Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Very busy week, more of which later.

Saturday
Apart from harvesting some lettuce and a couple of cucumbers and checking for caterpillars nothing got done.

Sunday
A very disappointing dull and drizzly morning (forecast to be fine) although it did brighten up in the afternoon. Sprayed the brassicas with potato water again - this seems to need doing about weekly and there are noticeable patches that are whitefly free, with other patches on the same leaf that I have obviously missed with the spray and are covered with whitefly. I will persist with this as I think it does help.
Tried to make the most of the warm and dry afternoon weeding, pulling horsetail out of the raised beds and trimming some of the grass edges. Watered just about everything as the ground was beginning to dry out and I have plenty of water.

Monday
A warm and sunny day, which I was determined to make the most of, although it started badly as I had to phone the garage about a problem with my car. I also had a Skype meeting for work and software to test, none of which is compatible with gardening!

I escaped to the allotment in the afternoon and cut the grass, which was becoming desperate. I also trimmed most of the remaining edges, pulling out weeds and horsetail as I went round. Checked in the tunnel for caterpillars - none, although I had found 3 large whites on the honesty in the nearby hedge!

Harvested some lettuce, a cucumber, a carrot and 4 ripe strawberries from the tunnel.

Tuesday
Very little time for gardening as I was visiting my family, which was a shame as it was the last dry day. Checked for caterpillars again and harvested lettuce, cucumbers, beans, courgettes and a couple of tomatoes that were starting to turn red.

Wednesday
It rained all day. I didn't even visit the allotment to collect the water as all the bins were full and the water butts could fend for themselves,

Thursday - Saturday
I spent Wednesday moving furniture around as I had men coming on Thursday and Friday to replace my ancient central heating system. I've been agonizing over this for ages as the boiler was 11 years old (the radiators probably nearer 40) and I didn't want to be forced into replacing it with another gas boiler if it broke down during the winter. I'm trying to rely less and less on fossil fuels and I've spent a fair amount of the last couple of years trying to find an alternative method of heating the water in a house with no sensible position for a heat pump and nowhere to put a tank. I do have solar panels and a storage battery so electric seemed an obvious choice, but everyone I asked told me to avoid electric combi boilers like the plague. Eventually I came across a solution made by Sunamp which uses the same technology as those hand warmers that you squeeze to induce a heat-releasing phase change. As the heat is stored chemically, once it is charged up it loses very little of the power over time, so there is much less wasted heat compared with a water tank. I found a local installer in July and arranged a survey for the next day, but this week was the first time they could come and install it all. I've been very concerned about the prospects of another lockdown preventing them from coming, so I am very relieved that it is now done. However, because the radiators are smaller than the old ones I have needed to paint over where the old brackets were, and because they needed access to every radiator, all the pipework, the boiler, under the stairs and under some floors, the house is still in a complete mess with boxes of stuff everywhere. It is going to take me some time to sort it all out. The Sunamp only arrived yesterday so I haven't had time to assess it properly yet, but it charged up last night and the water certainly comes out hot.

[Penellype]

Apologies for the lack of posts - as well as all the clearing up after having my heating replaced, I've had people round to remove the gas meter and to change the fuse on the house from 60A to 80A to cope with the new setup. Things have also taken off at work with the result that I have hardly been able to leave the house!

Rather than go through day by day (I can't remember in detail anyway) a general summary is that on the days that I have been able to go down there I have checked for caterpillars on the brassicas, but found no more (although I did find an interesting black and orange one on the strawberries), pulled out any weeds I had time to grab hold of, and harvested some cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, pak choi, carrots, leeks and the odd strawberry.

On Thursday morning I went down to grab some veg and take the photos for 1st of the month. I'd not been down since first thing on Wednesday as it had rained all day. Now I'm not the most observant of people, and my brain was preoccupied with work, but there was something I really should have noticed straight away. The clue is in the first photo I took:



I went round taking further photos, noticing several small tree branches near the west hedge. It had been a bit windy, but not that bad. It was not until I found quite a big piece of hawthorn that had clearly been cut on top of the compost bin lid that I actually realized that the huge trees in the west hedge had been cut down to about 8ft:



How I managed to walk round the plot about 3 times without noticing that I have no idea!

I have very mixed feelings about this (the hedge belongs to the house next door and they can of course do what they like to it). On the one hand it makes it much easier for me to cut, it won't drop elderberries all over the plot and there will be more evening sunshine. On the other hand it was a fantastic place for birds and wildlife and an effective windbreak, and its a shame to see it go. Anyway, there is nothing that can be done about it now.

I hadn't time to clear up on Thursday morning, but I did nip down on Friday briefly to tidy up somewhat. Saturday was wet, Sunday was busy, Monday was havoc at work and yesterday morning the man came to change the fuse. I nipped down briefly afterwards and did about 1/2 and hour's weeding, then dashed back home and got swallowed up by work for the rest of the day.

I will post the remaining photos later, when I have more time.

[Penellype]

Photos from 1st October (taken early morning so some photos have problems with low sun)



Rhubarb is dying down fast now. The melons are looking a bit worse for wear but the fruit is not ripe yet. Lettuces under the green net are starting to bolt.



The tomato plants are being weighed down by the weight of fruit.



Salads under the white net are being harvested - the Pak choi is starting to bolt having been shredded by slugs. All the potato buckets are now harvested. The runner beans near the bus have all been picked but there are new shoots with flower buds. Whether they will come to anything is highly debatable but I'm leaving them there for now.



Parsnips and the odd beetroot left under the big white net. The courgettes behind are still producing the odd fruit and the nasturtiums have a new lease of life.



A better view of some of the (literally) heavy crop of tomatoes. These are Oh Happy Day, but the Ferline are very similar.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel:



Romanesco, calabrese and PSB on the right. The plant nearest the door (1 leaf visible) is supposed to be romanesco but is doing a great impression of a cabbage at the moment! Cucumbers in the middle are still producing fruit but it is getting smaller.



Strawberres, beetroot, carrots and leeks. Some of the carrots are very big, but some are splitting.



Brassicas and cucumbers from the other end - the ragged leaved plant is Red Russian kale, but it has been attacked by leaf miner unfortunately.




Some of the leeks (Oarsman) are getting really quite big. The Northern Lights nearer the camera were sown a bit later and are smaller.



The area near the hedge with the telltale bits of branches. There are still a few pink blueberries on the bush - when these are eaten I will take the net off.

[Penellype]

Not a lot has got done since my last post, mainly because of the weather.

Wednesday was a nice day and I spent about an hour down at the plot mostly tidying up. There were several branches that had been cut and were stuck in the hedge, which were now wilting and showing me which they were. I pulled down as many as I could and shredded the softer parts for the compost bin, adding the rest to the pile of sticks in the corner. I was going to cut the grass, but it was far to wet to even consider doing so after a very heavy dew. Harvested a cucumber and a ripe strawberry.

Very little time as usual on a Thursday. Late on Wednesday afternoon I discovered that the balconi tomato plant at home had blight. By the time i had dealt with that and picked most of the Sungold and Ferline at home it was getting dark so I hadn't had time to go to the allotment. It absolutely poured with rain all night and when I went down in the morning about 1/3 of the plot was under water - I have not seen it so bad since the massive deluge the first year I was there when 3/4 inch of rain fell in about 15 minutes. I checked over the tomatoes and picked everything that was starting to turn red, but there wasn't much sign of blight, just a few patches on the leaves that may or may not be blight. The varieties (Ferline and Oh Happy Day) are supposed to be blight resistant anyway. I harvested a couple of courgettes and some beetroot and that was all I had time for.

By Friday most of the water had soaked in, although the usual paths in the bottom corner were still submerged. I had a better look at the tomatoes and cut off anything that looked dodgy, but decided to leave them mostly where they were for now. Did some weeding and clearing up around the drier parts of the plot and harvested cucumber and carrots.

Saturday was busy as usual and rather wet, so all I had time for was harvesting lettuce and cucumber.

Sunday was rather better weather wise. When I checked the melons there was a distinct melon smell in the growhouse and the Alvaro plant was looking pretty much dead. I decided to remove it and harvest the 3 melons (2 large and one about tennis ball size) - the biggest one was the one that was smelling ripe. The Magenta had much more greenery and its 3 fruit were note smelling so I left it where it was. Emir will probably be the next one to go. I also picked and ate a strawberry and 3 pink blueberries and brought home more tomatoes and a carrot. One of the calabrese plants is finally showing signs of developing a head, about 2 months later than expected. Having got half a growhouse that was now empty, I decided to sow some winter lettuce and spinach, so I nipped back down after lunch with the seeds. Whether they will produce anything edible when sown so late I have no idea, but I have the seeds, some of which were getting old anyway, so I may as well try.

Monday was a write-off. I was expecting a dry morning and a showery afternoon, but it rained pretty much all day and I didn't get down to the plot at all.

Yesterday was little better. The forecasts do not handle showers well, and we seemed to be in a constant stream of them off the north sea. It was also rather cold. I nipped down to the plot in what appeared to be a drier patch before lunch, but by the time I had picked 2 small cucumbers, a few tomatoes, a carrot and a leek it was raining and I got thoroughly wet. I decided that it was best to concentrate on things at home, where I can nip indoors if it starts to rain, as I want to get the tomato plants out asap and they all need chopping for the hotbin so it takes a while.

[Penellype]

Wednesday
Again not a great deal of time. I noticed that the melon in the hotbed (Emir) had pretty much died down completely, so I harvested the melons and brought them home to ripen. There were 8 of them:



I find it astonishing that one plant grown outside in Yorkshire can produce 10 reasonably sized melons (I had already harvested 2 from this plant). I will definitely be growing Emir again.

No gardening time on Thursday.

Friday
Rather a cool and showery day so most of my gardening was done at home. I did nip down to the plot to harvest a carrot and a leek and some tomatoes that were hinting that they might be turning red.

No gardening time on Saturday.

Sunday
A little more time and I went round the raised beds pulling out any weeds I could find and picking up fallen leaves. I was hoping to be able to cut the grass, but it was far too wet, having rained a bit over night. Harvested a lettuce and 3 very small cucumbers and found 4 strawberries that were partially ripe so I decided to bring them home to see if they would ripen any more in the house.

Monday
Finally a bit more time. I went down in the morning and weeded the tunnel and removed some dead leaves from the brassicas. The later sown calabrese are finally starting to form flower heads, as are the romanesco. I ate a few ripe pink blueberries and removed the net over the bushes. Went back after lunch and harvested the remainder of the summer leeks and put away the net and frame that was covering them.. The grass was finally dry enough to cut and I spent about an hour cutting it and trimming the longer edges. Harvested a carrot and some more green tomatoes.

Tuesday
A really quite pleasant day, quite warm and much sunnier than expected. I trimmed back the nettles in the hedge then spent some time removing the 2 Ferline tomato plants, which almost certainly had blight. I'd harvested most of the fruit over the weekend from these. I picked as much of the fruit as I could carry from Oh Happy Day - these plants are looking less blighty, but I think I will need to remove these soon too. Also harvested a courgette, possibly the last one, although there are a couple of very small fruit which may or may not grow.

[Ms-T]

Really enjoy reading this thread and the photos....Thanks pen.

[Penellype]

Really enjoy reading this thread and the photos....Thanks pen.

Thanks Ms-T. Sometimes I think it gets a bit repetitive, so glad to hear it is interesting

[Bren In Pots]

I do like having a nosy at peoples growing areas, being a back garden grower I don’t see many.

[Snoop Puss]

Really enjoyed reading your previous page of posts. Lovely photos. Sorry for not reading further back.

Baldy and I both had success with Emir a few years back. Obviously very flexible as regards growing conditions. Good size fruit for small households too, but not so small that they're too tiddly to be worth bothering with. One thing I've noticed with melons is that they're always sweeter a few days after picking even if I think they're ripe. I've grown Alvaro too and really liked them. I also really like the Ogen melon seeds sold by Nicky's Seeds. Absolutely lovely perfume and flavour.

I'm intrigued by the potato water for whitefly. Sorry if you've explained this in a previous post that I haven't read. Do you use water used for steaming or boiling potatoes?

[Penellype]

Thanks for the kind comments, both of you.

Really enjoyed reading your previous page of posts. Lovely photos. Sorry for not reading further back.

Baldy and I both had success with Emir a few years back. Obviously very flexible as regards growing conditions. Good size fruit for small households too, but not so small that they're too tiddly to be worth bothering with. One thing I've noticed with melons is that they're always sweeter a few days after picking even if I think they're ripe. I've grown Alvaro too and really liked them. I also really like the Ogen melon seeds sold by Nicky's Seeds. Absolutely lovely perfume and flavour.

I'm intrigued by the potato water for whitefly. Sorry if you've explained this in a previous post that I haven't read. Do you use water used for steaming or boiling potatoes?

The potato water is just water I have boiled potatoes in, cooled, obviously, and sieved to remove any larger chunks of potato. The idea is that the starch in the water sticks to the insects, blocking their ability to breathe, so I am not sure that water from steaming would contain enough starch. It is quite tricky to apply as the normal sprays on bottles tend to get clogged with starch, so I use a large veterinary syringe (which originally came with some antibiotics for my horse). It is quite hard to cover the whole leaf, particularly as the whitefly congregate on the undersides, but what I am finding is that there are areas of leaf which still have whitefly and areas of the same leaf that don't, presumably because this is where I have managed to hit the leaf! There are still whitefly, but far less of them than there were before I started. I must admit I have got lazy recently and not sprayed for about 3-4 weeks, and I am noticing a gradual increase in numbers of whitefly, so I will have to spray them again next time I cook potatoes.

[Snoop Puss]

Thanks. I tend not to boil potatoes but steam them, but might be worth making an exception. I hate whitefly but especially the grey woolly aphids my brassicas seem to get covered in some years. Will give this a try.

[Penellype]

Another week - where does the time go? Not a lot has got done!

Wednesday
Not a very inspiring day - very dull with rain at times. I spent most of my gardening time at home, where I could nip indoors to avoid the rain.

Thursday
I don't normally have any gardening time on a Thursday but this week proved an exception and the weather was reasonable for a change. I spent about an hour at the plot cutting down the Oh Happy Day tomatoes and brought home another big bag full of green fruit.

Friday
A very wet day so nothing doing at the allotment.

Saturday
A busy day with no time for the allotment.

Sunday
Busy again but managed to get to the plot and water the seedlings in the growhouse. The spinach is germinating but there is not much sign of the lettuces. As some of these were old seed it is possible they won't germinate, or maybe slugs have eaten them off as they emerged, which happened with the fennel I sowed in the tunnel earlier in the year. Checked the melon plant, which is dying down, but decided to leave the fruit where they are for now as they don't yet smell ripe. Harvested a large, split carrot and some calabrese sideshoots. The mesh door to the tunnel was hanging open when I arrived and I assumed I must have left it like that.

Monday
Just a quick visit to check everything in between rain showers. I had hoped for a better day (forecast sunny spells and showers) but it was really almost continuous rain/drizzle. The door to the tunnel was open again. The fastening is basically an aluminium rod which slots into a clip (there are 2 clips, one outside and one inside), and I noticed that the outside clip looked a bit stretched and was probably not doing its job. I therefore put the rod into the inner clip, expecting it to hold. This arrangement has worked fine for the past nearly 3 years, with the door always remaining closed.

Tuesday
With rain forecast all day I made a quick trip to the plot first thing while it was still only drizzle. The door to the tunnel was again hanging open. This is really bizarre, as is the fact that the top wire of the fence between my allotment and next door is broken, which probably means it has been cut - its been like that for about 3 weeks, and I have reported it to the council. Nothing else seems to be disturbed or missing - it is really odd. It is just faintly possible that the tunnel door has been blown open by the wind - it was windy yesterday, but this has not happened before (although there is less of a windbreak now the trees have been cut down). I found a piece of string and tied the pole to the clip. If the door is open again tomorrow then human intervention is the only possibility.
I harvested a beetroot and 4 baby cucumbers (about the size of gherkins) for lunch and legged it home as the rain started in earnest.

[Snoop Puss]

Very odd. Especially if there's been no theft inside. Hard to know if it's better to get to the bottom of it (in which case, it's likely humans) or for it just to stop and remain a mystery.

[Penellype]

Very odd. Especially if there's been no theft inside. Hard to know if it's better to get to the bottom of it (in which case, it's likely humans) or for it just to stop and remain a mystery.

When I went down yesterday and this morning the door was still shut. I think it could be the wind, coupled with less wind break from the cut down trees, or possibly a cat pushing against the net being enough to dislodge it. Anyway, hopefully the string has solved the problem.