Spinach Gone To Seed

Disaster! We love spinach in this house so this really is a disaster! The spinach has bolted. I'm quite disappointed by this, as I didn't get a single harvest from it. The plants had barely reached 3" tall. The seeds came free with a magazine, so I wont be buying that variety anytime soon.

I do have a pack of Spinach "Bordeaux" seeds. It looks quite nice with the purple veins through the leaves. Ill chance a sowing now, but I will leave the main sowing until August for a late harvest.

In the meantime I have some perpetual spinach ready to be planted, so hopefully it wont be too long before we get a harvest from that....

Sweetcorn Planted

Today I planted my mini sweetcorn plants, in block formation 5 plants wide and 4 deep. I believe this is not strictly necessary for mini corn, as the cobs are picked when at a suitable size prior to pollination. But it does look neat doesn't it?

I have another 40 mini corn seeds planted in pots in the greenhouse. They are just beginning to sprout now, so it will be interesting to see if I retain the 100% germination rate! Either way there is plenty of space in that bed for them.

I also have about 25 normal sized sweetcorn germinating in the greenhouse now.

Beans Are Go

Ive been delaying planting my beans because of some frost predictions for the past few nights. This gave me a chance to finish the bed preparations by adding the last of my homemade compost to the trench and getting the frame in place.....

Meanwhile back at the ranch the beans have begun twisting around each other, so I've been untangling them every morning! Its really time they went to the plot!

Early Blight

Met Eireann posted a blight warning for last week, due to the hot humid conditions. I wasn't expecting it for another few months yet! I sprayed my earlies with Bordeaux Mix just in case. The other plotholders didn't do it and seemed to have survived ok, so I'm not at all worried about it.

Leeks

I finally got the last of the onion bed finished. I added 2 rows of musselburgh leeks, spaced them 6" apart in rows 12" apart. This gave me about 23 plants per row. I gave them a good watering to get settled in. Its my first time growing leeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing them grow!

The shallots in the foreground are doing well, and the sets planted a few weeks ago have put on a few inches of growth.

I still have a tray of mussleburgh, and another of Lyon 2 Prizetaker leeks growing at home. They were sown a few weeks later than the others when space was available. That should give me another row of each to fill the bed nicely

Maincrops

The plot was rotovated and I finally got the maincrop potatoes in the ground! Its been a long time coming, so heres hoping they catch up!

I almost have the rest of the onion bed ready to take the leeks. The plan is to have them in by Thursday.

I stuck some pea "Hurst Green Shaft" into root trainers today, and the first of the Runner bean "Scarlet Emperor" have germinated in their toilet roll centres. The climbing beans are hardening off in the mini growhouse, ill sow another batch next week. The bed for the peas and beans is almost there, so Ill setup the cane supports by the weekend all going well.

First Strawberries

With the good weather comes the work! The last week or so has been really busy. But the rewards are starting now - the first of the strawberries ripened in the greenhouse and were quickly eaten. So quick I didnt even get to take a pic! But there is more on the way!

Update:

On the Allotment:

I planted the 9 caulis (all the year around) and 8 of the Brussels Sprouts that I bought in Lidl a few weeks ago. Ive already lost 2 caulis to the wind, but the remainder seem to be ok so far. Ill try get them netted asap as I have seen the white butterflies wandering around this week.

I also fell behind on the digging, only getting half the bed for the maincrop potatoes dug. Dunno if it will be worth planting them at this stage but ill give it a shot.....

As soon as they are in, its straight back to digging the next bed. Thats for the beans and peas.

In the Greenhouse:

The night temps in the greenhouse are all over the place. The last few days of April into the start of may were around 15'C (with the heater) but the last few nights have been 5 or 6 'C (with heater)! Everything seems to be still growing ok though.

I planted the 3 remaining Gardeners Delight tomatoes into a Growbag.

The fruit is setting on the first truss of the moneymaker toms now. The third and fourth trusses are forming nicely.

I potted on the 2 strongest aubergines into terracota pots. I also moved the chilis and mini bell peppers on into bigger pots. That'll be it until they move to their final homes.

The brassicas are doing well. Third time lucky, as my 2 previous sowings failed. Ive moved them into 3" pots to grow on while I get more of the allotment ready.

In the Garden:

Planted the dozen brocoli I bought in lidl a few weeks back. Bought them as insurance against the failure of my own grown from seed!

Onions In

I finally got the onion sets into the ground. 100 sets of "Sturon" and 100 of "Red Baron". Thats about 2.5 rows of each. I also got the shallots I had started in pots planted out too.

One of the Cherry Trees (Stella) had loads of flowers on it, so I picked them off as it was only planted a few months ago. Seems such a shame but it will pay off in the long run!

Tomorrows job is to get another bed sorted to put in the maincrop potatoes. It feels like I am constantly racing against the clock to get things planted!

Potato Shoots Appear

At last there is some growth on the plot. The 1st early potato (Orla) have pushed through the ground. Also the turnip seeds I sowed last week have germinated - wasnt expecting to see them yet!

I got the rhubarb planted yesterday, and today started removing the turf on BED3. Im in a rush to get this finished, as I need to get the onion sets in!

The last of the sweetcorn germinated - thats 100% germination rate!

The greenhouse had a few new arrivals, a friend had 2 tomato plants left over, and as they are a different variety to what I have i said Id take them.

I sowed 27 climbing beans - variety Blauhilde. They are a purple podded variety and quite decorative by all accounts. Ill sow more in a few weeks for a succesion.

The good weather is lasting, I hope this isnt our summer.....its been about 4 weeks since we had rain so Ive been watering a lot.

Greenhouse:

The greenhouse is packed! Ive planted 6 of the moneymaker tomatoes in to growbags. I have way too many plants - hopefully friends will take away the excess this weekend so I have room to move... im undecided as to how many of the gardeners delight to keep. I think ill go with 3 plants this year, as i will also have 2 tumbling toms outside which should give plenty of cherry toms.

Also growing mad are the pumkins, squash and butternut squashes. im repotting them weekly now, and its still not enough. Ill give them til the end of the month and ill start hardening them off.

The baby corn(mini pop f1) has sprouted. They were sown about a week ago.

The summer bedding plants are sprouting, Ive pricked some taggettes out into trays, but there are loads left to do! The snap dragons and verbena have just sprouted, so they are a bit away from needing more space.

Allotment:

Im still digging! No sign of that rotovator yet! But I have squared up the dug beds as they were way out of line! I also dug a new bed for the rhubarb. We are due some rain tomorrow, so that will help settle the bed prior to planting next week.

In BED2 I added 3 rows of parsnip - 1 row "Tender and True" - 1 row "Gladiatior F1" - 1 row "White Gem". I station sowed, 3 seeds every 3". Hopefully this will give a full row. Thats BED2 full.

I got the edges of BED 3 dug, so I have yet to remove the turf and dig it over. This will be for the onion sets and probably swede....

The allotment!

This is the entrance to the site.......as you can see so far its mainly vacant. I hope that will change in the coming few weeks as its pretty lonely up there!

This is my plot. It measures approx 25m x 15m, so its a good size. It looks big but I have a feeling it will be quick enough to fill up! Bed 1 (the closest) is 12 ft x 12 ft, in it I have 3 rows of early potato Orla and another 3 rows of 2nd early Maris Peer. I have Sarpo Mira seed potatoes waiting to go in elsewhere. Bed 2 is the same size, today I sowed 3 rows of Carrot "Nantes 2" and 1 row of turnip.

Im still waiting for it to be rotovated, as the diggin is taking way too long. I know this will almost certainly lead to endless weeding, but i need the space!

This plot is 2 away from mine......its about double the size of mine. The man had it rotovated and then had it plowed - with a horse and manual plow! I wish I had had my camera at the time. Lesson well learned!

April so far 2....

Tomatoes:

Today I planted the tomatoes (6 moneymaker plants) into the growbags in the glasshouse. This year Im trying to grow them using the ringculture method. Ill plant the gardeners delight over the next few days. I repotted the Tom Thumb plants into 5" pots and I bought a beefsteak variety out of interest!

The plants are about 75days old, and now 12" tall, Ive planted them up to the first set of true leaves. As you can see the flowers of the first truss are forming nicely, and the beginnings of the 2nd truss just visible. Im very pleased with their progress

Prior to planting in the growbags. I picked the strongest for myself and the spare 4 plants of each variety will be adopted by friends

Just a quick shot of the tulips at the front of the house. I got these when we passed through Amsterdam airport on the way home from Bali last summer

April so far.......

Its been a great week! lots of sun, some BBQ's, seed sowing and very little work thanks to the volcanic ash coming down from Iceland!

My recently acquired fruit bushes. The summer raspberries and the large potted gooseberry were excess plants from a friends garden. Ill get all these into the allotment asap.....

The greenhouse is filling up rapid! Barely room to move now. Ive had to stop sowing seeds for a while!

Peppers:

The Mini Bell Peppers are showing flowers now, even though they are quite small. Ive never grown sweet or chilli peppers so not sure how quickly they grow (or not in my case!)

Sunny Weather :)

Its been a busy few days now that the sun has arrived! Its been a great few days, with temperatures reaching 19'C! Ive been baked in the glasshouse with temps reaching 40'C in there...even with the doors and windows open from 8am.....

I only went down to the allotment once since my last post. I got a lot of digging done, nearly finished BED 2. Going to rotavate the rest though. Its taking too long to get the beds ready, so Ive been catching up on other important jobs.

Over the past few days Ive moved the tomatoes to the glasshouse, and repotted them into 5" pots. Ive had the paraffin heater on at night. They are making major progress with the first truss flowers just starting to colour and the second truss just showing now. Ill plant them up into growbags when they fill the current pots.

The pumpkins (Jack o Lantern and Hundred Weight) and the Squash (Yellow Scallop) that I sowed last week were filling their 3" homes and were moved on up into 4" pots. Ill go bigger as soon as I invest in new pots!!

I also began moving the chilis up a pot size to 4 and 5" pots. I mix the compost with vermiculite to make sure that I wont drown them in the future! Tried 2 varieties, Musselburgh and Lyon 2 Prizetaker.

I picked up a mini greenhouse (4tier plastic cover) in aldi for €17.99 - Ill use this as a coldframe to harden off seedlings and plants.

Earlier in the year I bought asparagus crowns (Gjinlim) and put them in large pots til I get the allotment bed sorted. A single spear is growing from each crown now, which Im glad to see as i was starting to give up hope for them....

Ill add photos to this tomoro when i get time!

Sowing

Went down to the allotment on Friday. Having been digging since my last post, I got "BED 1" dug over. In it I planted 3 x 12ft rows of early potato "Orla", and 3 x 12ft rows of 2nd earlies "Maris Peer". As its a new site im still digging beds as I go so I got half of BED 2 dug. Thats going to be for the 200 onion sets I have at home waiting to go in. Then Ill start digging BED 3 for the maincrop spuds "Sharpo Mira".

Today, I sowed 3 short rows of carrot "Autumn King 2" in the raised beds at home. I also put 3 rows of Carrot "Amsterdam Forcing 3" in. I have a few more days off so tomorrow Im planning on finishing BED 2.

I also sowed cabbage "hispi" and "greyhound", curly kale "dwarf green curled", caulis "all year round" and "snowball" in cells in the greenhouse. The last attempt at any of the brassicas listed failed, due to what i believe was Damping off disease. Hopefully ill have some luck this time.....

Fruit Trees

So today I put in place some posts and wires along the wall of my back garden for my fruit trees. I spotted some in Aldi last week, so I picked up 2 pears (conference and beurre hardy), 2 apples (braeburn), a cherry (morello) and a plum (opal).

Im having a go at training them. 1 of the apples and both pears as cordons, the 2nd apple as an espalier, the plum and cherry as fans. Its my first attempt at doing this so lets hope they grow. Although at €5 per tree it wont the much of a loss if I kill them!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello,

This is my first time blogging. I am going to mainly use it to keep records of what I am doing and when.

Just discovered an allotment site opening nearby! So ive decided to take on a plot. Looks like it will be hard work as it is brand new!