Down the allotment for eight hours today and also picked our first fruit of the season - redcurrants. Probably wouldn't have been quite so long down there if there hadn't been a delivery of chippings that were the best we've had for a couple of years. Usually the chippings are about 70% leaves and 30% wood but this lot, as can be seen from the pictures, was about 60% wood and 40% leaves. Put new netting round the large fruit cage. Made a new door for it as well. Planted and shaded the celery. Celeriac's taken well. Potatoes are flowering so we had a look but they're only the size of marbles. The Goji Berry doesn't look too happy for some reason. It seems very woody at the base, though there's a bit more greenery higher up.
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First full day spent down the allotment. You can always tell when it's going to be a decent length of time spent down the allotment by the fact we take TWO flasks. Anyway, loads to do......... the compost bins need a good tidy and sort out. All four "bays" are overflowing, but the first bay actually has some very decent two-year old composting material I spread around several beds. See the next three photos....... Strangely, the only thing that hasn't composted down over the last two years in Bin 1 is the mosslike "bio-degradable" hanging basket container??? Bay 1also provided a means of safely disposing of hundreds of official documents. Securely buried beneath a mountain of rotting compost. Bay 1 is now topped up from the overflowing other three bays...... .......... and it's all neat and tidy now. Quite a few people down here for a Wednesday in February. We spread plenty of Potash in the large fruit cage. We also put a load of potash around the strawberries. We threw the celeriac away as it hadn't done at all well. Don't really know why as bed was one of the free-draining ones at the bottom by the wall. However, we did pull up a remarkable number of excellent parsnips. There'd been a recent delivery of fresh chippings so we tried to make the most of it, in between doing all the other little jobs.......... ........like pruning the Goji Berry. Weeded and dug the top couple of beds. Weeded, dug and covered the old strawberry bed. Removed the netting from the large fruit cage to let the birds in during winter. We think we might have a touch of blight so picked all the decent tomatoes and I took everything else from the tomato bed down the tip. Picked the last of the soft-fruit along with the tomatoes................... ............ and the first row of celery. Doesn't seem to have made any difference not surrounding them with black felt. Excellent crop of celery this year. Goji Berry has settled in well. As we spent the whole day down here (Janice was bitten five times - a record!) we had a subway lunch; well we were going to the fish and chip restaurant for tea. Spent pretty much all day down the allotment doing the paths, as there's a new supply of chippings and also cleaning out and re-doing the lid of the storage area next to the shed. It's now got a roofing felt lid - but I forgot to take a picture. Tidied up a few of the beds, including the strawberry bed, and netted the leeks. Planted the Goji berry in a tub in the top fruit cage Pumpkins a nice colour, if a little small. Sweetcorn is nearly ready to pick, I think. Tomatoes are as good as we've ever had; just hope nothing happens before they ripen. The trusses on the smaller variety are the longest we've ever seen. The "open" celery doesn't look any different at this stage to the "enclosed" celery. Wonder if they'll taste any different. |
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