the grass was far too wet to think of cutting it, so I did some bits and pieces at home instead.

The reference to a clear blue sky in the old weather saying is very specific. The sky must be a clear blue throughout, with no traces of cloud, or, importantly, haze. A blue sky which fades to white around the horizons is a high pressure, fair weather sky, but one that is blue all the way to the horizon is more likely to be a low pressure sky, with unstable air ready to form clouds and possible showers. The deeper the blue, the bigger the risk of showers.

[Penellype]

The forecast for today was for a few showers in the afternoon. Once again the forecast was completely wrong - I checked the radar when I got up at about 7.30 and I could see that I had about half an hour, if I was lucky, before it started to rain, and I could then expect rain on and off (mostly on) for at least the whole morning, more likely the whole day. Great.

As a result of the rain I didn't get down to the allotment until about 5pm. We'd had about 7.5mm rain and everywhere was very soggy. I collected up all the water from the various bin lids etc and put it in the water butts.

The Red Alert tomatoes have been turning red at a tremendous rate, and as quite a few of them were touching the ground and vulnerable to slugs, I thought I'd better pick the ones that were going red. There were about 90 of them (from 2 plants), which I took home and put out to dry:



As everything was wet through, I left it at that for today.

[Penellype]

A much better day yesterday, with very little rain and quite a breeze.

I went down to the plot first thing to collect the water from the overnight rain. One of the dustbins was empty, so before I started I moved the metal bin next to the compost bins and the empty bin to where the metal one had been on the end. I then transferred the water from the bin that was up against the hedge into the empty bin and moved the now empty one to the other side, where it is a bit further clear of the hedge. I think the men will be able to get behind this ok to cut the hedge down and I wanted to get things moved before there was too much water to move anything without throwing some away.

Having finished that I finished off cutting down the old raspberry canes and tying in the new ones. These were all leaning and I decided I needed to put an extra stake in to tie some of them to. While I was doing this I heard the man from the house behind the hedge start cutting his side. I waited until there was a pause in the trimming and called to him to make sure he knew the hedge was going to be cut down. He said he did and was objecting, and was cutting the hedge and lowering the top to show that he was willing to keep it under control. Fair enough, but (although I didn't say so) I doubt he will be successful, as the letter I got listed the reasons for removal as roots blocking the drainage and trees damaging residents fences.

Having finished the raspberries it was time to go to the stables, so I grabbed a cucumber, a beetroot and a turnip and went home.

We were forecast showers in the afternoon, so I wasn't particularly hopeful of getting any more done, but for a change the showers avoided York and with the help of the breeze, by lunchtime the grass had dried out enough to cut. I cut the lawns at home first, then did the allotment, after walking round and pulling all the horsetail I could see first. I also went round the raised beds pulling out the horsetail - this is much easier now that 3 of the beds have been dug. I didn't get the tunnel done though.

Finally I harvested a leek, some beans and 4 large tomatoes (Oh Happy Day this time).

[Penellype]

Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to cut back some branches of the ash tree that overhangs the shed corner. Some of this is way beyond my ability, but quite a few of the smaller branches were trailing onto the shed roof, so I removed the ones I could easily reach. There is probably more to do, including quite a big branch that I haven't a hope of dealing with myself, but its a start.

Once I had cleared up the tree debris ( a few "small" branches creates quite a pile) I spent the rest of the time I had in the morning trimming the brambles that were growing out of the roadside hedge and weeding and removing horsetail in the tunnel. The mulches I put round the leeks and broccoli are mostly doing their job of suppressing annual weeds but there is still plenty of bare soil. When I ran out of time and enthusiasm for pulling out seedlings at the 4 leaf stage I picked 8 large tomatoes and went home. I now have 47 ripe or nearly ripe beefsteak sized tomatoes (Crimson Crush, Oh Happy Day and some Ferline grown at home) and plenty more on the plants. I knew that Crimson Crush tends to produce some largish tomatoes, but not this big, and the Ferline were intentional, but I thought Oh Happy Day had "ordinary" sized tomatoes, like Shirley. I haven't a clue how I am going to eat them all!

After lunch, with the weather remaining dry, I ditched plans to go shopping and went back to the plot. I wanted to harvest one of the buckets of potatoes as the foliage was going yellow, but I hadn't done them this morning as tomatoes and potatoes don't make a good mix to carry home together.

The bucket that was going yellow was the one near the tunnel, and on inspection I noticed some brown marks on the stems. I don't think this is blight as the leaves don't look right, but I didn't want to risk it spreading to the tomatoes if I could help it so I decided to harvest the lot - 4 buckets of Sarpo Axona.

I knew that at least 3 of the buckets had been invaded by horsetail, but I wasn't prepared for what I found underneath them. The horsetail had grown up through the horse muck and hit the bottom of the buckets, then grown round in a circle until it found one of the holes. One of the pieces of root was about 3ft long and had formed an almost solid mat, a bit like a raffia table mat. I removed it all carefully as it was very brittle, and took care to look for pieces in amongst the potatoes in the buckets.

Apart from one bucket which contained 2 large potatoes that had been fairly thoroughly eaten by slugs, the harvests looked pretty good from 2 seed potatoes in each bucket. I kept them in separate bags and decided I could carry them all home together. Half way home this seemed like less of a good plan, and by the time I got home I was relieved not to have to carry them any further. The bags weighed 3.1kg, 2.35kg, 1.85kg (the bucket with 2 large eaten potatoes) and 2.4kg, so I had been carrying a total of 9.8kg! This gave an average yield per seed potato of 1.225kg which is nearly the same as the bucket of Desiree harvested earlier (1.266kg/seed potato). I find it interesting and somewhat surprising that the yield per seed potato is the same whether you have 2 or 3 seed potatoes in a bucket (same compost but different variety and admittedly only one bucket of Desiree). I was expecting a bigger yield from the Sarpo than the Desiree as they had been in the ground longer and had more space and nutrients per plant. This implies that spreading the potatoes out between more buckets is probably a waste of space and compost. I will have to experiment with this again next year.