Category Archives: Carrots

17th May 2013 Update from the Allotment

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We spent three hours on the allotment this morning. I planted 6 iceberg lettuces in the greenhouse, cleared a fence and weeded a new patch to get two more rows of potatoes in and also some more onions that were ready into the raised beds. Cheryl did some more work in the strawberry patch clearing more weeds.

Here are some pictures of the progress

Shallots in the greenhouse waiting to go into the raised beds

Shallots waiting to go into the allotments Parsnips and brocoli waiting to go into the raised bedsBroccoli and Parsnips waiting to go into the allotment Cucumber, not looking all that healthy but the same thing happened last year so we will see what happens…Cucumber at the allotment

 

Tomatos looking very strong and healthyTomato in the greenhouse at the allotment

I planted 6 iceburg lettuce plants in the greenhouse, hopefully they will come and be harvested before the tomatos get too bigIceberg Lettuce

I had an impulse buy at Homebase this week, I got some Celery, I have never grown it so will be doing some research. Celery bought from homebase Raspberries starting to budRaspberries on the allotment Leaves are coming out on the apple treeApple tree on the allotment Gooseberries starting to developGooseberries on the allotment Blackberry we planted last weekend is growing well and will need tying to the wires agian very soonBlackberry on the allotment Blackcurrents developingBlackcurrant on the allotment Pear blossom has now gone, blown away by the wind, but hopefully we might see some pears starting to developPears beginning to come on the allotment The two fruit trees, apple and pearPear and Apple fruit trees on the allotment Two new rows of potatoesTwo rows of Potatoes in Onions and Shallots in the raised bed, I put some more onions in today.Onions and Shallots in the raised bed Carrots are starting to come through, not sure which are weeks and which are carrots yet so will let them develop a little before weeding, Carrots in the raised bed Onions in the raised beds, the ones I planted first some 4 weeks ago are looking very strong.Onions in the raised bed Potatoes coming through so will be earthing up more in the next few daysPotatoes coming throughThe Onion Bed

Onion Bed

I also did a video update and here it is:

Building Raised Beds with Reclaimed Decking Boards

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At home we have a wood burning stove so I am always on the look out for scrap wood of any type. I mainly find pallets and logs from trees people have cut down, however, I was contacted by someone who was taking up some decking.

I decided that this would be ideal wood to make raised beds out of so I carefully de-screwed it and retained the best planks. Unfortunately this has been kicking around at home for some time, but this weekend I finally got the time to create something useful out of it.

I started by cutting all the boards to the same length, I decided that I would make the beds two broads in height, that would mean the raised beds would be around 200 mm high.

I then cut some 40mm x 40mm section at 250-300mm in length and cut a spike on the bottom, I would use one of these at each corner of the raised bed.

Corner stakes for the raised beds

After screwing it all together, the raised beds were hammered into place and then with the help of Eva we dug over the soil in the bottom of each of the beds and then mixed in barrow loads of well rotted horse manure, compost and sharp sand. This filled the beds nicely, although I suspect that the level will drop slightly as the soil settles.

Three Raised beds

We then planted out some onions which we planted in plugs 2 weeks ago and two rows of carrots.

Eva Planting Onions

 

Eva Planting Onions

Growing the onions in plugs worked very well, I kept them outside but under a cold frame and gave them a little water every few days. The result was a set with a nice root ball on it. I have planted out some more in plugins, I will give them a couple of weeks under cover and then plant them out and repeat again which will hopefully prolong the harvest.

Onion Sets Started off in Plugs

We ran out of time to get the third bed planted up, but we will grow some beetroot and some parsnips in there.

All in all we were pleased with our work, Eva loved squishing the Horse manure in her hands… not sure who she gets that off!

 

Planting Sprouts, Cabbages, Carrots, Aubergines, Chilies and more weeding

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We had a good 3 hours at the plot yesterday (Sunday) morning. At the end of the morning we stood on the Allotment road and looked up the plot, it was pleasing to see that it is now looking like an allotment, rather than waste ground with 4 foot high weeds.

Cheryl did more weeding, getting the top part cleared, I followed after her and dug over the ground. Once we had a section cleared and dug, I planted the Brussel Spouts, Winter and spring Cabbages which were donated to us. I hen moved on to plant the Aubergines and Courgettes outside in one of the boarders, I have no idea if they will work outside, however, we do not have the room int he Greenhouse for them all so it is worth a punt on growing them outside.

While we were there another fellow allotmenter from a couple of patches down came over and gave us some Sutton Dwarf Broad Beans. I got those planted straight in as they are flowering. After consulting my trusty book, I believe they they do not necessarily need staking, however, some are already falling over, and as I said before the plot is a little exposed with no wind breaks so I maybe wise to put in some little stakes or some form of support for them.

Cheryl did some more weeding round the strawberries, it is clear that we are going to have to sort out the strawberry patch at the end of the season, there is no structure to it, you can’t get between the plants to pick the fruit. We will peg down some of the runners this year and mark which ones are the new plants and then when we have formulated a plan for the whole patch we will re-plant all the strawberries into a more orderly configuration.

Cheryl and Eva also planted some Candy Tuft between the main allotment plot and Evas Sub-Plot to give some colour and attract butterfly, ladybirds, bees and all those things we want to bring into the allotment.

Here is a video of the progress on the allotment.

Evas First day at the Allotment

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We have had a good day down on the allotment, glorious sunshine, both Eva and I were out in t-shirts and sunhats. Eva loved every minute of it.

We were up at normal time and had finished breakfast by 8am, mummy was at work so we sat down to watch some cbeebies and a coffee, during which time Eva pestered me wanting to get going to the allotment, not at all interested in what was on the tv, not unusual for Eva but she was very excited.

We took a drink and a snack along with Evas wheel barrow which was her uncle’s when he was a boy, her spade and her kneeling mat that her Grandma and Granddad bought her for her 2nd birthday last week.

As soon as we got to the allotment Eva started digging, getting very excited, she took to the whole thing as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She helped me with planting some potatoes, carrots and onions an digging the soil.

We made great progress, I managed to get two rows of potatoes planted, two rows of carrots sowed, three rows of onions, two red and one white.

We will be going to the allotment tomorrow morning again, just so that mummy can see how excited she gets.

I will post two videos of the progress once they have uploaded to my YouTube channel

Video – Progress on the Allotment – 24th May 2009

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Its bank holiday Sunday and everything on the allotment is blooming. It is a glorious day, blue sky and the world could not be better!

Have a look at my quick video of the progress

Progress 3rd May 2009

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Had a good day on the allotment today, managed to get the rest of the potatoes in, that means that the whole of plot 3 is planted up with potatoes.  I then tackled the raised bed and spent over an hour picking out weeds which had begun to take over, it is amazing at how quickly they start to come. You will see from the photographs in the next post the different a little time made.

I also took the opportunity to thin out the carrots, beetroot and parsnip and then planted another row of carrots and parsnips. I would have liked to get another row of beetroot in but I ran out of time.

I also got my beans planted, french beans and runner beans and replanted the row of dwarf french beans that had not come.

In the cloche I picked some radish which went nicely in a salad with our fist BBQ of the season, planted a row of Chinese radish and replanted the lettuce as they had not done anything.

Have a look at the video to see the progress.

First Day back after holiday – 5th April 2009

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The weekend just gone was the first day back on the allotment following our holiday and Evas birthday. The progress on the allotment is very exciting.

The Rhubarb is motoring along, Mange Tout is coming through, the first rows of early potatoes are showing through, the rows of carrots, beetroot and parsnips are coming along.

Unfortunately there are some weeds starting to sprout, especially in the raised bed area, where unfortunately I can not get in with anything to get them out due to the danger of disturbing the rows of carrots and beetroot which are still very small. I will leave it another week until they are stronger and then get in and weed.

This weekend I bought 17 strawberry plants from Homebase, 15% off which is always a bonus! I managed to get them into the soft fruit cage. I suspect I have planted them too close to the gooseberry and black current bushes but as they will not fruit this year, I hope they will fill the space with a view to moving them to the back of the plot in the flower boarder next year.

Mum also brought 8 raspberry canes down with her when they came for Evas birthday. They are taken from runners from her established plants and should bear fruit this year. I gave away two to a friend and planted the rest in the soft fruit cage.  I will need to rig up some supports for them, but this should be fairly simple.

I also got two rows of cos lettuce, two rows of radish and a row of spring onions into the cloche. I hope that the slightly warmer and sheltered conditions in the cloche will bring those on fairly quickly.

I also took the opportunity of the cloche to plant some sweetcorn in post. Again the shelter and the warmer conditions will allow these to come on quicker, and help them establish themselves before I plant them out.

I got a row of dwarf French beens into the top of plot 4. I had wanted to get another row of carrots, beetroot and parsnip in but time got the better of me!

Have a look at the video I took of the plot this weekend:

First germinations

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I have been down to the allotment this evening to take some wood I have collected from a friend. I will be making a leaf compost bin out of it so look out for a how-to post in the near future.

It was a little difficult in the dark, but by torchlight I noticed that several onions are poking through, the garlic is about an inch tall, some carrots are starting to push through, although i would have expected some more to be showing by now.

I am going on holiday on Saturday so will not be able to get down to the allotment for the next two weekends so it was good to visit and check up on things.

Preparing the beds and planting the carrots

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I prepared and planted the fist carrots today, in fact these were actually the first seeds to be planted on the allotment.

You can see from the photographs below how I prepared the plot, which is at one end of the raised bed area.

Firstly I dug in two bags of sharp sand, this breaks up the clay, not that it really needs any breaking up, but for carrots the softer the soil the better as they tend to get stumped and gnarled it that hit ground through which they can not penetrate.

I then added a bag of multipurpose compost, again to give the some some more lightness.

Following that I howed the soil and then planted the seeds in rows about 6″ apart. I started off with last years seeds, which were the variety Ideal, putting in two rows of these. I then put in a row of the Early Nantes 5 carrots. I will eventually have about 8 -10 rows of carrots, each 2.2 metres long. However I am staggering the planting of them, both within the early and later varieties. I hope that planting another couple of rows of the early variety in two or three weeks time will give me a more spaced out harvest.

Purchased the seasons seeds

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I went to Homebase last night and bought a whole raft of seeds. I did not really know what I was looking for in terms of the best varieties, but I went for ones that I liked the look of, and also some that will enable me to plant several staged crops.

Here are what I bought:

Parsnip – Tender and True
Radish – Sparkler 3
Beetroot – Boltardy
Carrot - Autumn King 2
Carrot – Early Nantes 5
Cos Lettuce – Little Gem
Broccoli Sprouting - (Calabrese) Autumn Spear
Onion (Seeds) White Lisbon – Winter Hardy
Sweet Corn – F’Sundance
Mange Tout – Oregon Sugar Pod

Potatoes (2kg bags)
First Early – Duke of York
Second Early – Maris Peer
Salad – Charlotte
Main Crop – Desiree
Main Crop – King Edward

Onions
Shallots – Golden Gourmet
Onions – Stuttgarter Riesen
Onions – Red Baron

Garlic – Fokhagyma

I hope to get down to the allotment this weekend and get some more preparation