Pumpkin Head

We pulled up the massive orange pumpkin that was nestled by the cherry tree. It was a fairly large one and Karl can't resist the scarecrow look! We also got the last marrow and pulled up the dead plants left over from the runner beans and various other decaying matter that we planted and forgot about. :(
We have made a plan for next year... we prepared it over some port in the Albany pub! :D
Garlic is the first to go in (Karl is in charge of Broad Beans as me and Dave are fed up of them). The rest are earlies and April sowing so we need to get the seeds in.
Unfortunately it has rained CONSTANTLY for the past 6 weeks and more is to come so there has been a massive gap between November and January. The weather is just pants. :(


Unfortunately, the pumpkin and marrow turned to mush in storage. They had simply been pulled up too late and I think they were rotten from the cold too. Bugger.

Something has piddled in my welly!

Hmmm...when you put your foot in your welly and it goes 'crunch' you know something isn't right. In my case, something that I suspect is small and furry has been using my wellies as storage for seeds. Sunflower seeds as well - OUR sunflowers seeds!! Never ever leave seeds in a greehouse - they get nibbled on, stored and piddled over. My wellies reek of something amonia-like and it's not pretty.
Karl thought it was cute but my wellies were wet, smelly and awkward to wear. Humph!

Yes, this is the moment I found seeds in my welly!

Something took all the seeds from the sunflowers...and moved them into my wellies.

Mushroom Risotto anyone?

We pulled up the last of the sunflowers and cleaned up what we could. I've kept the seeds somewhere safer. :)

It's starting to die down now...ready for winter.

How the allotment started...

Dave has just sent me this photo and I'm stunned at how much has been done over the past 2 and a half years! Photo was taken on the 26th Feb 2005. Even the neighbours have an improved plot! Brambles at the back have been cut down once since I've been working on plot 21 but they still come back thick and fast! Makes you realise how much work was put in through the bitterly cold winters digging and the blistering heat of picking produce.

Early 2005

Summer 2006

Amusing vegetable!

I love funny looking vegetables. Supermarket veg is just so boring in shape, always perfectly straight and the perfect orange. Our carrots are conversation starters!! I don't know how they do it (well, no, I do actually but I'm not going to get technical!) but I love the fact that they just look odd. They seem to split into 4 and then twirl their extra carrotty bits around each other! Some of course - just look plain rude but I'll leave that your imagination!

Have a gander at these weird carrotts!
Giant sunflowers - we love em!

Turning orange, it's turning orange.....wooo-hoooo!!!

The pumpkin plant was potted about 2 metres behind the cherry tree. Funny how they nestle in odd places!

September and it's all overgrown!!

Really tall sunflowers!! These are great - Some of their heads are enormous! Most have dropped their heads now so I'm collecting seeds for eating / sowing next year. :)
Pumpkins are doing well but I still fear slug damage! I've dug up the cherry tomato plants as they were in the runner bean shade and thus died. I'll remember next time where I plant things so that they are not next to giant plants!
Yellow courgettes have been lovely (especially in curries!) and the runner beans have been bonkers as usual!
I'd like to run peas up the sunflowers next year as they have grown really well and some have great supports.

This is our second largest sunflower and the bees love it!

Pumpkin turning orange!!

Yummy yellow courgettes!

Hmm...sweetcorn damage. Mice? Birds?

Bzzzzz zzzzz zzzzz

Standard courgette

Lots and lots and lots of runner beans!!

August growth

Has the rain stopped? As well all know it has been the worst summer on record and the slugs have loved it. We've lost some lovely beans, the carrots have been attacked, squashes have barely grown and the tomatoes were a disaster. Could be worse tho - there are instances of blight occurring all over the country!! (Glad we didn't plant any potatoes!)
On the other hand tho - we've dug back more of the plot this year and (Disco) Dave is now helping out with the development of the plot. He's been building contraptions and helping to fix the greenhouse. :)
All the sunflowers that Karl went a bit crazy with have popped up too...

Tallest sunflower at the back of the greenhouse

Dave's "sifting soil" contraption - you plonk in the soil and shake it for weeds with a sieve.

Runner bean bush!

I spent about 30 minutes to get this stupid trapped bird out from the netting on the next door neighbour's plot. They truly are daft creatures!

Sunflowers...everywhere!!

Beer traps Welsh style - Give em a bit of 'bow (Strongbow) and they love it and die! No wasting decent beer - give em cheapo cider!

Pumpkins!!

Slug damage - aarrgghhh!!

New Talent

I do not care what Delia, Ainsley, or Gordon say, I make the BEST Rhubarb and Apple crumble in the world!

I know, I know....it's hardly a challenge throwing together sugar, flour, and margarine on top of fruit but it's the way you use the cinnamon that makes it sooooo tasty!

YUM!

Summer is utterly crap!

This has got to be the worst summer on record. Rain, wind and now thunderstorms!!
It's JULY Folks! HE-LLOOOOOO - Sunshine anyone? I seem to recall a heatwave around this time last year but this year - well, looks like summer has buggered off!
Utter rubbish

...and I'm on holiday next week! Ughh!

Sorry...rant over!
I'm using the BBC forecast as MetCheck seems to to have misplaced the icon for bloody scary thunderstorms - it just shows rain as the main forecast. :(

Allotment Views

I just couldn't look at the compost bin anymore so I spent the best part of 4 hours on Sunday clearing the bind weed from around the compost bin and weeding some of the beds. It was a dirty job but my God it needed doing!
Looks much better now but I'm going to have to clear some more around the bottom as it's near impossible to reach some areas. (I just know there is a nest of bind weed down there plotting revenge!)
I thought that I would take some more general photos of the plot as most of my pics are close ups and it looks rather nice and green at the moment. :)
NEWSFLASH: We can't get any slug pellets as there are restrictions on buying it in bulk. (Phospahates and Nitrates restriction from recent attempted bombings in the UK) The allotment shop has none in stock until further notice. We are now using bran??!

Tidy compost bin!

Towards the back of the greenhouse

I weeded the sunflowers and courgettes as they were getting approached by mares tail!

Weeded the front beds too as this was just a bit messy. Unfortunately we lost the Kohl Rabi!

Bran?

No, we haven't started making breakfast at the plot but apparently slugs eat bran and it dries them up like a stick so we're giving it a try as there are NO slug pellets at the shop!!

I managed to make a collage of the front of the plot. Must make a panoramic view!