Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Yesterday was a lovely sunny day but started cold and frosty. I didn't get a chance to get down to the plot until after lunch. Most of the water had drained away although there were still puddles on some of the paths and the grass was very squelchy. The tomatoes were looking rather worse for wear, although still alive (I think), and the courgette plant looked like it has probably been killed by the frost.

I didn't have a great deal of time so I spent it picking a couple of bags of the bigger Ferline tomatoes - these are still green but hopefully will ripen indoors. I pulled some carrots for tea and decided that it was probably more important to pick the Oh Happy Day tomatoes rather than remove dead plants and clear up leaves. I therefore went home to collect a carrier bag and picked as many as I could carry (about half of them). The rest will have to wait until today as I hadn't time to go back again.

[Penellype]

Another frosty start and sunny day. I went down to the plot before lunch intending to pick the rest of the Oh Happy Day tomatoes, but they were still wet so I left them for this afternoon.

I removed the dying courgette plant which was badly frost damaged and clearly not going to recover, then picked all the remaining Ferline tomatoes, which were dry as they were under cover. There were definite signs of the beginnings of blight on the plants - so much for blight needing a minimum of 10 degrees! I took the 2 bags of Ferline home, not wanting to touch the Oh Happy Day until I had washed my hands.

After lunch I went back, intending to harvest some of the Oh Happy Day and leave the smaller ones to ripen for a bit longer. Closer inspection showed that while these plants looked much healthier than the Ferline (despite having been frozen twice), there were spots of blight on some of the leaves and one patch on a stem. I decided to harvest all of the green fruit and remove the plants today. These were huge plants, and although there were only 2 of them I filled 6 large trugs with chopped debris and a carrier bag with fruit. I had to use loppers for some of the stems as they were too wide for the secateurs. I had a go at cutting down the Ferline too, but gave up after one plant as my back was starting to object. The other 2 will have to wait until tomorrow.

After a quick check round, which revealed a nearly ripe strawberry in the growhouse and one of the romanesco starting to form a head, I picked up the carrier bag of tomatoes and went home. The bag seemed to get heavier and heavier and I was very glad when I'd made it back to the house. I don't normally weigh my tomatoes but I was interested to find out just how much weight I had carried home. The answer was 7.1kg - over a stone! Bear in mind that these came off just 2 plants which had been stripped of everything even remotely red on Saturday and had nearly half of the remaining fruit picked yesterday. This variety is certainly prolific.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was a little less cold, probably because of more cloud over night. I spent a good hour in the morning cutting down the remaining tomato plants and removing one of the cucumbers (the other still has a couple of fruit on that might be edible). I then went round picking up fallen leaves from round the raised beds, pulling out any weeds I found and removing a few dead rhubarb leaves in the process.

I went back after lunch and raked the grass path and swept the weed matting path by the compost bins, by which time the compost bin was completely full. It won't take long for it to rot down a bit, judging by what happened last year. I then spent a bit of time removing the stakes, poles and string that had been supporting the tomatoes and generally tidying up. I left the plastic cover over the bed where the Ferline tomatoes were, thinking I might use it later for salads or something, but after I got home, I began to regret this, remembering that it almost certainly won't support any weight of snow. I should have taken the cover off while it was dry. I may be able to find time this morning to go and remove it as it would be much better to store it before it gets drenched again.

Finally I pulled a few carrots for tea. The carrot fly damage is predictably getting worse but there is still plenty of undamaged root to eat for now.

[Snadger]

Yesterday was a little less cold, probably because of more cloud over night. I spent a good hour in the morning cutting down the remaining tomato plants and removing one of the cucumbers (the other still has a couple of fruit on that might be edible). I then went round picking up fallen leaves from round the raised beds, pulling out any weeds I found and removing a few dead rhubarb leaves in the process.

I went back after lunch and raked the grass path and swept the weed matting path by the compost bins, by which time the compost bin was completely full. It won't take long for it to rot down a bit, judging by what happened last year. I then spent a bit of time removing the stakes, poles and string that had been supporting the tomatoes and generally tidying up. I left the plastic cover over the bed where the Ferline tomatoes were, thinking I might use it later for salads or something, but after I got home, I began to regret this, remembering that it almost certainly won't support any weight of snow. I should have taken the cover off while it was dry. I may be able to find time this morning to go and remove it as it would be much better to store it before it gets drenched again.

Finally I pulled a few carrots for tea. The carrot fly damage is predictably getting worse but there is still plenty of undamaged root to eat for now.

My carrots have very little 'fly' damage this year but quite a few of the larger ones are split in half from top to bottom.

[Penellype]

My carrots have very little 'fly' damage this year but quite a few of the larger ones are split in half from top to bottom.

A few of mine are split like that too, probably due to dry weather followed by loads of rain. The carrot fly damage is odd as it is almost all at the bottom of the roots.

[Snadger]

A few of mine are split like that too, probably due to dry weather followed by loads of rain. The carrot fly damage is odd as it is almost all at the bottom of the roots.

Mine were covered with fine mesh until recently to try and combat the 'fly'. There is no red foliage indicative of carrot fly, but like yours, a few of mine had been nibbled near the point of the carrot. All in all though I am pleased with the crop and won't do anything different next year.

[Penellype]

Not a lot of gardening time over the last couple of days due to a mixture of family stuff and poor weather. On Thursday I managed to nip down and take the cover off the raised bed where the tomatoes were before it rained, although the inside of it was still wet so I put it in the wood shed to (hopefully) dry.

Yesterday was pretty miserable although the rain did stop after lunch. It wasn't much help as I only had about 10 minutes to go and grab some carrots and calabrese for tea.

[Penellype]

Rather as expected I didn't get time to do anything much on Saturday as I was busy all morning and it rained in the afternoon. I did pop down first thing to take some photos and pull a few carrots for tea.

Somewhat better today in that I managed a reasonable clear up of leaves and dead brassica and rhubarb leaves and trimmed dead leaves, flowers and excess runners off some of the strawberries before it started to rain.

Here are some of the photos:



Spinach, lettuces and strawberries in the growhouse and beetroot in the hotbed. The tomatoes have all gone now. The romanesco is again trying to burst out of its net, but it probably won't be there too much longer as heads are starting to form.



Not a lot happening at the moment at the road end of the plot.



The smaller blueberry has been potted up into a 30 litre bucket. I'm pleased with the strawberry tower so far (there is another by the fence).



More empty beds with nets over to keep the cats off.



Parsnips should be ready to harvest soon now that we have had a couple of frosts. Baby veg under the other green net.

[Penellype]

More photos:



The cucumbers in the middle of the tunnel are completely dead, although there are a couple of small fruit left which just might be edible. Carrots, leeks, romanesco, brokali and swedes.



Carrots, which are being harvested, and beetroot.



From the far end of the tunnel, showing the strawberries on the shelves.



Romanesco and PSB at the shed end of the tunnel.



The spinach and lettuces in the growhouse on their copper sheet, which seems to be keeping the slugs off as far as I can tell.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was showery but the showers managed to avoid this area in the morning. I spent an hour or so at the plot, generally tidying up.

The first job was to tidy the shed, as I could hardly shut the door due to a jumble of poles that had been shoved in there to keep them out of the rain. I also wanted to get an old sack out from the bag at the back to replace the plastic tablecloth that has been used as a cover for the green dalek and is disintegrating. That kept me occupied for a while and the result is that the dalek is covered again and I can actually get into the shed. There are still things like clips and string to put away but its a lot better than it was.

By the time I had finished it was starting to rain so I cut a couple of lettuces and pulled a baby fennel for lunch and went home.

I had been intending to go back in the afternoon to pick up leaves etc. but it was more showery and there were things to do at home so I stayed there where I could nip in and out between the showers.

[Penellype]

Supposedly a decent day yesterday, it was actually rather showery. I spent the morning at home waiting for the promised dry weather, and after lunch decided drizzle would have to do.

I went down and checked everything and found that the cat had discovered a small gap in the various bits of stuff I'm using to protect one of the beds and had decided it was a nice toilet. Why it can't make use of the vast area of bare soil in the next door plot I have no idea. I rearranged the nets and bits of path to cover more of the bed, and also put a net over the unoccupied part of the old hotbed.

Having done that I picked up quite a few fallen leaves and some weeds in amongst, then cut down the 2nd cucumber plant which looked completely dead. None of the remaining fruit looked remotely edible.

Finally I harvested some carrots for tea and checked the calabrese (not ready yet) and romanesco. One of the romanesco is now quite big and I will harvest that today.

I was glad I didn't wait for the dry weather as it arrived at about 4.30, just in time for it to get dark and allow the night to be potentially frosty.

[Penellype]

Quite a nice morning yesterday and I made use of it clearing up leaves and weeding round the tunnel I also trimmed some dead leaves off the strawberries in the 2 towers. The ones at the bottom were looking a bit dry so I gave both towers a good soaking even though we are forecast a deluge. I also watered the plants in the growhouse.

I was going to cut the whole head of romanesco, but I remembered that I'd read you could cut individual florets and leave the rest to grow, and as the head was far too big for me I cut about half the florets off (about 15) and left the rest for later. There was plenty for tea and some left for my Mum too.

I also picked an almost ripe strawberry from the growhouse. Whether any more will ripen is debatable but there are quite a few green fruit on the plants.

[Penellype]

No time for gardening yesterday, and any thoughts I had about spending much time at the plot today were quickly dispelled by the weather. The forecast had been for a nice morning, but by 8am it was clear that a mass of heavy showers was heading my way. I therefore did the one job that was urgent (digging some compost out of the bottom of the hotbin to make room for the tomato rubbish) at home before the rain arrived. We actually managed to have twice as much rain this morning (8mm) as we did yesterday (4mm).

The rain had stopped by about 2.30 and I ventured down to the plot. My solution of an old sack as a lid for the green dalek had not survived the weight of water, and I left it where it was covering the chopped leylandii inside the bin. The net had blown off the baby veg bed (it was very windy last night), so I had to pick it out of a large puddle and put it back.

The plot was very wet, with some of the paths under water again, so apart from picking up a few large leaves, removing the remaining rhubarb leaves which had died back, and harvesting romanesco and carrots for tea, I thought it best to leave it to drain.

[Penellype]

Very little time at the weekend, and in any case everywhere was really too wet to do much with. I didn't visit the plot at all on Saturday and yesterday I just walked down to check everything and harvested a couple of carrots and a small bag of spinach for tea.

[Penellype]

A decent stint at the plot yesterday in some pleasant winter sunshine (although rather cold and breezy). I cleared up a fair amount of leaves (still plenty to come down) and trimmed back the nettles and a few brambles in the hedge. I also removed a few straggly pieces of horsetail from around the rhubarb. I also cut a couple of lettuces and pulled a baby fennel for lunch. The fennel are growing much better than expected (they were a complete failure this time last year) and I am probably going to have far more than I can easily eat.

Not much is going to happen for the next couple of days as I will be busy tomorrow and Thursday. I've been down to the plot this morning to check everything and pick up a few more leaves, but that will have to do for now as it is starting to rain.