Yesterdays video now with captions and music!

A little video of plot filmed on camera today!

Tomatoes planted outside.

Today we have been busy weeding and watering it has been another hot and dry day but not as hot as previous few days. We have not had any significant rainfall for over 4 weeks by my reckoning.

We have been harvesting radishes,corriander,parsley and rocket. I planted outside inca bush tomatoes and sorted out tunnel and have put telegraph cucumbers and sweetheart melons in to there final posisition in growbags within tunnel! Swede in modules has sprouted also more sunflowers and turnips. I may be wrong but I believe at long last the jeruselem artichokes have finally sprouted and reared there heads, I may be wrong and it could be just weed as I have not got a clue what they look like. We had another commitee meeting last night as we are preparing for our allotment seed and plant swap this weekend Sunday and bank holiday Monday 12pm till 4pm. We will also be using the time to get plot holders to join up to the association and create a good community spirit, there will also be a raffle and cake sale. Here is hoping for the good weather to continue over the holiday weekend!

Pictures I promised!

Celeriac!

I planted out my celeriac yesterday and have taken lots of photos but I am having difficulty uploading so hopefully better luck tomorrow!

The sun is in the sky and clouds are rolling by!

The weather has really taken a turn for the better over the last few days and night time temperature have also been better.

I am not sure if mentioned previously but I have sowed in modules in tunnel some outdoor cucumbers more F1 atlas cabbage for allotment plant swap, Pak choi, cucumber crystal apple(second attempt) and Courgette black beauty. Today we have taken more plants out of tunnel and planted or hung up. They were the remaining runner bean St George and French bean Cobra also put out two hanging baskets with tumbler toms in. I also had some spare mange tout golden sweet which I have also put in hanging basket, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Anna has planted more marigolds which have come on really good from seed under cover, we have both been busy weeding as everything is growing so fast now it has warmed up. I am hoping to plant out my celeriac tomorrow and take some more photos for all to see!

Planting out tender crops and then the frost

Firstly appolgies for not blogging for over a week I am still coming to terms with a tory goverment but I'll get over it in time!

I decided to plant out my courgettes and pumpkins as the weather has been so cold day and night they were started to struggle in tunnel also sweetcorn sweetie pie F1. I know that sounds daft planting out with temperatures being near to freezing at night and barely 12c during the day but there is a method in my madness.
As you can see by looking at my pictures I planted out and then covered with my homemade cloches, my theory being it will be warmer under them than in the polytunnel so here is hoping.

The weather has been very cold for this time of the year over the last few days I have fleeced my spud beds and covered my runner beans what I planted out a couple of weeks back. Everything has survived so far so no complaints there, decided to sow direct today lots of different winter squashes along drainage ditch at side of my plot it is very prone to flooding(obviously as that is what it's there for) but thought I would give it a try. Good result yesterday as Dick one of the allotmenters from middle of site bought me a full trailer load of horse manure for the princely sum of £10 which I am chuffed to bits with! I used some of it to fill my celeriac bed with as you can see from pictures it has come on lovely and is ready for planting out when weather warms up this weekend. We bought a gas BBQ today from Argos which Anna put together on plot it has side gas ring for making a brew on site which got me excited, sad I know but you can not beat a hot tea or coffee on a cold wet day at plot. We will of course be using it for summer BBQ's weather permitting and crops permitting cooking fresh sweetcorn on the cob.

Also in my pictures you can see the spuds in sacks and toms within polytunnel are coming along great, the spuds now have flower buds on so not long before I will be tucking in to new potatoes smothered in butter lovely.

One final thing still no sign of my Jeruselem artichokes!!!!!!

Goats and growth

I have added lots of photo's today which I took over the weekend, in the photo's you can see everything is coming along nicely!
Rhubarb has come up and I have planted another crown pink champagne also in pictures you can see my horseradish which I planted in big plastic pot at side of tunnel is coming along nice.

My mangetout has sprouted also ones in front of shed have grown nicely despite the cold, germination rate for these has been more or less 100% as stated previously they are golden sweet from dobies. Must admit to being really pleased with how things are coming along spuds are now growing and all showing lots of greenery as you can see in photos. The cabbages you can see behind the blue debris netting are Atlas F1, the herb area is going along nice too.

The picture of the long bed has a few crops situated in it which are all showing signs of life including turnips, beetroot, pak choi and broad beans. I am still waiting for signs of life from my jeruselem artichokes but heres hoping.

We have not had any problems yet with pests of the normal kind I do admit to using slug pellets so hopefully no damage from them but as the title of this post says something else has had a go.
Stapleton allotments is set on the edge of Bristol with the M32 behind and surrounded by small holdings the small holder nearest to us and in particular my plot does not grow he keeps animals mainly chickens but also geese, ducks and goats. The latter ones being the main problem at the moment as they keep coming on to the allotments and they eat everything in front of them, thankfully it has been mostly bramble from around the edges but unfortunately they took a liking to my strawberry plants and Anna's sunflowers. The guy who has the holding is approachable so spoke to him and hopefully this will not happen again. I hope whoever reads this enjoys the pictures I have posted and can see the progress being made I suppose I should tell you what I have done today.

Today I have taken a risk and planted out my climbing french bean(cobra) and runner bean St george some people will say it is too early but I have plenty spare so if I lose them to a late frost I will just plant some more. I have also sowed more beetroot cylindria and detroit 2 and some iceburg lettuce. My squashes are almost ready to go out but I held off today, when I do plant them out in the next week I will use my homemade cloches which I have made from the water cooler bottles just for added protection from cold air and winds!

Speak to you all soon.