Category Archives: Taking stock

grapevine, overwintering alliums, Taking stock, Uncategorized

December on the Plot

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Have finally taken a wander down to the plot, having spent a little time away from the plot with real life.  There wasn’t a particular task in mind, but I did take my secateurs with me as I remembered that the roses probably needed pruning.  I also wanted to have a look at any possible damage that the recent storms may have done to the plot. I was worrying about the grapevines as they were already in something of a bad shape. Turns out there wasn’t too much damage, the plot is soggy more than anything.

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The Garlic Farm Garlic is coming on in leaps and bounds. Unlike previous years where I have had numerous varieties of garlic; this year has a much smaller range. The garlic farm garlic is in raised beds and is starting to come through. I have in the past, worried about the garlic not doing very much. I have learned that it is important to just be patient and let the garlic do what it has to. The seed garlic has been pretty much left to it’s own devices, and beyond planting, I have worried very little about it.

I had taken my gloves and sacaeuters for the roses and autumnal raspberries. I didn’t get as far as the raspberries, I will have to look at those after Christmas. What I did do, was wander around the roses and prune what I could. However, some of the roses are still blooming. As you can see, William Shakespeare 200o has a handful of blooms that will hopefully unfurl in the coming days. I am somewhat surprised really to see the roses blooming still.

There are three roses bushes on the plot, that are something out of Grimm’s fairy tales. Sprawling, prickly bushes, that I planted when they were nothing by twigs some years ago. They weren’t expensive, each one was exactly £1 from a poundshop, funnily enough. These are rose bushes that have grown like triffids compared to the rather delicate tea roses. They are also rather vicious, if you look at the stem of one of the roses.

I didn’t always have three. To start of with, I had two. I must have pruned one, and left a stem. It founded itself wedged into the clay, and rooted. So today, I had a thought. A scientific question, really. If I pruned off the two bushes, and kept some of the cuttings, might I end up with bonus bushes. This may or may not work. I had pruned the stems at an angle, and a lot of the material is actually budding. So I have wedged a few cuttings into the clay. Clay that was otherwise bare and where a rose bush might not be a bad idea. I have no idea what these roses are, other than being being, and from Holland. I do remember the labels being in dutch. (I might have to learn a little, just to understand the plant talk)

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The grapevines have been looking rather sorry for a long time. I have been battling to support them all the way through the summer, and anticipated that they might have keeled over entirely with the stormy weather that we recently experienced. However, they don’t look too bad. The windy weather has stripped them of their foliage, but this was probably causing them to bank over anyway. The next task for these will most likely to be create a more robust frame for them to clamber over next year. Though I am not too sure whether I am supposed to prune them again. I did prune them last year, and kept two main branches for each vine. That did appear to help the growth of leaves and the amount of fruit that cropped.

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Heritage seed garlic from Marshalls is starting to push through the clay. You’ll have to look very closely, but the shoots are just about visible. In comparison to the seed garlic in the raised bed, this is in open ground. I was worried that it might have been eaten up by the soil as we have had quite bit of rain. However it does appear to have been a little more resilient than I had thought. Rather looking forward to seeing how this goes.

Taking stock, Uncategorized

Summer Sunday

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This year hasn’t all been doom and gloom. It may not have been the most successful of growing seasons, but there have been successes nonetheless.

lady balfour
Pink fir apple

Potatoes were rather prolific this year. I think this was more down to the varieties used and the lessons learned from previous experiences rather than anything more. The raised beds were filled with a combination of well rotted farmyard manure and leaf mold, with the seeds then sunk into this organic material. Pink Fir apple had to be the most abundant of the crops, with the strangest of shapes being formed. It was very difficult not to harvest them, with chuckling. Over the harvest period, we harvested buckets and buckets of potatoes. Lady Balfour and International Kidney were the next most productive.  These three are definitely on the list for next year because of how successful they were.

fruit bounty
orange habanero
pumpkin chilies
bit orangey but nearly
on the turn
Plot plums

The fact that my tomato crop was really very poor this year, rather bugs me. Last year I remember having so many green tomatoes, I was struggling to keep up with the chutney processes and ripening them. So imagine by disdain that this year, we didn’t have many at tall. The vines were slow cropping, with not many fruit. Whilst the weather was a bit of a downer, the variety of the tomatoes is probably also significant as well. There were heritage varieties, and I knew that some of these would be somewhat slower in their development; but I did expect something of a decent crop.

The chillies were interesting. Again, a range of hot chillies and super hot chillies. All sown a few days after Christmas, to have a productive summer crop. A little hit and miss, but we did get some chillies. The plums that you see were kindly donated by a plot neighbour and have made the basis of a few jams and jellies.

Blueberries: darrow and blue jay
Pops and Beans being beamed
a nice enough harvest
garlic!
preserve pots
all of the garlic
red and black currants
one ripened cayene

The blueberries are still sat in the freezer, waiting to be used. Their fate was to be gin, but I haven’t got that far. Did make blueberry gin last year, and very nice it was  too.  One of the better crops this year was garlic. There is nothing nicer than home grown garlic; it has a distinctly different taste and flavour compared to the the sort that you would buy from the supermarket.Last year, redcurrants and gooseberries were planted on the plot. This year, we had a crop-a small crop-from both of these. The currants ended up being jammed, as did the gooseberries.  Both with home grown chillies, too.

chopped up gooseberries
more soft fruit, but wait, we have raspberries!
william shakespeare 2000
roses
Cauliflower under net
Taking stock, Uncategorized

The autumn/winter slump

avenue of roses
the arch

Summer feels really far away. both looking back on the growing season and the next growing season. So much so,  my current feeling is as though I have somewhat hit a slump. The weather has not helped, it has been wet, windy and wild; but this is not unusual as we arrive at the tail end of the year.  This has been compounded somewhat by real life being wonderfully busy. School work, Petal, and training on a Saturday for a helpline, have all meant that the allotment has been somewhat on the back burner. Attending a Christmas Fair last week with a whole host of Petal goodies (see the merchandise page) was also an interesting experience. Interesting in that there were a lot of learning points! Overall, the last twelve weeks have been incredibly busy, and now is the time to take a moment and slow down a little. It was harder this year, to write the NABLOPOMO posts as well. I have always enjoyed writing these, but this year this was a little more difficult than I had anticipated.

I guess what I really need to do, is to stop. Pause, and take stock of what is going on with my universe. Don’t worry, I am not about to abandon the plot and blog. No plans to that all. What I need is a rest, and to be honest, the plot is usually part of that process. I have in the past, taken a moment during school work Sunday or marking coursework; to take a walk down to the plot and potter.

The pottering would then involve doing  a few things here and there and refreshing that way. The frequency of doing that, has be somewhat reduced lately. And I can feel it, in being slight zoned out and tired. Though colouring has helped!  I have a number of gardening themed colouring books that I have been using and they have somewhat reduced the allotment withdrawal symptoms. You do find yourself looking at the pictures and thinking about what the drawings might look like if they were really on your allotment plot.

Here we are in the Advent period. The garlic is all in, the poly tunnel has been tidied in a fashion. The grapevines could probably benefit from some structural engineering, and be defoliate. The roses and raspberries will also need pruning. I have yet to window shop trees. My peach and cherry trees failed to do anything on the plot, and I would like to replace them so that they sit alongside the other trees on the plot. There are certainly jobs to do, there is a maze of strawberry runners to untangle!

Having miserable weather really does make going to the allotment harder. As I leave, I am told to not bring in any mud, for one. It will take small steps to get back into the swing of things. Christmas and the festive period is the optimum time to relax, take stock and try to refocus with the new year.

This also means that with the days after Christmas, I shall sow chillies. This is the pattern that I have had for a couple of years now. So I will select the seeds that I want, and make a decision about next years experiments. The new growing season will arrive very quickly.

Here’s to getting back to the plot, and making the most of the down time.

NaBloPoMo, Taking stock, Uncategorized

#NABLOPOMO: Thinking about next year on the plot

basket full of blooms
seed box
the floral trug

I really should think about what to sow and grow next year. Reflect on the squashes, chillies and other vegetables that might find themselves being played with on the plot.

We are getting closer to the festive period-the first of December marks the start of Advent, so I will wait til then to feel festive-and that means sowing chillies days after the turkey has been eaten and left overs dealt with. The first thing that I want to sow and grow, I do need to think about what varieties of chillies I would like to have. From cayennes, to habaneros and super hots, there are a number in the seed box.

In the coming weeks, I shall rifle through the seed box and see what the state play is.

NaBloPoMo, paperback, petal'spottedpreserve, Taking stock, Uncategorized

#NABLOPOMO: Petal Power

 

Petal gets everywhere
Don’t be mug…
Thompson and Morgan’s Michael Perry, the illustrious planthunter

 

I awoke this morning to read that Petal had landed in California. California is thousands of miles away from Birmingham, England so you can imagine the feeling.

She is also on her way to Massachusetts, with copies of the book.

Petal has found herself to now exist in a number of guises. She is now also occupied with Thompson and Morgan’s illustrious plant hunter Michael Perry. She’s in good hands there, there’s not a lot that one of the UK’s top 20 Horticulturalists doesn’t know about gardening.

Not only is Petal national, she has now gone international too. I think she is yet to land in Wales though, or make her way to Eire. There may have to be a map of Petal’s progress at some point.

There is one more item to be revealed and added to the range, but more on that in the future.

(For all questions about the  goodies, get in touch with horticultural ‘obbit via FB and twitter)

NaBloPoMo, Taking stock, Uncategorized

#NABLOPOMO: Three years down the line

 

 

the floral trug
seed box
the end produc
mama and the trug
inside the poly tunnrl
roses in the floral trug
roses
mama and jelly mxture
experiments
falstaff
Petal!!!!!
The plot….all of it
re-boiling
Pops and Beans being beamed

WordPress has just informed me that the blog has been running now for three years. I feel that is a really nice milestone, the blog is now officially a toddler.

Growing has been going on a little longer. However three years ago, I decided to make a more formal. more public record of what I had experienced and what I had learned. Initially, I started to record, but this developed to become more about sharing and allowing readers to get a deeper awareness of what was happening on the plot.

I am fortunate, in that I have a lot of help with the plot. From the gallery you will see that both my parents do have an involvement in one way or another.  Mum does all the digging, and then also helps with the preserving experiments. Dad is the engineering and structural advice, as well as the leaf mold gatherer who lugs along compost as well.

 

goodies!

There has been a great deal of progress. Both with the cultivation on the plot, and also beyond in developing a brand and writing a book. The book, builds on the experiences that are documented on the blog and also contains Mum’s recipes. You can rest assured, that she sat next to me and dictated them all whilst I listened and typed.

When I first took on the allotment, I had no idea how much I would learn, and what the journey ahead of me would be. Since then, so much has happened, it is still very difficult to fully understand it all. I still enjoy the plot, and feel very passionate about. Having an allotment is not necessarily a conventional hobby, and there are still many people with a view that I should perhaps occupy my time with something more interesting and socially defined as being acceptable.

I have no plans to leave it, so I guess that I should really carry on….

Taking stock, tomatoes

Tomato tribulations 2015

I had a lot of hope for my tomatoes this year. I would sown them when the conditions were useful, plant them into the poly tunnel. Take on board on the learning from the last few years. See if I could really maximize the potential crop.

As I write, there are still tomato plants in the poly tunnel. Whilst the weather is starting to turn, and the plot now dons it autumn winter apparel and has a rather miserable visage; I am hanging onto the tomatoes to see how far they go.

It feels a distant memory, but planting out the growing plants was the start of the possible adventure. Positioned in the poly tunnel, I aimed for two things. First, ripe tomatoes; they were all planted under cover for that very reason.In previous years, whilst there was an abundance outside, they were all green. Second, green tomatoes would be a bonus.

So the things grew. I had a number of different varieties. Some were new, the heritage brandywines and cream sausage. There were also some staples, I had stuck with yellow stuffer.

The tomatoes grew like triffids.

There is a bit of confusion, that I will gladly admit to. To defoliate or not to defoliate. There are some varieties that do need the side shoots removing, some that don’t. Also, the argument for photosynthesis does make sense. So where do you draw the line? How far you go in removing foliage, if you remove foliage at all? There were times, where it near enough impossible to move in the poly tunnel without having a yellow flower or green leaf tickle your nose.

The key at all points in the process was fruits.

In previous years I have been swimming in green tomatoes. Naturally this has lent itself to chutney.  So there was something of a disappointment in not having many fruit and even then, not many green ones.

I am not sure quite sure what went wrong this year. There are a number of variables that need reflecting on. Was having slow maturing beefstakes a step too far? Was the poly tunnel too congests, or did the weather scupper all hope.

Shall be looking at the seedboxes to make a decision about what varieties will be sown next year. To think tomatoes are meant to simple.

Far from it.

 

 

Books, ebook, paperback, success, Taking stock

Autumn: A review

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The plot has been busy.  Very busy. With autumn, we have the opportunity to take stock of what has happened. It’s not necessarily an end of year review, that is reserved for New’s Eve. No, this is a case of reflecting on the journey that has taken place over the last ten months,

A journey, that started two days after Boxing day-i think-with the sowing of chilli seeds. That for me,  was the start.

As I come to pay my rent for the next year, I really must do that soon, I have a wealth of learning experiences going into what is my fourth year on the plot. It is with this milestone that I can see just how far I have come. Particularly with the grapevines. These take on average between three to five years to become established, and here we have our first ever harvest this year. The thin wiry twigs that were planted years ago, have become strong and fruitful. They do need extra support now, what was a temporary frame back then, now requires significant bolstering.

Another more concrete example, was the spuds. I have stopped counting now as to how many pounds or kilos, for that matter,  that have been harvested. I feel as though I have broken something of duck. Learned a technique if you like, how to best plant,  picked out appropriate varieties to gain a healthy and abundant crop. I am sure that I will be seeing Pink Fir Apple in my sleep.  They have most likely been put into every dish imaginable by Mum. Yesterday, I found one in Punjabi Khadi.

For the inside the poly tunnel, I am a little perplexed. There were tomato plants galore in there, with chillies and aubergines. The chillies, did okay; lessons were implemented. All were planted into pots, we had a none too bad crop of chillies. Aubergines, have reiterated their point as being a pointless exercise for me. I need to consider whether growing a seed, is equitable with rescuing plants from the garden center.

Eighteen tomato plants were sunk into the ground of the poly. They grew, they grew into six foot tall triffids that were defoliated from time to time. All they grew, was leaves. Maybe the occasional tomato. At a point where I might ordinarily be drowning in green tomatoes; there were none to be had. I was in a different time zone, when Mum found a single, solitary red one. She sent me a picture, to contain her surprise.  The questions that arise here, are two fold. Was it the selected varieties, or was the weather just generally a bit unaccommodating? I am going to say it was a reflection of both. Some of the varieties were the slower maturing ones, and I do think that the poorer weather-in comparison to last year-simply never gave them a fighting chance. Even the roses, suffered; but the gladioli kept going.

 

Soft fruit was a bit hit and miss. Strawberries, took flight, and we had enough to watch Wimbledon by. The runners are now running amok. Raspberries, well, the pink ones did precious little. With the autumn raspberries a bit confused and cropping quite well. Blueberries were a revelation, and for their first year did well.  Didn’t scrump as many plums this year-I do actually scrump with consent-so there was a lot less plum jam and jelly made. But lots of courgettes and marrows  lead to a relatively less busy preserving pan. For the first time ever, we had ice cream made using plot produce.  Something that I highly recommend, even I don’t really like strawberries.

With October starting, I have my seed garlic ordered; and will be trying to shoe horn time in between now and late November to get it sunk. I don’t tend to sow over wintering broad beans anymore. Beyond that, the major autumn winter task is to remove the dead plants and start clearing away. All the dead plants will most likely be composted where they are are, and covered with leaves and other organic material. Creates compost, helps improve the soil, and I am filling the raised beds til they are needed again in Spring.

Whilst everything on the plot is an achievement. There was something else. I wrote this.

‘Playing with plant pots: Tales from the allotment’

http://amzn.to/1OB7PqH : E-book
http://amzn.to/1VsJckt : Paperback

To find out more about it, you’re just gonna have to get it.

This can feel like a very depressing, dark and dank time of year. Especially when you have see the bright, blooming and bountiful delights of colour, crop and your own creativity. It then become difficult to see the light, more positive side of things.  Autumn and winter can be time of reflection, taking stock and making decisions as to how you would like to proceed. That is certainly the route that I will be taking. Tackling the plot bit by bit, setting lists to work through. It has taken six years to get to this point, so there is little point in hurrying.

I really need to go check the inside of my seedboxes.

 

 

 

NaBloPoMo, success, Taking stock

#NABLOPOMO: Preserving with the plot

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It’s lovely to reduce the air miles, and have homegrown produce. However, you do get to a point, where if you have another courgette, you might get a bit twitchy. Plus people start to avoid you as you are likelyt to foist squashes on them and they don’t want to see another courgette either.

Preserving presents you with an opportunity to do something else with your crops when you have an excess. A glut can be rather frustrating, when you have all this beautiful produce and you don’t want it here and now. It did take me a while to get into preserving. I just didn’t think that there was anything else to be done, bar my mum cooking with things that grew on the allotment. It was only when I stumbled across a recipe for a courgette chutney recipe that had Indian undertones, that the penny dropped. I had courgettes, Ma’s pantry, and spices. The three could go together. I had already tried to pickle garlic and shallots. Got it wrong, and the things are stil in ma’s pantry. Edible, but forgotten.

The point being, that you didn’t have to wander around trying to give your crops away. You can keep them, just change the form that they take.

Just like growing, I have found the process of preserving to be experimental. There are lots recipes out there to help, from jams, jellies, chutneys and relishes. You only have to take a quick look into a search engine, and also share with other allotment neighbours and folks who GYO.  Recipes are good starting points, and open to a spot of deviation when you work out what you do and don’t like.

It is wonderfully rewarding,  if and when the jams set, and you don’t burn the bottom of your pan. Then there is the jam thermometre that you might bash a little too much.

There there is cordials and homebrews. I have yet to embark of wine making. But infusions are rather interesting to do. Relatively low maintenance too, once you put all the ingredients in, the jars of alcohol and fruit can be left and you come back later to check.