Remember, Remember the 7th of November

As its my birthday! 

Thanks Jon for my cartoon card...........now get back to work hehehehe

Bonfire Night

Spent last night on my own mostly as my lovely other half was working till after 11 o'clock. I amused myself taking some (bad) mobile phone video of the fireworks  and ate my lovely home made pumpkin  soup. 

Happy Hallowe'en

As my pumpkin obsession grows I've found a selection of these on the web for carving inspiration for next year perhaps?

Forgetting My Flask, Muddy Knees & A New Strawberry Patch

When I got to the plot last Sat I was in shock to find that I wasn't working alone and blinked several times to clear my wind swept watery eyes to check I wasn't seeing things and that said partner in crime had arrived earlier than me and was digging away 'gettin' rid o' that couch grass problem' I was well impressed.

So with the two of us with wet muddy knees (said muddy kneed jeans were washed and were thrown in bin, chucked away by other half as they stropped that I don't look after my clothes as I sulked and complained that they are/were my favorites and have since sneaked them out (damp) and are now hanging as hard as cardboard complete with a nice fur of frost.... nice, on the washing line...... they wont be there when I get home me thinks) as I was saying, we have managed to set in some strawberry plants complete with runners into the new strawberry patch that was full of unkempt raspberry's and rogue blackberry's that had tons of couch grass growing through all of this plus nettles as I discovered while hacking back late in the summer. 

This area will be finished off with some wooden edging plus we added some well rotted manure before planting.

I had been avoiding mentioning this but Sarah's Leeks are looking good and mine however are not! I've been thinking about 'accidently' treading on them and saying that the fox did it but as wily as a fox is they don't wear size 7 boots. I shall have to come up with something else.........

With regards the sweetcorn it never has ripened properly ah well better luck next time. It didn't help having them under the neighbours tree as it was too shady stopping any sun we did have to ripen them. 

So moving on to more interesting things.............. pumpkins

There's lots of them. Sigh I know they are green but I'm thinking of my belly now not Hallowe'en. I'm hoping today's frost wont ruin them. They've done really well considering and have kept the weeds back. I'm thinking of growing lots of different varieties next year and sowing seed a lot earlier. 

Finally, the sunflowers grown for cutting have now finished and gone to seed so I cut these to dry off in the shed and what I don't use the birds can have for winter.

I wanted to stay a bit longer but the rain soon put a stop to all that so I took a few last pics and cutting the last of the sunflowers I went home put kettle on only to realize I'd left my trusty flask at the plot......... thanks Sarah for picking it up

Monster Mulch

Just a mini update to say that I put some hay mulch under the ever growing pumpkins. This is the same pumpkin I took a picture of the other week and its expanded already. It was too wet to give it some feed so I'll do that next week. 

On closer inspection I think I may have a problem with Powdery Mildew due to all the wet and warm weather we've had ah well lets see.

Found some good links for pumpkins as I'm becoming addicted and started to dream about them hehehehehe Sigh

Monster In the Making

Whilst checking on the pumpkins the other day I almost tripped over this. I never knew they grew so quick! Its also a bit heavy already. Just need to give it a protective mulch with straw next time I'm up again plus I got some Maxicrop organic seaweed feed to give them an extra boost. Maybe my niece's and nephew will have pumpkins for Halloween after all.

A sneak peak of the Allotment before sunset

Managed, finally after all the rain to visit the plot last night. The sun now sets around 7.45/8pm (groans at the thought of even shorter evenings 'sigh') I had been a bit worried and half expected a swamp but luckily things are looking good.

So a quick update.........

Pumpkins 

These are starting to flower and some are showing signs of fruits. I don't think they will be ready for Halloween but I can start feeding them and see what monsters they might grow to. Fingers crossed he he. 

 

French Beans (Yellow)

The last I saw of these was when I was tying the first of the runners to the cane and now they have reached the top. The slugs have a had a bit of go at the leaves but they seem to be doing really well.  

Sweetcorn

I'm not sure but I would have thought they should be ready by now. I have two lots. The ones near the neighbours apple tree are doing the best and the second lot near the french beans are so much smaller.  It wont do any harm to just keep an eye on them. I am pleased tho as there seem to be a lot of fruits on them and no signs of any thing that could go wrong.........yet

Onions

These are doing really, really well. No rust signs considering all the rain. Plus they are a good size and I'm looking forward to these. I will plant more next year.

Apple

The new apple tree planted this year has a nice single juicy fruit on and its perfect. I think the rain has done it some good. Plus I've kept the weeds from the base just to give it a good start.

Cabbages

These have outgrown their protective wire covers. They look alright and have been had by caterpillars, and survived I might add. They are showing promise as the last I looked they were looking very weedy.

General Stuff

I cleaned out the shed the other week. It was so nice to be able to walk in without getting smacked in the face by a rake or mutated spider! I do need to fix the back end of the roof tho as the end piece has come unattached so once I brave the nettles at the back I'll screw it on better. Plus it needs painting before the winter, weather depending that is. I'll add that job in with all the others.

Just before dark I managed to plant some mystery veggie plants given to me by my neighbour and  fingers crossed its not beetroot as I really don't like the stuff, if it is well I know plenty that do and at least the weeds will be kept at bay.

The radishes...... I almost forgot. They need a good weed and on inspection they are growing well and showing signs of fruit? is that the right thing to say? Anyway I'll keep an eye on them as it looks as tho the small slugs might av'em" as I saw a few taking a peek, lurking. As for the other rows of stuff planted direct from seed albeit late such as spinach and carrots don't seem to have appeared so not sure what's happened there??? 

Last but not least the 'baby leeks' Well they are still small and thats all I will say on that .

Ants...........

are in the compost heap again!

Things to do when its raining

It seems to have been a very typical english summer so far and while I haven't been planting I've been 'pottering' and doing a little bit of recycling so to speak and made some plant lables out of some old pallet wood cut into strips and sharpened at the ends with a knife. They are nice and sturdy and wont snap when I tread on them, well thats the plan anyway. Plus I'm in the process of making some seed storage boxes out of pallet wood again so I'll post pics of those when they are ready.

I've also been making my own seed packets and I can hear my other half now 'sighing' at me it would seem that I have become a complete gardening nerd and jobs around the house are piling up so I must learn to prioritize. 

The plot in general is well........ lacking. I think with all the rain we've had in the last two growing seasons its washed away a lot of the good stuff. As my cabbages are a bit small and I'm disappointed in them. 

I did grow some broad bean 'field beans' to be precise to get some nitrogen in the soil but this had also failed me as I did not keep on top of the area I grew them on and now I have nitrogen enriched weeds that are now lapping up all the goodness. So another lesson learned there I think. The Sweetcorn on the other hand is looking good not as big as my neighbours, but I am looking forward to them all the same. We have some pumpkins growing about 9 or 10 mainly to cover the ground till next year and hopefully they will be ready for my niece's and nephew for Halloween. I think the plan for next year is going to be dig, manure and cover I think and set boundaries for paths etc. So all in all less pottering and more planning and managing. My better half will be pleased.........if I manage this of course.

Sunflowers

Lots of the sunflowers I planted have started to flower. I did try some very large sunflower seeds but the slugs ate them before they even had a chance. So I nursed these at home and I'm quite proud of them. Lets hope everything else planted works this way.......

Every Blog.....

has to start somewhere and this being the first of many a rambling entry to come so if your still reading this........there will be lots to follow including a general diary and lots of photographs.