Harvest Time

Well it's been a while since I had a chance to update this. Most of the time up at the allotment has been harvesting all the crops. It's surprising just how much time it takes to check everything - not that I'm complaining.

Over the last few weeks I've had the following :

French Beans - although the first rows are now coming to an end.

Runner Beans

1 Lettuce - tip for next year - SUCCESSIONAL PLANTING

Beetroot

Carrots

Spring Onions - well about half a dozen

Pak Choi.

So all in all not bad.

I also put down some weedkiller on the worst part of the plot which I've not yet started work on and have dug over where the all the early spuds were - the plan is to sow some Japanese Onion to overwinter and possibly to plant some garlic.

Back at home I've been busy trying up some of the masses of beans we've picked. So far there is 5 jars of spicy pickeled French bean and 6 jars of spicy pickled runner bean (below).

It may not look appetising but a little taster was promising - just need to wait a month before opening the first one.

I've also got a gallon a French Bean Wine fermenting happily away in the shed! I'm sure this is going to be an experience.....

Beans, glorious beans....

Well it has been a busy couple of weeks. Fortunately here in the south east we've missed the worst of the recent weather. Certainly though the combination of sun and rain (and yes we've had sun as well) has really brought the beans on.

As you can see below the wigwams of runner beans are full of flowers and last weekend we had the first meal from them.

However, it is the French beans which are giving us the biggest headache...... with two adults and a toddler to feed there is just no way that we could eat the 5kg (11lb) we've picked over the last week. Some has been given away, some has been frozen - now we're searching for other uses. I've even cleaned up all my wine making stuff..... Yes I'm even considering trying to make French Bean wine ...... eek!

And in other news.... today we had the first sighting of a couple of baby squash.... sneaky bugger, I never even spotted any flowers!

Mixed luck with the spuds though. The King Edward got badly hit by blight so all the haulms were removed to save the tubers. On digging the last few 'Bonnie' I found quite a few starting to rot, so dug up the first row of K.E. Obviously yield was poor but no sign of these rotting so have left the second row till next weekend.

And finally, everything I sowed a couple of weeks ago has come up (so that's Pak Choi, carrots, beetroot and lettuce). Oh and I spotted a slowworm in the compost bin - but he managed to slither off before I got a chance to take a piccie.

Armed Police and an Axeman

Well it was a busy weekend down on the plot. On the harvesting side we were busy with potatoes and French beans. We had had the first shave of the cultivated rocket, pulled some radish and cleared the last remnants of the dismal first sowing of carrot.

We also had to clear the onions. I double checked the "instructions" which came with the sets (forum) - apparantly they'd be ready in August - so bit ahead of the game there. Unfortunately some of them were starting to rot so it was either lift them or risk losing more.

I finished off the section of the plot was digging - and so was able to plant out the red cabbage which were filling their pots and then covered with netting. Also planted out the leeks - all 20 of them! Sowed more carrots - which based upon my experience so far will result in........ 3 carrots. Also sowed some lettuce, the last of the beetroot and the first of the Pak Choi.

And the armed police.... on Saturday afternoon looked up from the digging and saw some armed police with dogs walking down the main path and into the woods. On leaving we also found the gate blocked by three squad cars (blocking cars not pedestrians). Apparantly some kids had reported that the was someone in the woods with an axe! Apparantly they'd didn't find anyone so hopefully it was a false alarm.

Tour de France

OK - I admit the World's most famous cycle race doesn't actually have anything to do with allotments but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

For those who don't know the Tour de France doesn't just visit France. This year it started in London. Saturday 7th was the prologue and today the first stage, which sert off from London through, amongst other places the London borough's of Greenwich and Bexley and then on down to the finish in Canterbury.

To be honest I can't really understand the hype. Generally speaking the "procession" seemed to basically be a number of vehicles emblazoned with sponsors logos who were chucking out into the crowd various meaningless "gifts". This was followed by another long wait before the race passed - if you'd sneezed at the wrong time you would have missed it! It was literally over in seconds - it took longer for all the support vehicles to pass by!

However, seeing as though it passed by the top of our road (about 10 minutes walk with a 2 year old) it was worth it. Would I go again? If it passed as close to where I was living as today - probably - but I really couldn't see myself travelling somewhere to watch. Anyway a couple of picture of the actual race:

What no Spade !?

When I seriously thought about how I was going to dig the plot I tended to break out in a cold sweat. I just could not see myself digging the whole thing!

Eventually I came across something called an Azada (see right). It's a bit like a mattock but isn't. Well I have to say this has been my number one purchase! Absolutely fantastic - now I've the "rhythm" I can just waltz across the ground (well maybe not - my dancing is best not mentioned, but you get the picture).

If you really hate the idea of digging I seriously suggest you consider getting one of these.

Yeah - Digging done!

Fortunately down here in Kent (well OK the London borough of Bexley) we have not had the awful weather that other parts of the country have had; but it has still been pretty wet. The good news is that this morning it's kept pretty much dry and finally got around to doing some digging.

Not masses but approx a 1m by 2m patch - just the right size to put in..... wait for it..... yep a 1m by 2m raised bed....

In other news.... we've only got one pot of 1st early spuds to go. We grew Swift this year, mainly because I was uncertain of how much ground would have been dug at the allotment and Swift doesn't grow too big so is ideal for patio growing. Just a pity the flavour is, in my opinion, poor. Definately growing something different next year.

Now looking forward to trying the 2nd earlies - 'Bonnie' - this was the trial variety from T&M.

The onions will need lifting fairly soon - they've started to topple over, but not the red ones yet (see left).

The dwarf French beans (Masterpiece) are looking good. Although you cannot see from the picture the first beans are forming so shouldn't be too long before we're eating them.

We're off to do some digging..... Yeah Right!

I still have a load of digging to get done, so thought to myself - "lets make a start after all I need some space for the red cabbage...."

So off I toddled down the road this afternoon.

On the positive side I managed to get some hoeing and weeding done, planted 3 french beans (Brightstone from the heritage seed library). I've another couple of plants at home, which, if any good I'll use to save the seed for next year. Also planted the solitary squash which I managed to raise from seed (Avalon). Although I do already have two others planted out - a gift gift from a fellow allotment holder.

I also cut another lettuce - yes that makes the grand total of ....... THREE !!! Oh and pulled a few beetroot - they're about golf ball size, well maybe a touch bigger so looking forward to those.

And the digging....... got the azada out... whacked a couple of brambles and decided today just wasn't the right day for digging. But what's an azada I hear you cry..... well that's for another day.