Been up to the allotment twice recently: last Sunday after a plea for help on the Facebook page and again yesterday. Last Sunday we helped carry out a general clean up of the old polytunnel and with running repairs on the new tunnel, following the recent storm.
A very tidy polytunnel!
Repairing a broken strut in the new tunnel
I couldn't help much with the repairs, so set about putting up some rabbit fencing around the allotment fence. With help, managed to get half the top fence covered and came back up yesterday to finish it. The farm was completely deserted; not a soul to be seen. I checked the beans in the new tunnel, watered the chickens and put up some more of the fence.
Beans in the new tunnel
Portion of rabbit fencing
Remains of duck's shed after the storm
They don't seem bothered!
We'll be back up next weekend, so I'll take some more photos then.
It's been a couple of weeks since we have been up to the farm-not much to do at the moment really. Outside, the leeks are the last crop left to harvest; they are looking very healthy so we'll leave them for a few more weeks. Inside, the mice have been enjoying our carrots, but the beans we've grown from seed are looking good.
We had to dig up the sweet potatoes this afternoon as the plants had started to die-too wet and cold I think. Ended up with quite a decent crop of baby specimens, perfect for roasting in the oven.
One of our baby sweet potatoes.
There's a definite autumnal feel in the air and with a storm forecast tonight, there's a working party getting together next Sunday to generally clean up and repair the new polytunnel.
Here are a few photos I've taken over the last couple of weeks:
Went up to the allotment for the first time for six weeks last weekend and started to dig the potato crop up. We now have enough to last us through the winter, I think. Also dug up some red cabbage which I've just finished pickling. Jo planted the sweet potatoes into two big bins, I re-potted the courgettes and moved them into the new polytunnel.
Our plot
The new polytunnel
Taking the crop home
Will be back up next weekend to do a bit more digging and to plant a few seeds.
Went up to the allotment for the first time in over three weeks today-usual end of term madness and bad weather the excuses. Everything has been growing well in our absence, especially the weeds!
The only thing we've planted out which has failed so far has been the lettuce; the rest of the crop: cabbage, suede, onions, broccoli, leeks and potatoes are doing fine. Meanwhile, in the polytunnel, the sweet potatoes are looking very healthy, the courgettes have tripled in size and the beans are doing OK as well, although I'm not convinced they're as healthy as they could be. I was tempted to pick some of our carrots as well, but I'll leave them a few weeks yet.
Sweet potatoes
Courgettes
After a couple of hours weeding between the potato plants, John hitched the rotivator to the back of the tractor and plowed the weeds on the rest of our patch in; saved us hours and hours of work and also means the weeds will not grow back nearly as fast.
Will go back up tomorrow to finish off covering over the newly plowed plot with sheeting; we are going to be away for the next few weeks so need to stop the weeds re-growing.
The ducks seem happy after all the recent rain anyway...
Hadn't been up to the farm for ten days, so all our vegetables seem to have suddenly shot up, after the mixture of rain and sun we have had recently. As it was raining, I planted some courgettes out in the polytunnel.
Cabbage
Potato (and weeds!)
Elsewhere on the allotment, everyone's crops and plants are looking very healthy; a bumper harvest in prospect.
Up to the farm this morning to check the plot and the plants in the polytunnel and to pot up some lettuce seedlings.. We came up Wednesday night to water the potatoes and to have a picnic-a beautiful evening.
A decent glass of white.
The water situation in the north-west of England is getting a bit desperate at the moment, with warnings of imminent hosepipe bans. The stream where we usually get water on the farm has all but dried up.
John.
Everything is growing really well; potatoes are looking good, the cabbages, leeks and onions are coming up and the beans, carrots and sweet potaoes in the polytunnel are looking good.
The beans.
Sweet potatoes
Also planted out a rhubarb plant at the top of the plot.
Time to look after the potatoes today-they were beginning to disappear beneath a lush carpet of weeds. I started to rake them, but ended up pulling most of them out by hand ( the weeds that is). Bought some organic fertiliser on the way up to the farm and gave the plants a good feed when I'd finished.
Meanwhile, Jo was putting the sweet potatoes in some bigger pots, watering the rhubarb, and sowing some swedes up at the top of our plot. We then rolled out the mesh a bit more and cut a couple of wire supports and pegs to cover over the seeds.
Ady brought over one of his giant lettuces for us to take home; have you ever seen anything like it!
We might go up on Wednesday night to check how everything's growing-hopefully England will have won and I'll be in a positive mood! Anyway, here's a picture of the ducks to finish off today-I like the ducks and their eggs make fantastic omelettes.
Up to the allotment on Saturday morning-fine day and a good chance to plant out some of the crop we had been growing in the polytunnel. Because of the mix of fine weather and rain we have had recently, our plot is covered in a carpet of weeds; before we could plant anything out, we needed to get rid of them. John suggested I jump on the back of the tractor and rotivate the plot again, but I fancied a bit of good honest toil, so while Jo potted up some sweet potato slips (see, I'm learning the lingo) we'd bought on the Net, I set to work with a hoe and rake.
We borrowed John's handy planting board-three notches either side, staggered, so you can measure the distance between plants and rows.
Once everything was planted out, I built a plastic mesh cover and stood back to admire our work.. Not counting the two rows of potatoes, we have barely covered an eighth of the plot. So a lot of work to do.
We also planted a blackberry bush next to the apple tree at the top of the plot and some rhubarb. The beans in the polytunnel should be ready to plant out next week.
The ducks enjoying themselves
We have now started some seeds at home as well-lettuce in the bathroom, sweet peppers and radishes in the window box. There is also some wild chocolate mint from the farm growing there-smells amazing.
The forecast is good for the week ahead, so hopefully when we go back up next weekend our crops will be established and growing well.
After our break in Bordeaux, we went up to the farm yesterday to see if there were any signs of life in the polytunnel or on the plot. Much to our surprise and delight, some of the seeds we had had germinated and started sprouting: we have onion, bean and carrot plants! Not only that, but most of the potatoes had sprouted too.
We picked up the green netting we had ordered from one of our fellow landsharers so we need to come back in the week to cover them up and maybe to plant the onions out as well. The second polytunnel is now covered and up and running, which means people wil be able to spread their planting out a bit.
World cup fever also seems to have hit Hilltop, albeit in a low-key way...
Finally, we stopped to pick up our allocation of free-range eggs from Val - some interesting colours going on!
Well in the few weeks since we joined the Landshare scheme at Hilltop Farm, things have moved on quite quickly, despite neither my wife Jo or I knowing the first thing about growing anything really, but there a plenty of people around to give us help and good advice whenever we need it.
First thing to do was to get the plot ready for planting; luckily John has a mechanical rotivator which did away with the need for any heavy spade-work! After that, he hitched a potato planting machine (don't know the techical term!), I jumped on and fed the seed potatoes down the tubes as John drove. The instructions were to drop them every twelve inches; I don't think he was too impressed with my technique, but we shall see what happens...
We also planted some seeds in the polytunnel: beans, peas, carrots, cauliflower and some herbs.
Recently we had a barbecue; this video was taken just after the chicken ate my hamburger...
We also lent a hand as the new fencing went up to keep out the rabbits and chickens.
We're off to France for a few days at half-term, so I'll write another post then; fingers crossed that something will have grown..
Two weeks ago, my wife Jo and I acquired a plot of land at John and Val's landshare farm near Edgworth in Lancashire. Neither of us knows the first thing about planting or growing anything, so this blog is an account of our attempts to produce something viable and hopefully edible from our newly rotivated strip of land. Anyway, more of that later; first of all, here's some information about Landshare in general and Val & John's part in its inception, including a video to watch:
"Landshare brings people together who have a passion for home-grown food.
It’s for people who want to:
* Grow veg but don’t have anywhere to do it
* Have a spare bit of land they’re prepared to share
* Can help in some way – from sharing knowledge and lending tools to helping out on the site itself.
* Support the idea of freeing up more land for growing
* Are already growing and want to join in the community
Landshare came out of TV’s River Cottage. It began when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall helped some Bristol families grow veg on derelict council land. The experience was so inspiring, that River Cottage decided to see if it would work nationwide. Now Landshare is a national movement of more than 45,000 people.
It began with the tiny seed of an idea – and it’s growing and growing."
Allotment Vegetable Growing.
Allotment diaries, photographs, advice about growing vegetables, fruits and herbs with a forum for chatting on the plot
National Vegetable Society
The National Vegetable Society, NVS
The National Vegetable Society NVS is a charity dedicated to advancing
the culture, study and improvement of vegetables offering help and advice
to novice and expert grower alike.
