Well here is post number one!
So here is the first of (hopefully) many posts...
So I have a full allotment, progresing from half to a full allotment last year. It took a year to get the new half under control but I now have it all cultivated. I wouldn't say this was my best year on the allotment, a combination of poor weather and time constraints early in the year have led to a few gaps although I am now starting to reap the benefits of what I've sown.
I'm back on top of the weeding again - although this new venture into blogging might detract from that - and have (for the first time ever) brought some seedlings on ebay to fill the gaps. They're in the capable hands of Royal Mail and should be with me shortly.
I'm as organic as I can be with no pesticides or fertilisers in use for the past 4 years. I did dabble in making comfrey fertiliser last year, but accidently strimmed through the bucket. The scene was something akin to the outtakes you see from cookery programmes when the food processor splatters cream everywhere, however, I was plastered with comfrey fertiliser. For those of you why have made your own fertiliser before, you can imagine what I smelt and looked like. But not to be put off, I have some more on the go, and am beinf super careful with the strimmer this year to avoid repeat accidents.
Harvest wise, this weekend I've had good pickings of raspberries which I had with ice cream and home made meringues. I've also started taking beetroot - the usual purple 'Boltardy' variety, a stripey one 'Choggia', but also 'Golden Globe' an orange/yellow variety. The beetroots are for dinner tonight - I'll let you know how the recipe goes once the taste verdict is in.
Over the weekend, I purchased a lot of my seeds for next spring as they are all on 50% off in the local garden centre. It's quite exciting seeing them all laid out in the front room! I'll list the varieties I've got in a bit. I'm determined this year not to lose labels or mix up the piles of produce once they've been harvested so I can compare the varieties.
I've already got my first early potatoes out and working my way through them, and am ready to get second earlies out this week.
I need to start looking at the catalogues for onions and garlic as I'm now looking ahead to autumn planting and winter harvests. I'm self sufficient in onions and garlic. This years crop are all hung up in the garage and I've just started using them from this years harvest.
Plans for the year are to work towards buying no vegetables at all. I got close the other year, and brought none from 1st June until the hungry gap this year where I just wasn't as good as I should have been. But I'm not dwelling in the past...this next year is going to be good.
Here's the allotment as it was at the start of the season. I'll get up there tomorrow and get some pictures as it is now. Hopefully with the new seedings in situ!
Now, I don't want it to seem like I'm forgetting it is still only the beginning of August, but I've already got my head in gear for the autumn and winter and what will feed me through the winter months. We managed a lot of roasts last year with all the veg from the allotment so I'm hoping I can do it again.
I'm also determined to get my head round pruning properly. I've got red, white and blackcurrants, gooseberries, jostaberries (which I got none from this year as I gave it a real hard prune back last year. It was getting too big and needed to be got back under control!), logan berries and tay berries. The logan and tay are in their first year so haven't cropped yet. I need to get them trained up soon as they're getting a bit straggly and I'd hate for the leaders to get broken off.
Well that's me done for now with a bit of an introduction and where I'm at.
2 other projects for the upcoming months are to work my way through the River Cottage DVD Box Set, and the Good Life DVD Box Set....but they're for rainy days!
So I have a full allotment, progresing from half to a full allotment last year. It took a year to get the new half under control but I now have it all cultivated. I wouldn't say this was my best year on the allotment, a combination of poor weather and time constraints early in the year have led to a few gaps although I am now starting to reap the benefits of what I've sown.
I'm back on top of the weeding again - although this new venture into blogging might detract from that - and have (for the first time ever) brought some seedlings on ebay to fill the gaps. They're in the capable hands of Royal Mail and should be with me shortly.
I'm as organic as I can be with no pesticides or fertilisers in use for the past 4 years. I did dabble in making comfrey fertiliser last year, but accidently strimmed through the bucket. The scene was something akin to the outtakes you see from cookery programmes when the food processor splatters cream everywhere, however, I was plastered with comfrey fertiliser. For those of you why have made your own fertiliser before, you can imagine what I smelt and looked like. But not to be put off, I have some more on the go, and am beinf super careful with the strimmer this year to avoid repeat accidents.
Harvest wise, this weekend I've had good pickings of raspberries which I had with ice cream and home made meringues. I've also started taking beetroot - the usual purple 'Boltardy' variety, a stripey one 'Choggia', but also 'Golden Globe' an orange/yellow variety. The beetroots are for dinner tonight - I'll let you know how the recipe goes once the taste verdict is in.
Over the weekend, I purchased a lot of my seeds for next spring as they are all on 50% off in the local garden centre. It's quite exciting seeing them all laid out in the front room! I'll list the varieties I've got in a bit. I'm determined this year not to lose labels or mix up the piles of produce once they've been harvested so I can compare the varieties.
I've already got my first early potatoes out and working my way through them, and am ready to get second earlies out this week.
I need to start looking at the catalogues for onions and garlic as I'm now looking ahead to autumn planting and winter harvests. I'm self sufficient in onions and garlic. This years crop are all hung up in the garage and I've just started using them from this years harvest.
Plans for the year are to work towards buying no vegetables at all. I got close the other year, and brought none from 1st June until the hungry gap this year where I just wasn't as good as I should have been. But I'm not dwelling in the past...this next year is going to be good.
Here's the allotment as it was at the start of the season. I'll get up there tomorrow and get some pictures as it is now. Hopefully with the new seedings in situ!
Now, I don't want it to seem like I'm forgetting it is still only the beginning of August, but I've already got my head in gear for the autumn and winter and what will feed me through the winter months. We managed a lot of roasts last year with all the veg from the allotment so I'm hoping I can do it again.
I'm also determined to get my head round pruning properly. I've got red, white and blackcurrants, gooseberries, jostaberries (which I got none from this year as I gave it a real hard prune back last year. It was getting too big and needed to be got back under control!), logan berries and tay berries. The logan and tay are in their first year so haven't cropped yet. I need to get them trained up soon as they're getting a bit straggly and I'd hate for the leaders to get broken off.
Well that's me done for now with a bit of an introduction and where I'm at.
2 other projects for the upcoming months are to work my way through the River Cottage DVD Box Set, and the Good Life DVD Box Set....but they're for rainy days!
Comments
Post a Comment