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 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... 

Seedlings progress

Just a brief update on the current goings on...

I went over to the plot yesterday evening and it's not good I'm afraid. The only things that are really growing are various types of weed; I've identified one carrot seedling, a few measly rocket stems and the very last beetroot seedling which survived a partial devouring, but hasn't done much since.

Still, ever the optimist, I thought I would show you how the seedlings back home are doing, which will replace what I've have sown currently at the plot...

The radishes, having survived the advances of Mr Snail are doing really well now, with the second set of leaves starting to develop.

This is the first time I've see what fennel shoots look like(!), as the packet didn't have a picture (as is usually customary for Johnsons seeds). I've since had a few more poke up through the soil after some recent doses of nettle water.

In fact, all the seedlings have benefitted from the nettle water, which is providing some much needed sustenance - I'm waiting for these cabbage seedlings to harden up a little and develop into the next phase of growth.

The beetroot seedlings are coming on too - these are already looking much healthier than the single half-eaten one I have at the plot.

And finally, a nice angular shot of the runner beans, which are on the home straight now... last time I grew them the flowers were quite sparse - but not so this year... I have five or six clusters of flowers that are developing pods. Looks like I will have to work on a variety of recipes in which to use them, as they are looking like my only bumper crop this season.

A new project

I have my name down for an allotment in Kenilworth... trouble is, allotments are more prized than real estate here, and it's been over 2 years and counting since I applied...

A section of the 'Odibourne' allotments in Kenilworth

I think a lot of people in the area have cottoned onto the good life recently, partly because of the current austerity; but also because it has become 'fashionable' again thanks to Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall amongst others.

OK - I admit, I'm a bit of a River Cottage fanboy, and Jamie Oliver's an Essex boy like me... so, austerity didn't get me here, put it that way...

Back to the story - recently Em's mum bumped into an old acquaintance - a lady called Maggie, who used to be a dinner lady at Em's school.

It turns out that she and her daughter have a wonderfully large garden with lots of raised beds, and not enough time to keep them all, and so they have invited me to take on as much as I want! 

I'm blessed, what can I say.

So, I have this new project... I've started the season comparatively late, but there's still an opportunity to get some growing done this year.

The plot before...

I've started small with a plot roughly 6ft x 12ft - as you can see from the 'before' picture left, it was overgrown with all sorts of grasses.

The first task was to clear it, break the soil up and get some air into it - I have Em and Anne to thank for their hard work in helping me do this.

A lot of the grass came out of the ground with great clods of soil at the roots - I spent most of the time shaking soil from root balls... I now know why one version of the single dig method just buries the grass rather than extracting it...!

...and after

Anyway, having finished, I was definitely pleased with the result. The soil is a rich loam, so hopefully that will make a good medium for growing all sorts of veg.


I'm in the middle of sowing the plot having divided it up into sections... in the next post I will tell all and explain the grand plan...