Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Photos taken on 1st March



The bluebells in the hedge will be flowering soon.



2 trays of strawberries have been moved into the growhouse.



Spring bulbs starting to flower and the buds on the blueberry bushes are breaking.



The spinach under the net is growing very very slowly.



The last of the calabrese died and has been removed. The parsnips in the bed behind are beginning to grow again.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



Brassicas are still not looking at all happy, although I have managed to harvest a few small romanesco florets from the greenest plant.



Strawberries are beginning to produce a little new growth. The Oarsman leeks have been excellent, but there are not many left.



The PSB plants have been netted to protect them from pigeons. They are starting to look a little happier and might manage to produce a few shoots if I am lucky.



The kale is growing slowly.



The Northern Lights leeks do not look at all happy.

[Penellype]

More photos



Spinach and lettuce in the hotbed. I am just about managing to keep on top of the grass. The gap in the row of spinach was probably due to a slug which I removed from that area a couple of weeks ago.



Onions in the hotbed are growing well.



A better view of the Oarsman leeks.

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Last year's forced rhubarb is re-growing despite being ignored during the summer drought.



More rhubarb in the shady corner near the woodshed.

[Penellype]

Early with the photos this morning:



Rhubarb is growing well and the blackthorn is flowering, but no sign yet of buds on the apple and pear trees opening. The net is still off the top of the tunnel as I am not yet convinced that the threat of snow is over.




The old hotbed is now half empty, the compost having been used for buckets of potatoes. Strawberries in the growhouse are growing well.



The hotbed cover has been opened for the day. There are 8 cauliflower plants in the bed behind.



The overwintered spinach is producing plenty of new growth. 8 buckets of potatoes (4 Lady C and 4 Desiree) under the cover. I have mulched the buckets with Strulch to keep moisture in and prevent weeds.



The nearest bed is ready for parsnips and cauliflowers. The parsnips in the bed behind are about to bolt - these are very mixed this year, probably due to lack of water in the hot weather. I have calabrese, kohlrabi and turnips in the greenhouse ready to make use of this bed.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel:



The kale has been netted as the pigeons were eating it. The romanesco plant beyond produces some edible shoots and has been left to see if there are any more, but it looks unlikely. The 3 PSB plants are struggling badly. Meteor peas have been planted down the middle of the tunnel - these have been mulched with compost from the old hotbed.



Plenty of new growth on the strawberries. The bigger leeks (Oarsman) at the far end are just starting to bolt. The Northern Lights beyond them are growing better now.



Finally some signs of flower shoots on the PSB at the end of the tunnel.



Leeks and strawberries from the other end.



This view shows just how poor some of the PSB plants are. There is a pile of compost beyond them which has come from the old potato buckets - this will be spread when the brassicas come out.

[Penellype]

More photos



A better view of the overwintered spinach, variety is Amazon.



Strawberries looking happy in the growhouse.



Newly planted cauliflower Maybach. Each plant is surrounded by a slice of plastic bottle with copper tape round and there is Slug Gone (sheep's wool pellets) scattered between the plants.



Onions are growing well in the hotbed. I am trying an experiment mulching them with cut grass, but I am not over impressed so far as I think this is harbouring slugs. There is slug damage on some of the onions and worse on the spinach...




Although I haven't mulched this end of the bed, the spinach is getting seriously chewed by slugs, which are mainly leaving the lettuces alone. I removed a slug this morning, but there will be more. I have sprinkled Slug Gone around the plants but it isn't stopping the slugs.

[Penellype]

More photos



There is a surprising amount of greenery on the old raspberry plants, which I thought had completely had it. Hopefully there will be some fruit this year after all.




The new raspberries (same variety, Glen Ample) are just starting to show signs of growth.



The Northern Lights leeks are perking up a bit and the leaves are showing some of the characteristic purple colour.



Buds are breaking on the minarette cherry tree.



Flowers opening on the blueberry.

[Penellype]

Photos taken 1st May



The bluebells are in flower. The buds on the apple tree are just beginning to show signs of breaking, but the pear tree buds remain tightly closed. I still have no idea whether either tree is going to flower this year.



The hotbed has now been filled and covered with plastic sheeting. I intend to grow tomatoes in there, with some lettuce as a catch crop in between.



The spinach and lettuce in the older hotbed are now growing well.



Overwintered spinach is producing plenty of leaves and the plants are just starting to bolt. The potatoes behind are looking happy.



Cauliflowers in this bed are growing well. On the left of the bed is a row of parsnips which have just germinated. The bed behind has been covered with a net and planted with calabrese, kohlrabi and florence fennel today.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



I've added an edge to the bed on the west side of the tunnel as the compost was falling onto the path. These were bits of wood and plastic that were lying about on the allotment when I got it and have been stored behind the shed in case they came in handy. I almost never throw anything away for this reason! The peas in the middle are growing well - this end are Meteor, the far end are Hurst Greenshaft. The kale is producing flower shoots which I am eating, and the PSB at the far end also has a few shoots. Out of picture this side of the kale are a couple of red Salad Bowl lettuces that I am going to allow to flower so I can save seed.



The strawberries are starting to flower. The shelf units in amongst are there to support a sheet of bubble wrap on frosty nights. Most of the leeks at the far end have now been eaten.


More kale near the tunnel door, also producing flower shoots.




The west side bed has been topped up with compost - I have not dug it with the fork, that was just used to spread the compost. Most of this area will be planted with leeks. You can just see the beetroot this side of the kale. More beetroot has been planted today along with more peas at this end of the centre bed.



The few remaining leeks - these are Northern Lights.

[Penellype]

More photos



Blackcurrant and gooseberry next to the fence have plenty of flowers, but my poor chilean guava at the far end has really suffered during the winter and most of it has gone brown. There are a few green leaves near the base so I am leaving it alone to see if it will recover. The polytunnel that landed on my plot in the wind can be seen behind the raspberries.



The overwintered spinach is providing loads of leaves and is just starting to bolt. This was sown on 15th August last year and provided me with a small autumn crop as well. It has been a huge success.



Cauliflower Maybach with the hotbed behind.



A better view of the hotbed. More spinach and a few surviving lettuces, plus onion Sturon. The planks of wood (there are 2) are slug traps which do seem to be having an effect - I lift and check under them every time I visit the allotment and remove any slugs I find.



Strawberries in the growhouse have developing fruit. Variety is Marshmellow, which is my favourite. They are in 2 mushroom trays, sitting on strips of copper sheet to keep the slugs off.

[Penellype]

June photos



The bluebells have died down and look a bit messy at the moment. The apple and pear trees in the buckets are not looking well at all and I am inclined to ditch them. These trees are 6 years old and have produced a grand total of 2 golf ball sized apples between them. The pear tree looks almost dead and the apple is not far behind. I'm very disappointed with them. The new raspberries are looking quite happy.




The cover over the newer hotbed has been left half on as there are tomatoes in there. The covered side is keeping the cool north breeze off them. There are strawberries in the growhouse behind.



The climbing beans are growing slowly. Spinach in the hotbed is bolting but the onions are doing ok and so far, touch wood, there is no sign of white rot. The cauliflowers in the bed behind are growing but there is no sign of heads yet.




The overwintered spinach has bolted and most of it has been eaten. The bed is covered to keep the cats off and will soon be planted with PSB and romanesco. Potatoes behind are doing well and the Desiree are flowering.



More cauliflowers and a row of parsnip seedlings on the left. The net behind covers calabrese, kohl rabi and florence fennel. The bed was mulched with part rotted horse manure which contains wood shavings and the slugs seem to be avoiding it. I topped the 2nd hotbed with the same thing and the lettuces in there are almost completely slug free.

[Penellype]

More photos



Plenty of redcurrants on the bush that has planted itself in the hedge.



Kohlrabi is growing well, with calabrese and florence fennel behind.



Parsnip seedlings in the cauliflower bed.




Some of the strawberries in the growhouse are now ripe.



Mixed lettuce, baby leeks on the left and tomatoes in the 2nd hotbed. The plant at the back is self seeded, probably Garden Pearl from last year.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



The kale has been removed creating a space that I was going to fill with lettuce, but I am holding off for the moment due to a shortage of water. 6 of my 8 water bins are empty and I have used half of one of the 2 water butts. Beetroot and fennel are doing ok and the red lettuces I planted out earlier have done much better than I expected them to, especially as the kale fell over on top of them at one point.



The nearest lot of Meteor peas is almost ready to start harvesting. There is plenty of fruit developing on the strawberries.



Another view of the strawberries and the much younger Hurst Greenshaft peas at the far end of the tunnel.



One PSB plant remains but there are no more flower buds, so although it looks quite healthy it will be coming out soon to make room for leeks.




The chilean guava, which appeared to be dead is producing some new growth at the bottom. I am leaving it a bit longer to see which bits regrow and I will then trim off the dead bits.

[Penellype]

Quite a bit happening at the moment so there are more photos than usual. The weather has been extremely dry until recently with hardly a drop of rain for 6 weeks and I was having to carry water down every day, which became exhausting. I started looking at solutions, but anything bigger than a standard water butt is extremely expensive when delivery is included and I couldn't justify it. I asked my friends at the stables as they use IBC containers to take water to the fields for the horses, and they said they would look out for a 2nd hand one, but nothing seemed to be readily available.

I had about given up, and it had finally started to rain, when my friend messaged me to say she had seen an advert on Facebook for an IBC container and the photo looked like it was on the local allotments. In fact it was on the next door but one allotment to mine, which has been mostly under weed matting for the past 18 months as the owner has been ill. She has decided to give it up and is selling various bits of equipment. I contacted her as fast as possible, and arranged to meet her yesterday. I then had to empty out 300 litres of water in order to be able to move the tank. There is no tap, just the 2 inch outlet, and the tank was sitting on a low piece of wood, with only about 6 inches between the outlet and the ground. It took me 2 hours with a rubber trug and some water carriers, but I managed to transfer almost all of the water to my water bins with very little spilt. We then rolled the empty tank across the overgrown area on the next door allotment and put it in position on some paving slabs I added earlier this week. It fits beautifully and looks like it is meant to be there.

At the moment I can't easily get water out of it as it is too low to the ground again, but I have ordered a tap with a hose connection and hopefully I will be able to use the weight of the water in the tank to fill the nearby blue barrel, and possibly other bins too.



Now I just have to collect enough rain water to fill it up...

[Penellype]

July photos



The pear tree that was in a bucket here has been removed as it never came into leaf. It has provided a space for one of the 4 displaced black dustbins. The apple tree is also not happy and I may well get rid of that too. The runner beans (near) and french beans have reached the tops of their tripods and are flowering. There is one bean almost ready on the french plants. The new raspberries are starting to produce a few fruit. I really should have removed the flowers in the first year but I can never bring myself to do this.



Tomatoes in the hotbed are growing really well and starting to set fruit, as is the Sungold tomato in the growhouse. The onions in the other hotbed are starting to die down a bit. I harvested one the other day and there is no sign of white rot so my experiment seems to be working so far.



The spinach in the hotbed has been replaced with a melon, and there is another melon plant between the 2 bean tripods. The cauliflowers in the bed behind were finished about a week ago. I am going to plant romanesco here, but there were a few grey cabbage aphids on the cauliflowers so I am giving the bed a short rest in the hope of getting rid of them.



Keeping the brassicas out of the tunnel produced problems with having enough nets tall enough for the bigger plants, so I bought another of these. It is covering PSB and kale, which look ridiculously small at the moment but will soon fill the space. The potatoes in the bed behind are starting to look tired despite being high priority for watering. One of the buckets of Lady C had died down completely so I harvested it and got a respectable 2.3kg of potatoes.



Parsnips are growing well and the net has been changed as they were bursting out of the smaller one. Just one cauliflower left to harvest, then I need to remove the stalks and plant 2 PSB plants in here. The bed behind has 2 calabrese plants that are starting to produce heads, 2 enormous kohlrabi and the best florence fennel I have ever managed to grow (variety Dragon F1).