Fading light

Although it has been a busy weekend, I have just enough time to show you what is going on at the plot - which to be fair isn't an awful lot...!

The days are getting appreciably colder now - the warmth and stillness of the summer mornings seems to have gone... the grim reality is that in this fading light there is not much time left for the plants to thrive.

There's a chance that these little french beans will just about grow enough to make a decent portion or two - as you can see from the shot below, the plants haven't really grown up the canes...more meandered around horizontally - I've done my best to tether them up now, but I'm not sure it will help.

The cabbages have not been eaten - which is a good start! They also appear to have straightened up and grown a few more leaves each, which is encouraging too (excuse the bricks - subtle as!):

As long as they continue to avoid being eaten, they should hopefully bloom and at the very least produce some tasty leaves. I would be surprised if they develop hearts, but you just never know...

The beetroot are still doing well - I'm really willing them on now to beef up underneath; a few appear to be showing signs of root growth. I've never liked beetroot out of jars - hopefully these will make a convert of me.

And finally, in what I will dub the 'rogues gallery', I have two solitary veg plants that have grown with little care or attention - and from seed, where all others failed - a lonely carrot, and another radish: 

Last (and only) carrot standing

The real problem of course with all veg that grows sub terra is that you can never quite be sure when the right time is to pull them up... I think the carrot will wait a little longer, but perhaps this radish is not far off (not that I really care, the last one was pretty foul!):

The radish 

I decided not to show you the fennel seedlings - the picture was pretty unclear... you'd probably also make out more than was actually going on! Sadly, at least one has fallen prey to a gastropod, and to be honest I don't think the others will survive much longer. Perhaps a poly-tunnel will be a worthwhile investment next year.

Planting out at the plot (part 3)

Well, it has been a while since my last plot update, so here we go...

(If you haven't already, you can catch up by reading parts 1 & 2)

I had the opportunity yesterday morning to go over and plant out my cabbage and fennel seedlings... but first thing on the agenda was to have a look at how the existing plantings were doing...!

These are my beetroot seedlings under the netting... they are now flying! Each one has at least doubled its number of leaves, and they are lovely mix of rich red and green. I'm in serious reach of actually producing a decent crop of these - slugs and snails, please extend some mercy now...

The french beans are still growing... not as tall as I was expecting, but perhaps leaf loss earlier in their life has stunted their growth a little... they have started to produced little mauve flowers which is an encouraging sight.

Not doing so well are the peas - one plant has managed to grow reasonably, but the other (above) looks like it has been shredded! I had this problem when growing them directly from seed earlier in the year... looks like I will have to leave pea growing to the back garden at home.

Anyway, onto planting out the new subjects...

Thanks to some sage advice from my friend Maggie, the section of the plot that I had planned for brassicas would have been overrun had I not covered it a while back with a length of carpet. Lifting it yesterday I was amazed at how well it had prevented any weed growth.

After a little forking and tilling, I planted the five seedlings in a zig-zag pattern... I'm now just hoping that the netting I've put in place around them will stave off cabbage whitefly and anything else that would take a fancy to them.

Finally, I also managed to plant my fennel seedlings... I was in a bit of a rush before work to get these done (as the cabbages took ages to net), so I quickly dug over the soil and got them in... four in a row. Then - sensing how delicate and feathery they were - covered them with a length of heavy duty wire mesh as a quick means of protection. 

And there we have it - a semblance of order has returned to the plot. You can see in the wide shot above the wigwam of netting over the cabbages at the back, and the wire mesh over the fennel. The beetroot are under the netting front left, and the various beans and peas along the right-hand side.

That's pretty much it now for things to plant out, unless I decide to get some winter potatoes in some of the empty space - of all the things I've grown over my short experience, they're pretty forgiving, so it may be worth a shot.

Planting out at the plot (part 2)

Yesterday I was back out at the plot getting the beetroot planted out...

I've opted to plant them in the same place as originally planned back at the start of July. I had ten seedlings in all, of varying quality... they look good planted out though in two rows of five... just hoping that they can flourish before it gets too cold.

The picture above was taken before I covered them with copious amounts of netting - the local wildlife is apparently partial to beetroot leaves... Maggie gave up on hers earlier in the season after they were pretty much all eaten!

I also took along a few other seedlings that had grown well over the last few weeks. I was given a mixed variety of beans and peas - so, with all the naivety of Jack, I planted them to see what beanstalks would grow...

I can identify peas of course... apparently these are also on the local wildlife's most wanted list, so I wrapped them in netting too.

I also added what look like a couple of french bean seedlings on the end of the existing row of beans I have growing... probably a little young to plant out, but nothing to lose now really...

The beans planted last week have wound their way around the short canes, and don't appear to be too adversely affected by the leaf losses...

And finally, as a reward for my progress, it was time for my only radish to be harvested:

The sum of this year's plot crop thus far...

After a wash, it was quite a dark colour... it also smelled like sweaty feet - not the most appetising odour...!

The radishes I planted in year one of my grow your own adventure were sweet and crunchy... I did a taste test of this one, and boy was it hot! My tongue was on fire, and my mouth ulcer was raging...!

If the French have these for breakfast, goodness knows what they eat the rest of the day long!

Part three to follow soon - more radish(!), and some fennel and cabbage seedlings...

Planting out at the plot (part 1)

It's been nearly a month since I've been over to my plot in my friend's garden, and this morning before work I went over to get my dwarf bean plants into the ground. This was my view upon arrival: 

Almost none of this greenery is intentional...

Quite frankly, a brazen offence to the world of allotmenteering. I would be embarrassed, but there just isn't the time! The only encouragement I can garner from this is that things will grow and grow well if only the slugs and snails gave them a chance!

A reminder of how it used to look (*blush*)

Well, there was no time for a pity party - I had 45 minutes to plant four plants, which was achievable. I'd got prepared - the plants had grown their second sets of leaves, and were starting to produce the stem growth which would wind itself up the canes.

Unfortunately, between getting the plants out of the greenhouse, leaving them out overnight during an unusually windy August evening, transporting them in the car, and then perhaps also being a bit cack-handed (I am left-handed, so that is a true definition!), some of the large primary leaves were either broken or falling off. In fact, in the next picture, you can see one upturned leaf already fallen to the floor... gutted.

Still, pressing on, and with the four plants in the ground, up went the canes. A few minutes later, having seen just how much the gusts of wind were moving the plants, I added some short canes too so that the plants would have something to gain immediate support from.

I'm just hoping now for the plants that have lost some leaves that they will quickly settle in, and given a chance, produce some beans at the end of it.

So, one of those mornings that should be exciting, but just ends up tinged with mild disappointment... if only there was something, anything growing on the plot that would give me some hope...

But wait... is it a bird? Is it a plane? No - it's a radish!:

I'm not sure how this one survived, but survive it did! I've not picked and eaten it yet - I think I'll savour the fact that I've intentionally grown something on the plot just a little bit longer...

In the next part of this thrilling series (ahem), I will be planting out the beetroot and fennel... 

Collateral damage

Not good news I'm afraid - despite my radish, beets and cabbages all starting to spring up in the greenhouse, I've had a visit two nights in a row from a rogue gastropod. The radishes are being systematically picked off... 

So frustrating - what's more, is I've turned the drill upside down, around, had a good inspection of the greenhouse and cannot spot the slug/snail anywhere - as soon as I do though, there's not going to be any mercy - it's going straight to one of the chickens. 

I've not really had a problem with them before in the greenhouse, but I guess with the wet weather, they are finding it easier to make the climb up the sides to where the seedlings are. It's a battle of wills, and I may pop out last thing tonight with a torch to see if I can catch him in the act...

And now, a few oddities that have arisen in the back garden - a freak show, for your viewing pleasure, if you will...:

My dwarf beans - a couple of plants that I was growing (but failed to train up canes through moderate ineptitude) have developed curled bean pods. They look like those dangly earrings from the 80's! Can't think why they have done this... perhaps keeping their feet out of the mud and mire below...?

I have a couple of mushrooms growing in my old pea plant pot - I'm not going to eat them, but would be interested to know the classification if anyone has any ideas? I guess with the wet humid weather, mushroom foragers across the land are in for some rich pickings.

This mottling has happened each year I have grown broad beans - I don't know whether it is just age, disease or both; or whether they are ant bites, as I seem to have a lot of them around the plants, and they are often climbing up and down them.

Despite the wear and tear, I did manage to pick a respectable handful of the pods from the plants. Remarkably unmarked in comparison to the plants...

 I think I probably picked the pods a little early - the beans were a fair size, but they could probably have waited another week or so to plump up... well, you live and learn.

Still, I made some chicken pittas last night with a vegetable salsa-type filling - to finish them off I fried the broad beans and sprinkled them inside. Rewarding to eat your own produce, however small a contribution it makes to your plate. I'm afraid I don't have a picture of the pittas, because we ate them too fast!

A new project - part 2

So, here's the plan for the first plot...

The plot a few days ago...

I'm still a novice when it comes to gardening, but I understand a little about crop rotation. You wouldn't usually do that within a single bed, but with a busy life, you never know how much time you will actually have until you get going...

I'd like to think I could do three or four plots, but even just the one is taking some time... so I've decided to try a bit of everything rather than do a whole bed of just a few vegetables.

I gather the three main groups of veg are brassicas, root veg and legumes/onions/salad, and so I have divided the plot up like so:

I have then opted for the following arrangement:

As I've mentioned before, I've never done peas to any great volume, so I've given a generous slice of the legume section over to those (Kelvedon Wonder). I am then finishing off with a small patch of rocket (wild), and then onions (Ailsa Craig) and probably spring onions... I've put the onions in the middle as they're supposed to be a deterrent to some pests.

On the root veg side, I'm going for beetroot (Boltardy), two types of carrot (long (Autumn King 2) and short (Atlas) varieties), fennel (Florence Chiarino) and radish (French Breakfast 3).

I've put the rocket and radish up in the middle of the plot, because there are a few trees nearby that will provide some shade during the hottest part of the day. Once the peas and fennel have grown a bit, that should also add to the shade in the middle there.

Finally, for the brassica section I'm a little undecided - this will be the first time I've tried them and to be honest I'm not sure what will work, especially seen as I'm halfway through the season... I am considering cabbage and perhaps kale...? If anyone has any suggestions from their own experience please do let me know.

I've then finished off the brassica section by sneaking in a small section of dwarf beans (Tendergreen) - which aren't brassicas I know, but I ran out of room elsewhere and as they tend to be quite tall, it makes sense to have them at the back.

Master of all he surveys...?!

At the moment the peas, beans, rocket, beetroot, fennel, onion, one sowing of radish and both carrots are in (the netted areas)... just waiting to finish the rest of the plot off... then let the battle of wills begin with the wildlife!