Harvested some garlic today as the leaves were getting pretty dead. Looking good! Just reading loads of conflicting info on how to dry it. Greenhouse? Outside? Heat? Cool? Sun? Shade? Plait? Lie out solo? #garlic#allotment I tried an experimental one last week in the greenhouse and it went yellow and soft? And there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of cloves.
Edit to add: this is autumn planted garlic
Good morning. I've sown my two favourite beans. These are for podding. They need a bit longer in the ground to get to that stage. Can be left to dry on the plant but I tend to freeze them to deal with any bean weevil issues. Utterly delicious for casseroles during the winter. Also sown 40 runner bean Firestorm for Mr M.
I will also get a few saved beans from my 84 year old plot neighbour Ted. This is his last year on the site. Been there since 1958. I will miss his growing knowledge. #allotment
#today we just ended our cornfest 2023. Our total ears of #sweetcorn brought to the table from the #garden this season was 197. This is not bad but our third planting ended up a little disappointing because I did not manage to feed the last row of corn enough for a variety of reasons, but lesson is learned for next year! (If I count the 4 ears the squirrels stole we grew 201 ears) Oh, yes, we also have several tons of #tomatoes (lost count) #gardening #Allotment #growden #NewEngland
To the tune of The Whitlams Chunky Chunky Air Guitar 🎸🍆
Chunky chunky melenzane
Chunky chunky melenzan
He was getting down like a freak show
She was going off like a whale
Chunky chunky melenzane
Chunky chunky melenzan
Looking towards next season, I need some recommendations for seed supplier. I used to buy mine at Wilko's, but they're closing, so where would you recommend I switch to?
The removal of the tomatoes from the greenhouse benches gives us room to get the first planting of sweetcorn (Flagler) started. We put 5 seeds to a pot and 32 pots make a row. Once those are big enough and the weather warm enough they will get set out in to a row and another planting will be started. We try to have 2 weeks between plantings to extend the season. Last year we brought ~ 230 ears of corn to the table. #gardening #allotment #zone6b #NewEngland #BeetBear #Today #sweetcorn
I’ve managed to do some soil blocking and seed sowing. With today being a fruit day, broad beans, field beans and peas have been sown in the greenhouse. Chillipeppers, sweet peppers, aubergines and beefsteak tomatoes sown inside. #Gardening#NoDig#Allotment#SoilBlocks#BiodynamicGardening
Good morning. First major failure on the plot. Shallots were growing along nicely the suddenly the leaves collapsed. Looks like allium leaf miner attack. The winter Japanese onions were fine, but the alliums planted in spring have suffered. Which is a pain, since I've got another bed full. Only preventative treatment is to protect with environmesh. It also means that the leeks that are due to be planted are at risk, so will have to be protected. Live and learn. #allotment
Strawberries 🍓 2/2 The three beds covered in straw have just yielded 1.2kg of Fenella strawberries. The third image shows the smaller tub of 350g we just picked of the Cambridge Favourite strawberries. We will be taking runners from the Fenella this year to replace the Cambridge Favourites 🙂#Allotment#Gardening#GrowYourOwn#Today
That’s the onions 🧅 moved outside 👍 For the next three weeks they can enjoy the inclement weather before we plant them in their final locations 😎 #Allotment#GrowYourOwn#Gardening#Today AAA
Onion and Leek – update 😎 Hard to believe that these were planted only five days ago on 26 December and they are all showing through this morning 👍 This year we have planted Red Creole, Red Baron then some Walla Walla & Globo which are yellow onions and some spare Musselburgh leeks 😜 #Allotment, #Today, #GrowYourOwn, #Gardening
Started picking corn today 🌽 We have no idea what it’ll be like so only four for now ❗️The winter squash have also started growing well, particularly the Turks Head 😋 #Allotment#GrowYourOwn#Gardening#Today
This morning's allotment haul - some monster beets, an armful of rainbow chard & a handful of fresh peas. Everything slightly wind-battered but lush from the rains.
First potatoes looking slightly anaemic - are they ready? Should I be leaving them for a while longer? Advice welcome!
Our allotment has a bindweed issue. The received wisdom seems to be that the only solution is to us glyphosate, which I’m not that keen on and my early experiments suggest would be needed in such quantities that you’d be well advised to but shares in Monsanto/RoundUp.
Logically this can’t be the only option as otherwise the planet would have drowned in bindweed long ago… do any wise people here have suggestions for getting it under control? #Allotment#Gardening#Bindweed#glyphosate
Went down the #allotment briefly but forgot my phones. Watered in the polytunnel. Thinned radishes and daikon. Planted very late parsnip seeds (because the late parsnips seem to have failed bar 1 tiny seedling… too great a battle with heat and dryness) and also resowed the carrot drills that also failed. Got a fair bit of fail going on, but doing OK for someone who's otherwise working 10+ hour days 6-7 days per week I suppose.
Have some haul photos. A madness of broad beans and peas.
My timing is so shot with these days fast getting shorter with depressing rapidity. Popped down the #allotment and chose today to try and straighten the shed, so we ended that job less complete than planned and in the dark screwing together wood by phone-torch light.
It was much darker than it seems in this "night mode" photo.
It’s been interesting to see the depth of good soil before the clay layer starts too. Being no dig I only get to see the top soil depth when I do a project like this. This area has probably been undisturbed for nearly a decade. I wish I’d measured the top soil depth before I started down the no dig route.
I’ll add a lid and then worms and feed them some food scraps regularly. The worms should be safe from predation and be able to escape into the soil away from any extremes of heat and cold.
I’ll add a layer of sand or grit at the bottom to improve the water infiltration as the worm box it is now sitting directly on the clay layer.
The worms may just leave for somewhere better but I’m hoping they’ll stay and provide lots of worm poo for the plot.
Antipasto uit de moestuin. Fiori di zucca (& zucchine) alla romana. Vullen met stukje ansjovis en mozzarella, in een beslag van meel, snufje zout en koud bruiswater 😋 #food#moestuin#allotment#gardening
So that's the first real #allotment work of the year clocked in this afternoon, and we were even treated to a decent bit of sunshine.
The second of our original three raised beds made in summer 2021 on our first plot finally has sides… 2.5 years later. (Thanks to some surplus timber from a site project that never eventuated before I lost my business and warehouse, even the darkest clouds can have a tiny silver lining?)
And we got some pea seedlings in! (Tasty treats for the slugs and pigeons?)