Hello sunshine!

The last few days here in Cornwall have been fab! The sun has shone, I feel like I’ve got plenty done and the rate of seedling demise seems to have slowed. The alliums in the garden have started flowering, I’m definitely planting some on the allotment next year – the bees can’t get enough!

I have plans for making more rhubarb jam this week (hopefully I won’t burn it this time!) and have seen a recipe for a rhubarb cordial that I’d like to try.

On the allotment, the peas we put in at the weekend have so far avoided any significant damage from birds and we found a birds nest above our potting bench – the chicks are now big enough to peek out of the nest:


Yesterday, Ashley and I collected some carpeting from a local marquee company that was to be dumped or burned – we are going to use it to mulch our paths and other areas for the next year in the hope of really getting on top of the weeds. I’m hoping for another good weekend so we can get some more work done – although it’s a bank holiday in Cornwall which practically guarantees rain!

I’ve spent loads of time this week sat out in the garden potting on seedlings, sorting and clearing pots that have been emptied by the slugs and re-jigging plants to hopefully have some colourful flowers in the garden in a few weeks time.

Hope you’re all enjoying some sunshine too!

April update

  In the absence of a greenhouse or poly tunnel at the moment, my kitchen is turning out to be a reasonable substitute. The windowsill is full of tomato, herb and scabious seedlings whilst the dining table is the current home of the spinach, Dahlia, leeks and some peas and sunflowers. I spent yesterday afternoon potting on the Dahlia, pea, sweet pea and tomato (black opal) seedlings. The temperature outside has really dropped again in the last 2 days so I’m grateful of Ashley’s homemade cover for my seedlings. I’m desperately hoping that this isn’t going to be another cool, damp summer…

Last week, I spent an afternoon at a garden centre with my Grandma and bought some plant packs. They were being sold off for £3 for a pack of 6 plants – 50p each, I can’t resist that! I don’t even know what all the plants are, I just know I like them! After potting them up and organising my ‘verticle grower’ (Ashley made it for me a few years ago from scrap pieces of wood – a bit cheaper than the £100+ being asked in the shops!) so it looked pretty, Penny discovered that she could climb it to eat the pretty pansy’s and other flowers…. I wasn’t happy. And of course, once she started, nothing we did to try and deter her would work. So the chickens have temporarily lost access to that part of the garden whilst we work on a solution. Unfortunately, the solution so far seems to be getting rid of the chickens. We have been considering this for quite some time now; as I’ve said before, we often feel that we don’t give the chickens enough room and it’s not a stimulating enough environment for them. Friends of ours (who give us the land for our allotment) have kindly said that they  can take them in, they have lots of chickens already and have plenty of space for them. 

5 Things I’ve learned…

The first year on our allotment and chicken keeping has taught us many things, here are 5 that spring to mind:

Leeks

 

You can’t plant leeks too deeply…  I thought I had planted last years plenty deep enough, but there’s not much white ‘stem’ on them and the exposed tops have really suffered over winter. If they were deeper, they would have been more protected – simple!

Nothing is safe from the chickens!

 

 

Nothing is safe from the chickens…  Chickens will eat, peck at, scratch up anything within their reach. And if it’s not in their reach, they will climb on and knock over things until they get there!

 

swiss chard

 

We don’t really like Swiss chard that much…  Or broad beans… or courgettes. They’re all easy to grow, so you feel ‘successful’ at gardening. But we just don’t use them and an awful lot goes to waste.

 

damaged brocolli

 

It’s worth protecting crops from the very start… This is an obvious one, but it’s easy to underestimate the damage rabbits, pigeons, blackbirds and those pesky cabbage whites (or rather their offspring) can do to freshly planted peas, just ripe fruits or brassicas that look like they’re doing really well. It’s so disheartening to lose crops like that. So cover early and properly!

 

BBQ on the allotment

 

 

Sometimes, just being there is enough…  An allotment on a sunny day is a wonderful place. And sometimes, even if there’s things to do, you just want to be there and sit quietly. I’d often wondered at people who go to their allotments and just sit – I always thought, what’s the point? Now I know!

Brilliant Bees, Fabulous Flowers

Whilst the main aim of having an allotment (for me) is to grow more vegetables than I could possibly squeeze into my tiny little garden, I would also like to grow some flowers there. For one thing, I just like flowers and secondly, the more food for the bees the better really! I am in the pesticide free, #savethebees camp although I don’t think I do nearly enough about it. In an effort to do more, I treated myself to these seeds today – Rudbeckia and two types of Scabious. I bought a small Scabious plant a few years ago and was amazed at how many bees would scramble all over this little plant every single day. And for a very small plant, it provided copious amounts of flowers over a long season. I managed to keep this little plant going for about 2 years before it faded to nothing. I also have a Rudbeckia plant, but would love more and buying them as plants is an expensive way of doing it so thought I’d try the seeds. Both are recommended as good plants for attracting bees and other pollinators, which is obviously great on an allotment! We already have several lavender plants dotted around the allotment, one of my favourite plants alongside Scabious, another fabulous plant for bees and other insects.

Bee friendly seeds

I’d love to be proficient enough a gardener to grow a huge variety of flowers for cutting, but my current gardening skills and dedication does push me more towards growing simple to care for, but effective plants! Bushy plants that I just dead head, then cut back and protect over winter seem to work well for me – and it’s a good job we live in the relatively mild climate of North Cornwall as I regularly neglect to protect plants over winter! Good job we haven’t really seen much in the way of frost this year!

Unfortunately, as mentioned in my previous post, the poly tunnel didn’t survive the winter on the allotment (it gets pretty windy there) and we haven’t sorted a replacement yet. So starting seeds will have to be done at home. The trouble with this is space and a lack of protection, but we will just have to try and see what happens!

March 2016 trip to the allotment

The sun shone in Cornwall for a good few hours this weekend! Ashley and I have been meaning to get to the allotment for several weeks now, however bad weather and a dislike for standing out in the cold meant that we kept putting it off! The last meaningful visit to the allotment was just before Christmas to dig up some parsnips for our Christmas dinner!

We were greeted by a flattened gate and we were already aware that the poly tunnel hadn’t survived the winter. There was little other damage which was a relief! The aim of the day was to clear weeds from the beds. Working at a leisurly pace in the sunshine was a joy – I was a little worried that I had fallen out of love with the allotment already, but it turns out it was just the weather that was the problem!

3 hours of weeding later, all but one bed was weeded, the autumn raspberries had been cut right back (leaving a few new shoots that were already growing), and we moved some wooden boards to mulch different parts of the paths between beds. We completely filled the (previously pretty much empty) compost bin! It felt very much like a job well done and it’s great to have the beds cleared ready for this years seedlings.


We already have some cabbage, kale and purple sprouting broccoli growing that were planted last autumn. The unused parsnips are still in the ground to be dug up as we want them and there are also some leeks left in the ground, although they aren’t looking too great. I thought the leeks would be fine left in the ground over winter – maybe it’s just been too wet for them or maybe I should have stored them some other way. I will have to do some research for next year.

At this time of year, it seems quite exciting to see the purple sprouting broccoli in its glorious colour!


I am ever so pleased that the autumn raspberries have spread, but I’m a little concerned that the rhubarb doesn’t appear to be showing any growth at all after dying right back before Christmas. We will see soon enough if it has survived or not, and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

Next, planning when to start seeds off and get planting at home. Thanks for reading!

Onions are nearly ready!

Last weekend, Ashley and I decided to dig up all of the onions at the allotment. We had planted red and white onions, about the same amount of each. They had started yellowing and most were looking a very good size, they spent a day or two out in the sun and then we put them in the greenhouse to finish drying as the weather has been a bit up and down. A couple had gone to seed and so hadn’t really developed a bulb but overall a good harvest. We also put in some time clearing weeds that we’re starting to take hold on the newly vacated potato bed and around the onions. I’m a little ashamed to say that we haven’t really been to the allotment much this week – the plants in the greenhouse are going to be feeling a little sorry for themselves! And I expect the weeds will have used the time to ‘stretch their legs’! When will we learn to go there more regularly?!
I’m hoping that the weather is now warm enough to get some late runner and dwarf runner beans in the empty beds, also a fresh sowing of chard and possibly some peas. There should be plenty of room in the beds for the cauliflower and kale that I thought I’d try out (that’s if the seedlings have survived the recent neglect).

I think tomorrow will have to include a visit to the poor, abandoned allotment! I expect there will be courgettes galore, Swiss chard to be picked and maybe even some peas ready for picking! We had some peas the other day in a stir fry – they were quite small so not really worth removing from the pods so I cooked them whole, they were very yummy! I wonder how long until Ashley is sick of stir fry allotment veg?! I must look up some other recipes to use the veg – I’m not the worlds best cook I’m afraid!

Allotment visit – 30th June/1st july

Summer arrived here in Cornwall yesterday! High temperatures and glorious sunshine all day long meant that the allotment was really going to need some TLC but watering was going to have to wait until quite late in the evening. After visiting my best friend to help resolve a ‘which dress to wear’ dilemma, it was nearly 10pm when I stopped by the allotment. The temperature was finally dropping (but still not enough to need a cardi!) and it was light enough to spend a good half hour watering everything. I gave everything a good soak (except the onions, which I’ve read you should stop watering when the bulbs are starting to swell) and was thrilled to see some ripe fruits on the raspberry canes, flowers on the peas and beans and even a fruit or two forming on the sweet and chilli peppers in the greenhouse! After feeling for so long that this year might not be very productive and that we’d missed the chance to enjoy fresh peas, it is wonderful to finally be seeing some progress.

So this morning, I couldn’t wait to get back down there in the light of day and really see what’s happening! I was indeed met with the sight of 20 or 30 flowers on the peas (variety – Onward),peas flowering 2 flowers on the runner beans (which I didn’t think would produce anything given the state they were in!), raspberriesjust 2 ripe raspberries (but more looking like they’ll be ready in just a day or 2!) and courgettes (varieties – Zuchinni and a rogue seed from last year) flowering and fruiting (is it a fruit?! You know what I mean!).courgette I’ve never had any trouble with courgettes when growing them at home, they’ve always been so prolific we’ve been sick of the sight of them after a while! Maybe the more exposed conditions at the allotment have really slowed them down because we’ve barely had a flower until now. But there they were, in all their glory! There are at least 2 or 3 that, although tiny, could be picked now. I will wait a few more days as I already have some in the fridge to use up first. It’s so exciting to see things growing and fruiting!

rhubarb

The rhubarb has really picked up in the last week or so. It was a small plant when I bought it, just 2 or 3 stems on and these quickly got damaged by the wind. I was a little worried that it wasn’t going to recover, but I really shouldn’t have worried at all! It is booming! I won’t be harvesting from it this year but I think it will be good to go next year. I’ve seen an interesting rhubarb jam/butter recipe that I’d like to try. We only ever really had it stewed or as a crumble when I was growing up and, although I don’t mind eating it like that, I’d like to try something different with it.

The onions are looking good, too. As I said, I’ve stopped watering them now, a couple went to seed but I’m letting them do that and I’ll try to save the seed for next onions year – I’ve never done that before so we’ll see how it goes! I’m growing a red and a white onion, I can’t remember the specific varieties. Interestingly, none of the white onions went to seed, only the red. I don’t know if the variety has been bred to avoid this or if it’s just luck that the white onions haven’t produced seed but the red have. I’ll have to try and find the packets – I’m sure I kept them!

 

 

I started some more Dwarf French Beans (variety – Borlotto Firetongue I think!) in the greenhouse last week as the originals died outside. I really wanted to try these as I just love the colour of the beans and think they’ll be good for winter storing and using in stews and maybe some home made beans on toast! They are just starting to peek through, as are the cauliflowers and kale that I planted at the same time. The cauli and kale were free seeds with a gardening magazine. I just wanted to give them a go as I’ve never tried to grow either before! There are plenty of seeds left over for next years plants. I’m quite surprised that they are coming through already – I guess the conditions have just been right for them.

Weeding was the order of today, after I’d finished inspecting the veg and talking to myself about how much they’d grown or were ‘coming on nicely now’… passers by and the builders working opposite probably thought I was a bit nuts! Once my fingers were tingling from stinging nettles and I cleared as many weeds as I could bear, I started boxing up the mammoth harvest of summer raspberries (ha ha! maybe one day…) and picked some elderflowers for my next batch of elderflower cordial (the first lot is long gone and the second batch is well under way!).

Home for a much needed cup of tea and to write this up… my fingers are still tingling!

A few potatoes! 

 We dug a few potatoes up at the allotment this evening!

These were supposed to be first earlies, but we rarely eat much in the way of potatoes so most of our plants have stayed in the ground (lesson learned for next year – we don’t eat many potatoes so don’t plant many!). Ashley noticed whilst visiting the allotment this weekend (I was at work) that the potato plants were looking yellow and there were lots of brown bits appearing on the leaves and stems. We weren’t sure if this was blight or not, so erring on the side of caution, we have pulled and dug up the plants that seemed to be affected. The tubers themselves look fine so I will be brushing the worst of the soil off and storing what I can in the fridge. The bigger potatoes will go in bags or boxes but I don’t think they’ll keep very long so I’ll have to get creative with some potato based recipes! Ashley’s Gran has been given some already and Ashley will be taking some into work for two of his colleagues tomorrow so I hope we won’t be wasting any.

We now have half a bed empty which will be perfect for my kale seedlings that are coming on. I will have to do an allotment update soon, things are coming on nicely!

Thanks for reading!

A ‘no dig’ bed

I thought I would share with you the process for building a ‘no dig’ bed. We have learnt this from our Charles Dowding organic veg book. I’m not sure we’re doing it quite right – Charles leaves areas covered with carpet or black plastic for months before building the bed but we have been impatient and skipped this step so that we can get growing a bit quicker. As a result, we suffer with the dock popping up all over the place. Hopefully there won’t be as much next year. We also only use wood chip and rotted manure as that’s what we have freely available, with a little of our home made compost as it’s available. Our vegetable beds probably aren’t the most nutrient rich at the moment but seems to be OK for what we are currently growing. We will be adding as much home made compost as we can when it’s available.

no dig vegetable bed cardboard layerThe first ‘layer’ is cardboard. It needs to be a decent layer with good overlapping. We probably should have used a bit more elsewhere on the plot so for this bed we made sure we didn’t scrimp on this step. The cardboard should be thoroughly soaked with water (we have found it easier to do this after laying it). no dig vegetable bed

Next we added a layer of well rotted manure, then wood chip. We then built up much thicker layers of manure and wood chip until we were happy with the depth, finishing with the manure layer. The Charles Dowding book and website are well worth a look to see how he builds his beds. Looking at the bed now it’s finished, it’s a little big. The no dig method also relies on not compacting the soil by standing on it and so the beds are generally a bit smaller to facilitate this. I can reach the middle from both sides but we made this bed much deeper than all the others, so with the hight it can be a little difficult to reach properly without standing on it. I will have to make sure I always stand on a board to avoid compacting it too much.

allotment 16/6/15 I have plans for the leeks to go in this bed. There should be plenty of room for them and lots more besides!

Start of the harvest

allotment potatoesA quick trip to the allotment this evening was a pleasure, even in the cool and misty weather we’ve had today. We pulled up the first potato plant and brought these beauty’s home, this should last us the week! I also picked just a few swiss chard leaves. It’s great to finally have produce to bring home, even if it is just the basics!

We planted out the leeks that have been growing away nicely in the greenhouse – they’ve been exposed to the elements for the last couple of days and now the nights are warming up, I think they will do just fine as long as the rabbit doesn’t take a shine to them!

Ashley managed to sneak a quick photo and video of the Swallows nest in the tool shed – I’ll show you what he found in another post very soon!