Progress on the allotment 30th May 2009

Posted on June 1, 2009 by Digitalquill

I thought I would do a photographic update this week rather than a video update, just as something a little different, I am pleased witht he progress, everything apart from the dwarf french beans are coming along well. I may plant some in pots back here at home and see if they can establish themselves before I plant them out. I suspect that pigeons are getting them as I saw one sprouting but now nothing.

Anyway here are the photographs, each annotated with a few comments.

: First Early Potatoes – some flowers beginning to show

: View down plot 3 – the potato beds

: Rows of carrots – seeded another row this weekend

: Carrots shooting up no they are free have been thinned

: Beetroot coming along slowly

: Parsnip and garlic, the parsnip is begining to go great guns

: Onions and Shallots

: Leeks planted last weekend

: French beans and Runner Beans – problems with potatoes in the compost trench

: Mange Tout – no flowers yet, but I am sure they will come soon

: Mange Tout – no flowers yet, but I am sure they will come soon

: Looking up the potato plot showing the staggered planting over a 2 month period

: The First Sweetcorn in – I have several more in post coming along

: Overview of the plot

: Lettuce under the cloche with raddish in the background

: The Fruit Gage – the most productive area of the allotment?

: Rhubarb – already cropped nearly 1kg

: Raspberry canes – will they fruit this year?

: Blackcurrent – growing well

: Blackberry – I need to set-up some wires for this to grow on

: Gooseberry – really starting to grow into a bush

: Strawberries – fruit developing

: Strawberries – fruit developing

We are going away for the week next week so there will not be any activity on the allotment over the next couple of weekends. I will be going down the night before we go away to check on everything.

Video – Progress on the Allotment – 24th May 2009

Posted on May 24, 2009 by Digitalquill

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

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Digitalquill

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.

Video – Progress 19th April 2009

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Digitalquill

Here is a video about the progress on the allotment this week. The Rhubarb is coming along well and the fruit cage is looking great now that I have got the netting over it.

I am still a little disappointed with the carrots, beetroot and parsnips but hopefully they will start to come.

The potatoes are motoring along now, I keep mounding them up and the Mange Tout is looking nice.

First Day back after holiday – 5th April 2009

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Digitalquill

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:

Video – Progress on the allotment – Saturday 7th March 2009

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Digitalquill

Here is a short video of the progress on the allotment this weekend. I was hoping to get down there today, however, we took Eva to The Deep and then the weather turned against me.

I have planted 3 more fruit bushes, more about that in a forthcoming post, planted a row of beetroot, erected a cane support for the beans, and prepared the ground for the cloche.

Cloche has arrived

Posted on March 4, 2009 by Digitalquill

If you viewed on of my latest videos you will know that I managed to but a cloche on ebay. It is ‘poly-tunnel’ shape, 4 meters long and about 40x40cm wide and tall.

4m Cloche from Ebay

As you will see from the plan I was going to plant my salad crops in the raised bed area, however, with this purchase I have had a change in plan. I will now put the cloche across plot 2, and move the mange tout or dwarf French beans across onto the bottom of plot three.

The root veg such as carrots, beetroot and parsnips will all be grown in the raised bed, and I will use the rest of plot 3 for potatoes, as I have bought far too many!

I think this should work out nicely, I have not unpacked the cloche yet as I dont think it will ever go back into its packaging, but I hope to get onto putting it up at the weekend, so that I can then leave it a week or two for the ground to warm up before I plant the first of the salad crops.

Purchased the seasons seeds

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Digitalquill

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

On The Allotment

Everything that happens down at the allotment

Tag Archives: Beetroot