down at the allotment and in the garden what are you up to

[charlie]

Just picked a carrier bag full of climbing french beans - not bad off just 2 plants, i thought!
Plus we dug up some more of the spuds. Not as plentiful as last year, but still enough for the 2 of us.
SAved what we had of the red onions, real disaster. Anyone else disappointed with those this year?

Contemplating picking some of the cooking apples when we next go down to the plot.
(not sure when that will be as i'm 9 months pregnant, due next week!)

[circlecross]

good luck with the most important seed sown - the impending squiglet. And, yes, I was disappointed with the red onions, quite a lot of folk have complained of onions being a bit naff this year. But back to the sublime (or is it the ridiculous?) take it easy pregnant person.

[Flo]

Have onions drying on top of the cold frame in the sun (yep on a wet bank holiday) and the patch where they were is cleared ready for compost and something else to go on it. Not sure what at the moment. Especially as I'm short of compost to add to it ...

Had to take the cover off compost heap number 2 as it was so wet it had stopped rotting down. Compost heap number 3 is beginning to grow mile high - will be enormous when the million spreading nasturtiums are weeded out after they have seeded, the sweet peas are taken out, the peas finish and also the runner beans. Hope that the pigeon man turns up with some pigeon poo in the near future to add as a hotter rotter.

Compost heap number 1 from last year is covered in marrows and courgettes and maybe there will be a pumpkin or two. It won't have anything worthy of the name of goodness in it when it cleared but one half of the plot is still good clay so the addition of spent compost will at least help to break it down a bit (contemplation of barrow, spade and much wheeling over the autumn comes to mind).

It's really the quiet time of the year while we harvest the crops and before all the back end work of adding compost, manure and stuff gets started.

[JR]

Good harvest again this weekend.

Spent a good few hours catching up on jobs, weeding, clearing beds, composting etc.

Brought home.

Runners, marrow, caugettes, red main crop potatoes, corn cobs, raddish, carrots, apples, sweed, spinnach, tomatoes, red cabbage, white cabbage and kale.

Still got cucumbers, peppers and chillies comming out of our ears too at home.

Had a stew with the left over chicken and plot veggies last night!

Heaven!

[JR]

P.S. Our red onions were very small apart from a few!

The whites were fantastic mind you! So not all bad.

[Cheezy]

Well done Cheezy for your prize winning onions!

Cheers 3M,

The best thing about it was these were from sets I bought in "No Frills DIY" £1 for 50!
Bought 3 different sorts yellow skins, white skin and red onions total £3 for 150 sets.

And my prize money was £3!

Now thats selfsufficiencyish!

Mostly this bank holiday I've been pulling up blighted tomatoes, removing blighted potatoes, and digging a pond so I get better drainage and more wild life!.

Don't tell anyone but I have 2 melons on my plant situated on my muck heap, if we get "any" sun these might actually ripen!

[JR]

Not been on forum for a bit, very busy and the site has been disallowed at work

Oh well best do some work from now on!

Been busy up plot clearing finished plants and weeding spring beds.

Still picking runners, harvesting last of main crop, marrows, tomatoes and looking forward to the butternut squash!

Pumpkin is huge! Kids are very excited on making a massive lantern.

[Chocobed]

Have been clearing ground, where my early french beans were growing up a wigwam. Cleared away the failure that was my Three Sisters Bed. Sweetcorn was late and small, so beans had nothing to support them and the squash made a heading for the footpath!
Started selecting next years runner seeds from this years crop.

[Big Al]

Sounds like you are having a jolly time of things Gunners. Do you have an apron for your domestic goddess shift? I bought my mate a pretty pink check one from an op shop once just for a giggle, and the crazy bugger puts it on every now and then when he's getting real serious in the kitchen! Dances about singing and stuff...

Just watch out if he starts playing I want to break free by queen....

[confused]

Just spent yesterday, boiling about 10lbs of beetroot for pickiling,pulling 3carrier bags of runner beans for the freezer, and lifted the last of the tatties about 20lbs, so all in all it was a good day , just hope to get some good weather for a couple of days as i've got my eye on some cracking brambles, just the job for the freezer and the sherry/vodka, the local farmer is lifting his spuds and he does'nt mind me picking the ones that have fallen from the machine where he turns at the ends , picked enough last year to last right through untill around march.

[Christine]

Well I don't know - most of the vege haven't enjoyed all that continuous rain at all and the most disappointing thing is that the courgettes have done comparitively poorly this year - I think the male flowers have got slugged or rained to bits, so the female flowers aren't pollinated. The aubergines are huge and healthy - but only just now in flower so what are the chances?
Most things, though, have enjoyed the addition of manure last autumn and the squashes are really prolific - got all sorts coming and am picking the ones that are more-or-less ready and ripening inside to let the plants get on with producing more.
Blight got the outside toms again - covered with plastic for the last two months and will pick soon to make green tomato chutney. Note to self - never, never, ever again plant toms outside...

[Jared]

Well I have joined another allotment waiting list, had a chat to the charming chap that runs the site and hopefully I shan't be waiting too long. Harvested my first sweetcorn last night from the garden, it was deeee-licious. Have more runner beans than I can eat and some truly monstrous Chantenay Carrots. Still waiting on harvesting the potatoes, think I'll give them another couple of weeks. All good practise for when I finally get my plot.

[Annpan]

Pulled my huge white onions this morning lots of slug damage. The red ones were fine (if a little small)
mulched one bed and I will finish clearing the white onion and carrot bed next, then mulch that too.
Still getting tonnes of huge courgettes.
Peas have gone too far now, I will need to freeze the rest of them, not nice for a toddler to munch raw anymore.
Potatoes were slug eaten too (well most of them)

[Chocobed]

The onions at our site were hit by White Rot and some cases of Soft Neck so I was pleasently surprised to have any survive this year. My Reds were utter rubbish, more than 80% bolted very early. All from sets but I was oddly advised by the site rep that it was better to buy from a main commercial outlet than the site shop as they were known to perform poorly!
Potatoes were also knocked this year with blight, after last year's humidity during the floods, so I was happy with just a few slugs and a little scab on my Desiree. My Rocket early potatoes were fine where they grew but at least three rows barely managed to produce more tubers than I planted!

[Christine]

Allotment Soup this weekend!
No - not a recipe idea! an art event where artists take an allotment and do an installation 'inspired' by it.
I've offered to steward - just hope no-one asks any questions. Anyone who is in reach of Sheffield, it's the Meersbrook Road allotment entrance (postcode S8). Get down here Sunday 2pm to 4pm, buy some of my blackberry butter and a cup of hot soup, potter round the allotments and wonder at the art!