Wind and Beans
Wind and beans are often used together to good effect in schoolboy humour - but no such jokes in this post!
Wind: Well, as per usual for Hoylake recently, it’s been blowing like crazy again in the last few days. It’s curtailed my running, bashed the trellis in our back garden and re-salted our windows again. Having said that, I didn’t spot much damage on my way down to the plot on Saturday afternoon, unlike last Jan when we had the strongest winds for many years (allegedly). Had a bit of a fire to burn some weeds and did a bit of weeding too. Had to cut my visit short to fit in some hospital visiting unfortunately.
Beans: Moved my trays of broad beans from the garage into the utility room the other day ‘cos nothing much was happening …well, nothing was happening actually. Now starting to see a few sprouting through the compost at last.
Want to crack on with more weeding this week! And I’ve got some packets of seeds to use too including leeks - they need sowing in the next week or so according to the packet. My Mum bought me a packet of melon seeds for Christmas and I think I need to get cracking with those soon as well.
A Little Bit of Sunshine
Down on the plot for about an hour this afternoon to do some weed digging. The ground is a bit on the wet side really but needs must (or should be weed must!). A few fellow plotters cracking on with things too.
Lovely afternoon after all the rain we’ve had - decided to take a couple of snaps to mark the occasion.
About to ride home in this one:
Hope to back on Wednesday.
Way Too Wet
Managed to miss most of the rain on Saturday to get the onions out. The ground was very, very wet.
Went down to the plot this morning with my mum. I expected it to be wet so we went in wellies. After yesterdays almighty down pours (that I got caught running in) the plot is in parts completely underwater. The greenhouse hasn’t escaped as there is a couple of inches of water on top of the centre path. No need to water the tomatoes for a few days I guess.
The level of the well is the highest I’ve seen it since I took plot 69 on in January. Maybe a foot below the top.
I feel really sorry for those homeowners who currently find their property in several feet of floodwater.
Fruits Of The Season
Well, it’s been pouring down at plot 69 (as well as everywhere else of course)!
Contents of the fruit cage is wild. Raspberries, tayberries (or are they logan berries?) all doing very well and we’ve picked quite a few too. As you can see from this photo (just!) the red currants have been ready for picking, so we’ve had some of them too - my two young daughters had great fun. Gooseberry bush has gone mad and will need a damn good prune at the appropriate time.
Elsewhere on the plot, the potatoes need digging up as the foliage is now dying off. In fact, I bumped into plot 60 owner Jenny this afternoon and she mentioned that George said that potatoe blight could be a problem.
Suspect my onions need to come out now too I reckon, well guess to be honest. I’ve got no idea yet about you plant in the ground where the potatoe and onions have resided for several weeks?
Stuff in the greenhouse is growing well and several tomatoes are now showing. Something is attracted to the cucumber plants, a black tiny aphid or something - not sure if this is a problem, plants still growing well?
Back outside, either my water butt at the front of the greenhouse is leaking, vandals are messing about or someone is helping themselves. I’m guessing it’s kids messing about.
Beachcombing
Took my scavenging a stage further today. Whilst out running in the rain today I happened to spot some washed up timber lying on the sand on Hoylake beach. By the time I got back home, soaking wet I’d already decided to go straight back out to get the timber.
So pushing my (t)rusty wheelbarrow whilst wearing my trainers, lycra shorts and running jacket - all soaking wet - I must have a looked a right sight walking back down to the beach. Worth it anyway ‘cos I rescued an old scaffolding plank in okay condition (for raised bed use) and another couple of lengths of timber that’ll be useful maybe to fix the fence at the back of the plot.
Sarah has spotted a skip down the road that might have some good timber in it so I’ll check that out next.
Raining on and off all day today with the same forecast for tomorrow.
Onions v Weeds
Shock. Horror!
It’s been raining (a bit). Must be the first time in ages. According to neighbours Lesley & George it hasn’t rained since the big storms back in January. Not sure myself, but it has been really ages. Anyway, as I was very keen to actually do something so I put my wellies and waterproof on and walked down to the plot.
I took some newly acquired old timber with me. I intend to make raise beds on the plot ‘cos they look neater and make crop rotation (yeah, like I know what I’m talking about!) far easier. The newly acquired timber has been acquired from a few sources. Like skips for instance - I’ve become obsessed with nosing in skips to see what there is …nabbed a good pallet last week from a skip on the main road. I’ve also started to use the Wirral group of freecycle.org - a great site where everything is free. Stuff like tellies, PC’s, furniture is being offered! I emailed this bloke from Rock Ferry who was offering some old glass and double glazing sealed units that he didn’t want. I’ve taken them for making cold frames with. It’ll be ace if someone offers a shed! I need me shed on plot 69.
Anyway - the onions and the weeds…. had a good go at the weeds in and amongst the onions. Think I really need to go over the rows again and get even more weed up. I now read that ‘cos onions don’t produce much in the way of leaves the weeds have more chance to grow ‘cos there isn’t much to cramp their style. Whilst reading up on how to grow onions I come across this page from the rhs that has a good onion growing video (fw the boring bits). Now why doesn’t my soil look like that??
Actually that video has given me an idea. I could record a video or two of some plot action and host it youtube and then embed it here at growing my own. A bit of an experiment if nothing else.
An hour or so soon passed. On the walk back I stopped to chat to Lesley & George. Bloody hell their plots (3) are completely weed free and immaculate. Good tip from Lesley …as carrots are so tricky to grow on our site ‘cos of the dreaded carrot fly, just grow them in the greenhouse from January and pull up when you’re ready for your tomatoes. Georges’ onion tops look bigger than mine, but then size isn’t everything is it?
Looking forward to getting some beetroot, parsnip and other seed in this week. Need to get my main potatoes ordered too. Maris Pipers. That’s what we have for our roasts and jolly tasty they are too.
Mild Today At Plot 69
A mild day today down on plot 69 at The Sandringham Avenue allotment site. Wanted to run around Hoylake today but I haven’t shaken off a heavy cold so it was an opportunity to do more weeding.
Walked down pushing my trusty (and rusty) barrow so that I could bring back some bags of nasty, dug-up couch grass. A few plotters have told me not to compost this tough-as-boots weed, so I bring it home and plonk it in the brown bin for recycling.
Did more weeding today on the rear section where I think I might plant some spuds. A helicopter was flying over quite a bit - suspect someone was having lessons or something.
Said hello to Les & George (I think it is) - they seem to be regular allotmenteers, though I seem to recall that they manage 3 plots. I think there are new plot holders at number 38 - they’ve put up a smart new fence on the front of their plot.
Rain, Sun and Weeding
Popped down the plot today for a quick weeding session. Having been on holiday for a week I hadnt been down to the plot for quite a few days.
The weather was a bit of a mixed bag with a bit of rain then bright sunshine.
Did a bit of weeding on a section at the back of the plot, removing pieces of broken greenhouse glass as I went along.
Won’t be too long now before I actually plant something to grow.
Bagged Up Some Weeds
Bagged up some previously pulled weeds and did some tidying up in the fruit cage. Only had an hour to spend so didn’t get a great deal done.
A little bit of icy snow around:
The apparently resident pheasant took flight as soon as I arrived. And the apparently resident robin was around too.
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Seed Shopping
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