Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

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The old raspberry canes have been removed, revealing the weak and unhappy looking new canes. The current flooding won't help them at all.




Strawberry runners have been potted up into a self watering pot in the hope they will be happier there than in the ordinary pots. Leeks are growing nicely. Peas have finished and been removed.





The romanesco plants get bigger and bigger, but no sign of flower heads yet.




Broccoli and romanesco from the other end of the tunnel. The strawberry plants are still taking over at the door end and need drastic action this winter.



Calabrese which has been harvested and leeks from the other end.

[Penellype]

Photos for November



Runner beans are still green but need removing.



Melon has all but been removed from the growhouse - I have left one small melon to see if it will get any bigger, but I doubt it somehow. The bottom corner is flooded again.



The outdoor melon has been removed from the hotbed. The nasturtiums are still growing really well and flowering, having earlier been decimated by caterpillars, but the tomato plants that were growing with them got blight and have been removed.



The parsnips are probably ready to pull, but I am waiting for frost to improve the flavour.




Courgette plants are looking worse for wear but are still producing the odd small fruit. They don't seem to mind the flood, unlike my poor raspberries.

[Penellype]

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Leeks are growing well and the strawberries in the green self-watering pot are looking very happy.




The romanesco is so big it is falling over. Underneath the tangle of leaves some heads are forming.



The PSB is also huge and it is now quite hard to get down the east side of the tunnel.



The calabrese on the other hand is still much smaller than usual, and so far no sideshoots have appeared.



Blueberry bushes looking very autumnal and lots of leaves to clear up. The hollyhocks in the hedge are still flowering as you can see on the far right of the picture.

[Purple Primrose]

Penellype, this morning I began reading your posts about how your allotment has developed. I started on page 1 and thoroughly enjoyed gardening vicariously (far too windy and rainy all day here to be doing anything outside). After a bit, I decided I probably ought to get up. I looked at the clock and 2 1/2 hours had gone by! I wasn't even half way to page 80 so I've got quite a bit more to read. Thank you for posting the details of what you've been doing and all the accompanying photos. Reading it has been relaxing, enlightening and given me ideas for what to do with my own plot.

[Penellype]

Penellype, this morning I began reading your posts about how your allotment has developed. I started on page 1 and thoroughly enjoyed gardening vicariously (far too windy and rainy all day here to be doing anything outside). After a bit, I decided I probably ought to get up. I looked at the clock and 2 1/2 hours had gone by! I wasn't even half way to page 80 so I've got quite a bit more to read. Thank you for posting the details of what you've been doing and all the accompanying photos. Reading it has been relaxing, enlightening and given me ideas for what to do with my own plot.

Glad you are enjoying reading it - I hoped people would find it useful when I started, and although I now have much less time to post, I do try to keep posting the monthly photos at least.

[Penellype]

December photos



The net was taken off the top of the tunnel when snow was forecast last week. This year I have experimented with rolling it up and attaching it to the top at the ends rather than letting it trail on the floor. Loads of leaves to clear up, but they are horribly wet and soggy at the moment.



Everything looking very empty now. The wind has blown the weed matting about a bit and the frost has killed the nasturtiums in the bed behind the growhouse. Everything needs a tidy up.



The hotbed needs emptying to make room for next year's horse muck.



Parsnips under the net should be ready to eat now that they have had a frost.



Still some water round the raised beds at the lowest part of the allotment.

[Penellype]

More photos



The raspberries have now lost their leaves. The cover has blown off next door's polytunnel (despite very sturdy looking guy ropes) and the little chilean guava in the pot at the far end was blown over in the gale. I had harvested all the fruit the day before as I thought that might happen.



Leeks look ok from this angle. One of the strawberry plants in the tower has a decent bunch of green fruit (out of picture) but I have no hope that it will ripen before it rots.



The romanesco has been blown over by the wind...



... as have several of the leeks.



The PSB, on the other hand, is the only thing on the allotment that looks really happy. Flower shoots are just starting to form.

[Penellype]

Not a lot has really changed, but here are a few photos for comparison



Things are looking a little tidier - not so many leaves lying about.



The hotbed is now empty and will soon be filled with fresh muck.



The chilean guava has been planted and the strawberry tower removed at the far end of the grass path (the strawberry plants had died).



After some drier weather the water level has gone down around the raised beds at the fence end. There is a pile of compost in the middle of this bed which is from the hotbed, and will either be used for potatoes or spread on this bed, depending on how far the compost in the bin stretches.



The blueberry bush is growing into rather a strange shape and probably needs pruning. Most of the leaves have been cleared off the path as they were making it very slippery.

Otherwise everything looks almost exactly the same as it did in the last lot of photos.

[Penellype]

February photos



Bluebells are growing under the hedge.





Experimenting with a different shelf in the growhouse. A trough of strawberries is now in there. The hotbed has been filled and covered and lettuce, spinach and beetroot were sown in there a few days ago. The parsnips under the white net at the far end have died down and are being eaten (slowly).




This view shows that the growhouse and hotbed are now in the sun (photos taken around 10am). The hotbed cover is getting old and coming apart round the zips, so I have covered it with split shavings bags clipped onto the frame to cover the gaps. The wind keeps blowing the clips off in places, particularly the central ones, but so far (touch wood) most of it has stayed put.



Views from the road end of the tunnel were impossible due to the sun. Leeks are slowly being eaten.



The romanesco has been covered with a plastic sheet to keep rain and frost off the developing heads as they went brown last year. So far it seems to be working. I will need the frame in another month to cover potatoes though, so hopefully I will have eaten the romanesco by then. The PSB is still doing well - most of it is just out of the photo.

[Penellype]

Really hard to see much change this month - here are a few photos:



Rhubarb in the foreground is beginning to grow.



Crocuses and one daffodil flowering in the hedge.



Lettuce and beetroot germinating in the hotbed, but no sign of the spinach yet. I think the seed must have died (open packet from last year) so I have sown more from a new packet.



Romanesco is ready to cut and has gone slightly brown after the frost, but much less so than last year.

Otherwise there is no noticeable difference from the photos posted last month.

[Penellype]

April photos



"Snow" on the tunnel is actually hail - I shook about 1/2 an inch of snow off earlier in the day. Rhubarb is growing well and I have started to harvest it. The growhouse has been moved down 1 bed so that I can use the compost (old hotbed) and make a new hotbed here. I have had to net the peas because the birds (either pigeons or sparrows) ate all the leaves:



Hopefully there are enough buds left for the plants to grow, but this will not have done them any good!



Remnants of snow and hail from the tunnel and hotbed cover. The onions in the bed behind the hotbed are growing well and the other half of the bed has been planted with cauliflowers.



More snow. The blueberry bushes are covered in flower buds, some of which are just starting to open. The daffodils are in full flower.




The parsnips in the nearest bed are being eaten fast as they are starting to grow. Potatoes will be planted in the buckets soon.

[Penellype]

More photos



Cauliflowers in the nearest bed were planted on 21st March. The bed behind will soon be sown with parsnips in half and beetroot will be planted out in the other half. Just strawberries in the growhouse at the moment but another lot of peas will be in there very soon.



Lettuce, spinach and beetroot in the hotbed. The beetroot is rather patchy so I have sown some more in modules at home. The net is to stop the cat from getting in.



The romanesco has nearly finished - I am just waiting for the last few sideshoots to grow. This area needs a good tidy up!



PSB is in full flow. The hailstones were shaken off the net shortly after these photos were taken.



Leeks are being harvested. Beyond the shelf are 4 cauliflowers near the tunnel door.

[Penellype]

Is it May already? Where has the time gone?



Bluebells in full flower in the hedge. The part of the hedge nearest the camera is a self-seeded redcurrant which last year provided 2 butter tubs full of currants. Not bad for a free plant that takes up no growing space!




Rhubarb is in full flow. The bed behind is being emptied of rotted hotbed to make space for a new hotbed for melons. Several containers of strawberries in the growhouse to protect them from frost.




Cover still on the hotbed. The green net behind covers onions and cauliflowers



Cherry tree is just finishing flowering, blueberries are covered in flowers.




I love the honesty in the hedge at this time of year - it is all self-seeded. The rhubarb in the bucket is some I forced last year which surprisingly is still alive. It usually dies.

[Penellype]

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Raspbeeries have flower buds despite not growing at all well. Blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes are in flower against the fence.



Potatoes in buckets under the cover are just starting to show above the compost. The parsnips have been cleared from the nearest bed and it has had compost added. I will grow courgettes here.



Cauliflowers (Maybach) under the green net are growing but as usual I am highly doubtful that they will be edible in May. The bed behind contains parsnips which are just germinating, beetroot that has been planted out, and rows of lettuce and beetroot sown direct yesterday. I rarely sow direct because of slugs and the soil drying out, but I am trying a new method here. I've sown the seeds in drills as normal, watered well and covered the rows with planks of wood. I will lift these every day to check for slugs and remove any I find, and the wood is removed when the seedlings emerge. The idea is that the wood acts as a slug trap and also stops water evaporating. I will report back!



Strawberries in flower in the growhouse.



Spinach, lettuce and beetroot ready to harvest in the hotbed. The beetroot didn't germinate well and there are slugs on the lettuce, so I have put a plank of wood in the gap as a slug trap. It has only been there 2 days but I have caught 1 slug already. I've also doused the whole plot in slug nematodes yesterday, something that I usually do but never got round to last year (mainly because of the awkward weather).

[Penellype]

More photos



The peas that were eaten by birds are slowly recovering (right) but the later sown ones on the left are much bigger.




The tunnel still looks rather empty as it is waiting for late peas and winter crops of leeks and broccoli. There are piles of compost waiting to be spread and the strawberry shelf is empty as the pots have been moved to the growhouse.



The strawberries (Marshmello) are still taking up too much space and the whole tunnel needs tidying up.



These are an unknown variety of strawberry which flowers earlier than Marshmello, so I have rigged up a temporary frost cover.




PSB is rapidly going to seed now, although there are a few shoots that are still edible. I may well finish them today.