Monday, August 08, 2011
Still raining
The summer is a total washout. The weekend again was filled with rainy skies. So what does one do in that case? You bag up your onions! :-) I went to fetch them (during a brief non-humid period) and discovered that something (probably the bloody vole)had been rifling through them and a couple were even nibbled! The cheek! So the shed is not rodent proof (note to self). Still not too bad, I filled 3 5kg spud bags with brown onions and 2 2.5 kg bags with red onions and 5 small bags of echalotes. That's plenty to see us through the next year, especially as I have lots that are slightly damaged that we will eat over the next few weeks.
Incidentally the bloody rodent has been chewing the beetroot too. For once I got some decent size roots and they have big chunk taken out of them! So I lifted them scrubbed them and cooked them, we will just have to chop them about a bit. Maybe before the late harvest it will have breathed its last or been eaten by something.
In a rare moment of lucidity, I also planted out a doezen small lettuce plants - it subsequently drizzled all day which is a great way to start them off!
I harvested some more tomatoes, a yellow courgette as well as a bagful of mint which is currently steeping to make mint cordial, and lots of sage and thyme for drying and a heap of rocket for salad. Lots of cucumbers on the vine but still very small. I hope they will be ready when we go on hols at the end of the week. There are plenty of peppers growing, and a few aubergines (not the best harvest this year). I also brought home the first Turk's Turban pumpkin, beautiful creation in dark orange and green stripes. Striking.
I also cut a bit of grass, hacked down a few weeds, so it didn't look so untidy, but I fear that the plot is going to be in less than pristine condition when I leave it.
Incidentally the bloody rodent has been chewing the beetroot too. For once I got some decent size roots and they have big chunk taken out of them! So I lifted them scrubbed them and cooked them, we will just have to chop them about a bit. Maybe before the late harvest it will have breathed its last or been eaten by something.
In a rare moment of lucidity, I also planted out a doezen small lettuce plants - it subsequently drizzled all day which is a great way to start them off!
I harvested some more tomatoes, a yellow courgette as well as a bagful of mint which is currently steeping to make mint cordial, and lots of sage and thyme for drying and a heap of rocket for salad. Lots of cucumbers on the vine but still very small. I hope they will be ready when we go on hols at the end of the week. There are plenty of peppers growing, and a few aubergines (not the best harvest this year). I also brought home the first Turk's Turban pumpkin, beautiful creation in dark orange and green stripes. Striking.
I also cut a bit of grass, hacked down a few weeds, so it didn't look so untidy, but I fear that the plot is going to be in less than pristine condition when I leave it.
Labels: beetroot, onions, pumpkin, rain, red onion, summer, vole
Monday, June 20, 2011
Quick harvest
As the rain which has stayed so long away has now decided to come back with a vengeance, there was little that could be done this weekend, except watch the allotment get greener!
I pottered for half an hour, picked a few green beans (the first! - but noticed that the stems have been wind damaged!!! Luckily there are more sowings to come), the last pens, broad beans, a few raspberries, and the first lot of gooseberries! at least a kilo! Small this year but sweet. I will have to get some sugar and get the jam cooking!
While I was picking them, I heard a rustling in the mulch, and suddenly, right near me, a tiny snout came up, then two bright eyes! The vole! Well, I don't doubt that it's not the same one... but I had noticed a few tunnels here and there. As I am one of the few that mulch, obviously my plot if a great attraction! She was under the raspberries, so probably picking up the windfalls. I noticed a few opea pods that were close to the ground, had been nibbled too. Oh well, She's so tiny and cute, I can't begrudge her a few veggies. She looked at me for a while then scurried back under the straw.
The tomatoes and peppers are going great guns, and the pumpkins are just going absolutely mad (I just don't actually know what some of them are! I am guessing butternuts but am unsure)! Courgette plants are growing quite well, some male flowers but no females yet, but the largest plant is starting to grow a dense interior section, with flower buds, which usually means that fruit will soon be on its way. I tied up one of the cucumbers, it is now about 30-40 cm high, and I think will soon be flowering. The melon plants are quite vigourous now, they are in flower. Wonder if we will get fruit though??
The garlic is dying back, soon be harvest time, when there is a sunny period. The onions this year are magnificent, and no bolting at all! Terrific!
New tasks for this week, if it stops raining long enough: pull up the dead pea plants and sow more green beans for the end of the season. Weed and feed the strawberry beds and tidy that general area. Hoe away the weed seedlings that are growing like mad... Last post before the official start of summer....What a strange spring it has been.
I pottered for half an hour, picked a few green beans (the first! - but noticed that the stems have been wind damaged!!! Luckily there are more sowings to come), the last pens, broad beans, a few raspberries, and the first lot of gooseberries! at least a kilo! Small this year but sweet. I will have to get some sugar and get the jam cooking!
While I was picking them, I heard a rustling in the mulch, and suddenly, right near me, a tiny snout came up, then two bright eyes! The vole! Well, I don't doubt that it's not the same one... but I had noticed a few tunnels here and there. As I am one of the few that mulch, obviously my plot if a great attraction! She was under the raspberries, so probably picking up the windfalls. I noticed a few opea pods that were close to the ground, had been nibbled too. Oh well, She's so tiny and cute, I can't begrudge her a few veggies. She looked at me for a while then scurried back under the straw.
The tomatoes and peppers are going great guns, and the pumpkins are just going absolutely mad (I just don't actually know what some of them are! I am guessing butternuts but am unsure)! Courgette plants are growing quite well, some male flowers but no females yet, but the largest plant is starting to grow a dense interior section, with flower buds, which usually means that fruit will soon be on its way. I tied up one of the cucumbers, it is now about 30-40 cm high, and I think will soon be flowering. The melon plants are quite vigourous now, they are in flower. Wonder if we will get fruit though??
The garlic is dying back, soon be harvest time, when there is a sunny period. The onions this year are magnificent, and no bolting at all! Terrific!
New tasks for this week, if it stops raining long enough: pull up the dead pea plants and sow more green beans for the end of the season. Weed and feed the strawberry beds and tidy that general area. Hoe away the weed seedlings that are growing like mad... Last post before the official start of summer....What a strange spring it has been.
Labels: beans, courgette, garlic, peas, rain, spring, vole
Monday, June 07, 2010
2 sisters instead of three
Due to the extreme crapness of my corn sowing, I have 4 flimsy corn plants. pffff. This will be my challenge to resolve for next year I see!
So undeterred I planted around it my little squash plants, butternuts and Qld Blue pumpkins. And then a row of Cobra climbing beans up some trellis that fell off the back of a lorry. That looks really cool! And a new row of green beans.
To plant all that, I uncovered the tarped area that had been protected for the last few weeks. It was really easy to turn it over, and it was full of potatoes! Volunteers that had grown around the edges during the spring! I think they were Charlottes from last year. In any case I got about a big salad bowl full of spuds! Ate them in salad yesterday, they were divine. So sometimes you can get something for nothing!
The tarped area had been turned into a mini resort by my resident friend the vole. As I lifted it all up I saw him scuttle away under the beans. I saw him twice on the weekend, he's really cheeky. I couldn't bring myself to trap or kill him - they say that they only live a few months. How sad. I almost got to stroke him but he managed to scurry a little further away. He's not that shy, I managed to shoo him under the raspberries, as i was afraid of walking on him. I know that they do some damage in the garden, well I don't really have bulbs of precious ornamentals and I think he is mainly living in the compost, that's where his tunnels go. I figure that he couldn't really eat as much as me, so I am willing to share a little with him.
I also had the chance to give the garden a good tidy up, getting a lot of bindweed out. 2 wheelbarrows full of weeds, oof! It is looking much tidier though, I really feel like I have kept on top of things this year, hoeing regularly, putting in borders, it all helps make it look nicer. Despite only occasional rain, mulching is helping to keep the moisture in. (But probably encourages Mr Vole a little too much).
So undeterred I planted around it my little squash plants, butternuts and Qld Blue pumpkins. And then a row of Cobra climbing beans up some trellis that fell off the back of a lorry. That looks really cool! And a new row of green beans.
To plant all that, I uncovered the tarped area that had been protected for the last few weeks. It was really easy to turn it over, and it was full of potatoes! Volunteers that had grown around the edges during the spring! I think they were Charlottes from last year. In any case I got about a big salad bowl full of spuds! Ate them in salad yesterday, they were divine. So sometimes you can get something for nothing!
The tarped area had been turned into a mini resort by my resident friend the vole. As I lifted it all up I saw him scuttle away under the beans. I saw him twice on the weekend, he's really cheeky. I couldn't bring myself to trap or kill him - they say that they only live a few months. How sad. I almost got to stroke him but he managed to scurry a little further away. He's not that shy, I managed to shoo him under the raspberries, as i was afraid of walking on him. I know that they do some damage in the garden, well I don't really have bulbs of precious ornamentals and I think he is mainly living in the compost, that's where his tunnels go. I figure that he couldn't really eat as much as me, so I am willing to share a little with him.
I also had the chance to give the garden a good tidy up, getting a lot of bindweed out. 2 wheelbarrows full of weeds, oof! It is looking much tidier though, I really feel like I have kept on top of things this year, hoeing regularly, putting in borders, it all helps make it look nicer. Despite only occasional rain, mulching is helping to keep the moisture in. (But probably encourages Mr Vole a little too much).
Labels: beans, planting, potato, pumpkin, spring, squash, vole
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