So, what's in the tunnel?

It's surprising how big it is in there, but fortunately I was prepared and grew a few (!) plants in advance. Because it's next to the old tree and there are 'issues' with roots at the top end, I've decided to mainly grow things in pots for now. And because I'm not sure whereabouts in the tunnel I want to grow them, I'm supporting them with canes. I know, I know, it's asking for trouble but I have got plastic bottles or pots on them.

So after potting a dozen French marigolds (from the local garden centre) to attract pollinators and deter nasty things like aphids, the following are currently in the tunnel:

Tomatoes
Gigante Liscio x 2
Costolutu Fiorentino x 11
Roma x 7
Garden Pearl x 4
Japanese Black Truffle x 4
Chocolate Cherry x 6

Some of these are bigger than others though and probably only half of them are in there final (cannabis!) plant pots - for anyone worried about the cannabis connection, see the previous post!


Chillies
Ring of Fire x 5
Hungarian Hot Wax x 5
Jalapeno x 4
Padron x 3
Cayenne x 3
Unknown/unlabelled x 7

I bought a couple of different ones from the school garden open day, only I can't remember what they were and the others are a result of my poor labelling! Could have sworn I'd sown some Joe's Long earlier in the year though...


Cucumber/Gherkins
Miniature White x 3
Bimbostar x 1
Paris Pickling x 1
Unknown x 1 (but it's going to be one of the above!)

and I planted a couple of pots of basil. Now when I was there this morning the camera gave up on me, but fortunately I went back later in the evening accompanied by my assistant keen to see the new polytunnel:

But it's difficult to capture everything with the lens I have in there, but despite having 70+ plants in there, it's in no way crowded.

Other jobs today...
I'm fighting a battle with squirrels or mice to get the few strawberries that have been ready so far, but I managed to get a couple first thing this morning.

Watered the polytunnel.

Made a frame for the cucumbers/gherkins to grow up.

Planted on some tomatoes and chillies, and the marigolds.

Planted some peas (Telephone). Sadly my dwarf ones have been eaten after I proudly boasted earlier this year that mine always grew without netting them, and then the tall ones I planted either didn't germinate or got eaten.

Planted some radish, lettuce and two types of salad leaves, undercropping the beans and peas.

Then picked up various squash plants to plant out up at plot no. 2, stopping off home for some lunch of home grown salad first.

Plot no. 2  grows weeds exceptionally well, and after the rain at the weekend I was in danger of losing the potatoes yet alone the onions!

This was taken a couple of nights ago, just as the light was fading hence the flash, but it's difficult to see the spuds in there! Fortunately I'm pleased to say it's much better now and you can see both the potatoes and onions. And the potatoes have been earthed up!

I then planted out some courgettes (All Green Bush), pumpkins (Crown Prince) and a squash (Gem Store). Then my time was up and it was time to get the kids from school, but I managed to find another four strawberries to take with me.

Around the plots
At this time of year there is a fair amount going on:

Alium bed, the giant ones going to seed, the others just coming out now

Broad beans, with potatoes behind, comfrey in flower and covered in bees and the entrance to the plot is somewhere behind there!

Blueberries, and if I don't get some netting over them they'll be going the same way as the red currants - i.e the birds are going to eat them.

Foxglove, suffering from a lack of water and only about two foot high.

Gooseberry bush - it does so well, I just wish I liked them!

Lettuce intercropped between the french beans to the left and (hopefully) peas to the right

Self-seeded phacelia

'Cottage Garden' up on plot no 2, with a cosmos in the foreground, with cornflowers behind and some carnations fighting for some space with them, dahlias (going out of shot to the left) and foxgloves and gladioli behind. This is how I always hope the garden at home will look, but it never does!

At least it wasn't cold!

Having packed Mrs D and the kids off round to friends to knit and play respectively, I wasn't about to let a bit of rain put me off a couple of hours on the plot.

The plan was to plant up six of the rhubarb crowns to a bed at the front of the plot and then move the raspberries to the same bed. It wasn't too bad on this bed at the front as it had been covered over since last Autumn but digging out the raspberries was very muddy. The mountain of bind weed and couch grass roots that came with them didn't really help with this, but it is very satisfying to get them out. I'll need to dig this bed over again as I'm sure there will still be plenty more in there. Not to mention sort of the paths around it.

I also straightened up one of the long suffering apple trees (possibly Discovery?). The problem is, it too is congested with bindweed round there and I'm not sure if it might be easier to dig up the tree to weed around it and then plant it again, with a stake this time. It's still quite small so is a possibility.

The rhubarb and raspberries were then all planted up in the near dark, by which time I was thoroughly soaked too and headed off home for some dry clothes. OK, I admit it's not easy to see in the picture!

Earlier that day...
I'd dropped off a few of the rhubarb crowns to their new homes this morning and placed my first order of the year via the allotment shop at the nearby site. I've ordered 2.5kg of Charlotte, Pink Fir Apple, King Edward and Desiree, all very traditional and for the princely sum of £9.70. I'll probably share some of these with my Dad and then get some others to go with them. Possibly some Salad Blue and some other maincrop variety.

I don't believe it!

It's been a while, so time for a catch up. So where to begin...?

Happy Birthday

In the beginning...

It's now been four years since I first hacked my way on to plot no. 1, encouraged by the mad fools doing the same on the neighbouring plot. It's still not full cleared, the hedge is still a pain in the ar*e and the tree is still there. However, the hedge is under some sort of control thanks to the Association hedge cutters, I'm promised the tree will go in the next month and I've been clearing some old and unproductive blackcurrant bushes, and some of the previously uncleared areas with the Azada - something I wish I'd had when I started! So with all that and the greenhouse to go up, it's looking good for next year. I have new neighbours at the bottom of the plot too, which might encourage me to keep it a bit tidier down that end too!

Harvest Festival
Never ones to miss an excuse for a party our Association decided to have a Harvest Festival on 11 September. Sadly the weather didn't play ball and it threw it down a couple of times, but the people that made it along to the day had a good time - aided by a barrel of beer from one of the local breweries and some friendly competitions. Sadly my impressive display of around 20 different fruits and vegetables didn't cut any ice with the judge we invited along and I didn't even get a place yet alone the coveted allotment trowel!

Mine is the box at the top of the photo, the one at the bottom pipped me to 3rd place.

 
However, the kids did get joint first in the miniature garden competition, my bramble jam came second in the jam category and Mrs D controversially came 3rd with her chocolate beetroot cake in the cake with a vegetable ingredient category. Controversial as the 2nd place entry was bilberry muffins...

Prize winners with their garden

Still aided by the beer and a barbeque with supplies from one of our local butchers and sweetcorn, peppers and mushrooms from our local fruit and veg shop, the afternoon went very well. The barbeque went so well that it was still going the following afternoon when we went to clear up the remaining stuff, so we just dug out the remaining food and carried on!

The only downer to the weekend was the plot we had the event on (supposedly our community orchard) had been served with a notice to quit just the day beforehand - ironically just before our first major event on it and at a time when it was looking better than it had ever done so! Fortunately our Allotment Officer is a reasonable man and it looks like we might get a reprieve.

Potatoes
Given the choice between accompanying his Mum and sister to a local cafe, no. 1 child decided to come with me to plot no. 2 (sadly without a camera). I had 'hired' the hedge cutters from the Association on the other site to tackle the rapidly getting out of control hedges, which I tackled whilst he wore the safety visor and ear defenders... Once that was finished we moved on to the maincrop potatoes (Romeo and Pink Fir Apple). The few we've had from plot no. 1 have suffered considerably with slug damage - annoyingly most of these being the larger ones. After some discussion as to whether there'd be more or less than 10 on the first plant (he went for less than 10) we dug it up between us and counted 24 potatoes! This set the tone for the 3 rows we dug up (largely romeo, but 3 PFA plants too), which produced a sack and a half of potatoes which don't seem to have suffered from blight, have very little slug damage and are a good size, so all good there then. And we even managed to get them bagged up before it started raining.

Now all I need to do is to find somewhere for these - they're currently in the boot of the car. We have about 5 bags of shallots and onions in the kitchen at the moment (including two bags that Mrs D has crocheted to get them off the floor!). Then there are the pumpkins - only had a couple of Crown Prince but they feel good and are awaiting a suitably grand recipe. The other plants I grew were Gem Store which have proved to be prolific - 24 off just two plants. They are just a bit bigger than a cricket ball so are a great size to use up in one meal, but also have thick skins which should mean they'll keep well. There should be room in the old outhouse for lots of things, but I'm a bit concerned when I start picking apples. They might not be as big as they have been in previous years, but the trees are full of apples...