The Good Life

Did an all dayer on Sunday. Nope not boozing, though the previous two days had been an alcoholic haze. My excuse is I’m an uncle. My sister has just had a little boy and I can’t wait till he’s old enough to hold a rake.

Arrived at the plot and it was mega overgrown, so got down to it and cleared most of it up in a mammoth weeding and strimming session. Rob was up in the Dales the lucky sod.

Dug up some turnips that we’d left for dead while weeding and had 6 courgettes and some nice lettuce to take home. There’s peas a few weeks away from a sunday roast and we now have some tomatoes. All looking good.

I’ve dug over and replanted the turnip and parsnip plot and staked the peas up better. We’re still searching for the ultimate pea frame though – for the second year we’ve got plants lolling over each other like they’d drunk as much as I did Friday.

And finally, my tea – courgette carbonara (cheers Jamie O spit spit):

My tea

Popped down the allotment tonight to slug pellet everything. It’s thriving. Wish I had my camera to take some pics but suffice to say everything has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks.

Some strawberries will be ready to pick by the weekend and our first peas will be arriving soon. I’ve transplanted a few of my surviving courgette seedlings to new space, did a bit of weeding and checked everything else. Must put more netting down as the birds are eating all the turnip and parnsip seedlings which we planted and also get the rest of the spuds planted before it’s too late.

The biggest surprise were the mega radishes. I planted a mixture of white and red ones and they are like turnips.

Mega radishes, with my hand for scale:

Had a long day on Sunday. Weeded everything, planted more peas and runners plus my backup cucumbers. A few mates came down and never one to shy away from a power tool, my mate Al strimmed the whole place.

As luck would have it Rob appeared to have missed planting over my re-seeded cucumber patches as I noticed the seedlings coming up a few inches away from his plants.

When I asked him about it he said he was only winding me up when he told me he’d dug them over. Ooops, apologies Rob for the drunken slating I gave you at a wedding reception over the weekend.

Anyway, our first crops are coming through – radishes, good old radishes – and the place is looking great.

No pics for a bit though because I’ve lent my camera to the honeymooners.

Never mind kids in hoodies I’ve come to the conclusion the biggest vandal of them all is Mother Nature with a little help from her wayward nephew Jack Frost. Thanks to them my dreams of a pickled gherkin empire are on the brink of being lost.

We’ve been quite busy on the allotment since March. We’ve got the spuds and sweetcorn in, planted more peas and some beans, the onion sets are doing well and we’ve got a couple of rows of tomatoes on the go. We’ve also planted lots of salady stuff. I’ve planted two rows of parsnip and turnip – the beginnings of our winter stew veg. Yum.

I got my gherkin cucumbers and courgettes planted out and I turned up a few weeks ago with my camera expecting to see a burgeoning crop and was greeted by some poorly brown and withered plants. There had been a single overnight frost which wiped them out. Gutted.

The sweetcorn didn’t look like they had enjoyed the cold either so Rob planted some more sweetcorn at home and I dug up and re-seeded the cucumber patch. Unfortunately since then the final boot in the coffin of my gherkin crop was Rob digging up and planting things where I had re-seeded. Grrrr.

We’ve both been busy with work and other things and there have been days of rain which have hampered getting up to the allotment, but we are getting on with it and things are looking good despite the setbacks. We’ve had lots of rain the last week so we need to get up again and slug pellet everything before slugs eat what’s left.

Im a bit concerned about the tomatoes I have planted so far. I had some small bush ones and some plum tomatoes. The bush plants are not even 9″ tall and they are producing flowers. I would have expected them to get a little bigger but there isn’t a picture on the seed packet to confirm this. My plum tomatoes appear to have stopped growing at about 10″ tall and I’m pretty damn sure they should be bigger, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Some pics from three weeks ago:

We’ve finally completed the digging, hurray. It’s rained hard for the last few days and the ground was really soggy, so this prevented us from rotivating and properly weeding the last bits, but the plot is now complete.

Rob brought some celeriac and planted it at the bottom end and I have sown some more peas. The strawberries have suffered quite badly but new growth is starting to come through and the rhubard is well on its way. So it’s looking good.

At home my flat looks like a nursery and I’ve re-potted the courgettes, cucumbers and peppers. The tomatoes are growing well but I reckon another week or so before they need re-potting.

Tomatoes:

 Courgettes and cucumbers:

Nipped down today and dug a couple more bits. The bit with the carpet is the only ground left to dig which, weather permitting, will be done before the weekend is out.

I got an email at work yesterday:

Dear Phil,

I know you do not believe in me (or any other gods or goddesses either), however I have watched you and your friend Rob toil at the allotment for many months now, and with great interest.

I saw you gazing over towards Oakwood with great yearning this morning, and I have granted you the following gifts as proof that god loves ALL creatures on earth, regardless of whether they believe in him.
Gift One: A SHINING PATH OF WOOD AND BRICK

Gift Two: A CRUMBLING AND WEEDING OF SOIL

Gift Three: A BRAND NEW VEGETABLE PATCH OF HOLINESS

I hope you will accept these gifts in good faith (haha), and perhaps I might one day see you in one of my many curches on the Sabbath.Yours all powerfully,

GOD

Got up to the allotment early today. I started to clear the pea plot for the cold frame and lo, there were peas growing! Unfortunately their fate was already sealed so I looked away while I stomped the ground flat.

The cold frame was a bit twisted from the strong winds the previous week but is now firmly set in the ground with the glass on, so should be ok. There is a severe storm warning this week so fingers crossed it doesn’t blow away.

Rob arrived later and rotovated the ground which has really sorted the soil out. It looked like a ploughed field afterward.

I planted another set of peas and this time my faith will not waver,  while Rob planted some onions and beetroot. I brought the seed potatoes up to plant but because there is a risk of snow/rain in the next few days I haven’t planted them. I’ve left them in the cold frame so hopefully the mice/weather won’t get them.

The rhubarb is now coming up in its new home and I brought a couple of crowns back for my mate Dan.

Got some courgettes and cucumber set off at home along with some more tomatoes.

Next week: The final dig.

Well it was a bit of a gamble planting those peas so early, even if they are frost resistant. After some serious cold weather (-9 one night) I have to concede they may not germinate. The upside is that the cold frame which was looking for a home can go in their place and I’ll plant some more next to it once the weather stops playing silly buggers.

Another productive weekend has passed. My seeds arrived on friday so I’ve set some tomatoes and onions off and today we’ve been doing more digging while my dad built our cold frame.All thats left is one last bit of digging, some rotovating to get the big lumps broken up and start setting more seeds off.

My dad did an awesome job today and we now have cold frame with a small utility cupboard stuck on the side – just enough to fit Rob’s wellies and a few tools in. And maybe a few beers.

 The cold frame under construction.