Allotment check in mid October
Friday, October 13, 2017
In my mind I'm convinced I bang on about the allotment all the time on here but scrolling back through my archive it appears less prominent, as themes go. What's been happening lately? Raspberries! C is convinced that the majority of our canes are summer fruiting but the plants themselves profess otherwise and the glut continues, with a kilo or so being jammed each week. The jam is not setting but at least that's better than the tough as old boots ballistics gel that one batch morphed into.
The roses we planted along the boundary to fill up the hedge have grown well, flowered and there are even a few hips to show for their efforts.
Beetroot have been excellent this year, as were carrots until carrot fly had a good go at most. So they need a good deal of chopping up before eating. There's always something.
The courgette plants have given up, as have the butternut squashes so they're all coming in for storing now. A pretty decent offering.
Sprouts have been growing well, some are smaller and should be ready in time for Christmas while the bigger ones are coming home with us each week. It's been an excellent time for cabbages, the savoys are ready and last respectably well in the fridge as we work through them.
Healthy brassica patch, left in for wintering. Parsnips are int here too, most are gloriously straight this year.
The horse manure bays C made have been rotting down their bounty over summer and the butternut squash bay was emptied and spread over the former potato patch. It looks excellent stuff so that was worth while. It starts again with the collecting of horse poo now though.
The late potatoes are growing where the strawberries sat and the plants have been carefully monitored by C who checks them daily, sprays the blight inhibitor and removes any poorly looking leaves.
Below, you can see the first of the onions coming through. We planted all our onion sets and garlic a couple of weeks ago and they've already shown signs of coming to life, amazing!
So it's a rather bare looking plot at the moment, I cut back the spent sweet peas and try to remove as many weeds as possible every time I'm down there. There's always plenty to be done though.
Sophie
The roses we planted along the boundary to fill up the hedge have grown well, flowered and there are even a few hips to show for their efforts.
Beetroot have been excellent this year, as were carrots until carrot fly had a good go at most. So they need a good deal of chopping up before eating. There's always something.
The courgette plants have given up, as have the butternut squashes so they're all coming in for storing now. A pretty decent offering.
Sprouts have been growing well, some are smaller and should be ready in time for Christmas while the bigger ones are coming home with us each week. It's been an excellent time for cabbages, the savoys are ready and last respectably well in the fridge as we work through them.
Healthy brassica patch, left in for wintering. Parsnips are int here too, most are gloriously straight this year.
The horse manure bays C made have been rotting down their bounty over summer and the butternut squash bay was emptied and spread over the former potato patch. It looks excellent stuff so that was worth while. It starts again with the collecting of horse poo now though.
The late potatoes are growing where the strawberries sat and the plants have been carefully monitored by C who checks them daily, sprays the blight inhibitor and removes any poorly looking leaves.
Below, you can see the first of the onions coming through. We planted all our onion sets and garlic a couple of weeks ago and they've already shown signs of coming to life, amazing!
So it's a rather bare looking plot at the moment, I cut back the spent sweet peas and try to remove as many weeds as possible every time I'm down there. There's always plenty to be done though.
Sophie
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