Pics 'n' mix

As mentioned in yesterday's blog ( you wait weeks and two come together!!) here are some photos from the plot taken just this morning...


I don't think the quality is very good. These photos are taken on a t303 sony ericsson phone - which was brought in a rush as I needed a phone quickly after dropping my old but reliable phone down a toilet pan!! Mobile phone tip 1: do not store phone in shirt pocket, it will fall out at a time that is pretty inconvenient! Mobile phone tip 2: keep your numbers on the SIM card, then when the phone gets soaked the numbers are still saved!

Any how the new cheap and cheerful phone was purchased in a rush and didn't realise that the screen is mirrored - very useful for when I need to sort out my make-up (and that is never as I'm a fairly normal guy, who goes for the natural look!!), but totally useless when being used in bright sunlight, or for taking photos...I don't think this "feature" has been thought through.
Mobile phone tip 3: Before buying a mobile phone, research the features, and if possible avoid mirrored screens!

Then again it is a new phone, so someone might advise how to deal with this.


OK, that is a long enough excuse for rubbish photos, so here they are:






Onion bed, all looking good and healthy, although the shoots have all been knocked over. Not taken many home, as the lady of the house keeps getting them from the market! D'oh!



Raspberry (autumn fruiting, apparently!!) Very sweet and tasty.




Ribena plant, still taste a bit earthy - though the berrys are nice and fat.


A ladybird larvae, having a rest after eating lots of black fly (hopefully) on one of the french bean plants.


Some black fly that need a visit from a lady bird larvae, on a different french bean plant. When the leaves get really infested they curl over...which is about all you'll be able to see, unless you check the undersides of leaves!!

The broad bean bed, now cleared and hosting the small toms, and courgette plants..

Hmm, this is the mixed bag that was supposed to be for (from l to r ) beetroot, carrot and parsnip (not sure if any can through!). But, is actually hosting a few tomato plants, a sunflower and various weeds!! See other posts for more...

My sweetcorn, now they are big, I'm hoping that the slugs will leave them be....got some more coming on in the garden, so will hopefully finish with a good crop.

A ladybird - hopefully laying some eggs, that will later fill its belly with black fly - support your local ladybirds.

And lastly, this out of focus shot is of a ladybird larvae, that is on it's way to being a ladybird- not seen this before - shows you what you notice, when you are looking closely at stuff!

Still no good shots of the fish...they are too fast, and the camera phone is too mirrored to get a clean photo!

Attack of the ginger cat!

Hallo again, I have been down at the allotment quite a bit, keeping up with watering mostly... with summer getting into full swing - it has been very busy.

So what's been happening?

Broad beans have finished up - took a last few been from them, and have now chopped them all back to the roots. The roots are left in as they will rot and release the nitrogen they fixed from the air. The top of the plants were covered in black fly, and these have headed for the compost bin....but not before I decided on some eco-recycling!!

The black fly are a big pest on the smaller plants, like my peas and french beans, and I spotted some ladybird larvae on the broad beans. I had a look over the plants I had pulled up, and harvested about 12 ladybird larvae, some quite big, these have now been distributed across the plot to help in keeping down the black fly. I'll try and get some photos of the ladybird larvae.

Well it is worth a try to see what happens, as up to now my best defence against black fly have been spraying with a strong jet of water, spraying with a soap solution and rubbing them off with my fingers!! None of these is a perfect solution to the problem. If the black fly go unchecked, the plant has all the life sucked out of them.

The bed which was cleared has been semi-weeded, and now hosts a couple of courgettes and a couple of tomato plants! All donated by a neighbour, the tomato plants look a bit weak and spindly, but are still better then the ones I'm growing from seed, and already have a couple of small fruits on them. The courgettes are already flowering, and again these are further forward than the 3 plants I've added to the plot! So is good to let people know that you have a plot, as donations are readily accepted!

Elsewhere, the raspberries have a few ripe fruits, now as these are very delicate, I've been eating these one by one!!! Next year the plants will be more established, and I'll get more fruit hopefully. The blackcurrants are looking big and juicy - but the ones I've sampled taste quite earthy, not at all like ribena! The wild brambles (aka blackberries), are spreading everywhere
and to be honest are a bit of nuisance, as they are covered in thorns it is hard to hand weed around them...I may reconsider having them, unless I can work out how to tame them somehow!

Strawberries are almost finished, a few small fruit still coming...these have been in my eyes a big success, and look forward to more next year.

The onions are all sitting with brown skins now, so can be plucked and taken home as needed, I'll fill up the bed with something else now - and the same goes for the rest of the broad bean bed...


The potatoes plants are looking healthy, and some plants are starting to flower, which I am led to believe is the time to dig up "earlies" / salad potatoes, I'm been advised to check out if their ready by digging up one plant.

The bed with the carrots, beetroot and parsnips is a bit of a pick n mix affair...I think a lot of the compost came from my back garden, and must have been filled with various seeds from the bird feeder and rotting tomatoes!! The reason I'm saying this as of the plants I can identify I've definitely got a few tomato plants and sunflowers!!


Sweetcorn are doing well, with the plants probably over 30 cm tall now!

I've been down to the plot regular, to keep the fish fed, the water is still not crystal clear, but my neighbours advise that it will still take time!

I'm not the only one keeping an eye on the fish!!

This ginger tom cat is a regular visitor to all the plots, and has a grand time keeping the mice and bird numbers down. He is a really nice cat, and will race up to see you, and roll on his back to get a tickle...but I've now seen his keen interest in my fish, which included trying to get his paws in (and the fish out!). The mesh has proved it's worth! I still have four fish, who are now settled in and more comfortable... so when I feed them, they are very active, and are not so skittish when I walk by ( or the cat tries to paw them! ).

I had let a lot of weeds get established so this morning I got the hoe out and got rid of some, but plenty more to go!

More soon! Phew that was quite a long post!! I'll try and get some more photos taken, as they help to put things into context!

Latest Photos & News

I'm amazed at plant life - it just wants to get on and do it's stuff. The weeds are spreading quickly - think I'm going to have issues with some sort of creeper type weed (bindweed??). Hadn't noticed it when clearing the plot, so it must be an opportunist that likes empty sites. I think that I'm on top of the weeds at the moment, but it is a continuous task!

Also noticing a lot of random potato plants all over the length and breadth of the plot...not ones I planted myself, so I'll ask my neighbours and see if they are worth leaving to get an extra unexpected harvest from!!

Strawberries have done very well, all looking bright red and shiny...which attracted the birds!

They munched a few of the ripe berries, it seems that blackbirds take a nibble from a berry fly off, and then come back to the same berry to take a little more...this is what I'm noticing, about four or five strawbs with about half the berry eaten! Though I'm still not sure causing the berries that are totally detached from the plant - and animal walking through, a bird pulling it off??
To protect the strawbs, I've covered the bed with some netting, the left over from covering the fish pond. This seems to have done the trick, and the birds are now elsewhere to get their grub.

Photo: Netting on strwaberries, straw not fully installed.
Bought some straw to lay under the fruit, as this keeps them drier, and stops them from rotting - also looks nice too! I've seen one allotmenteer heading home with 4 large boxes of strawberries which seems an amazing result to get that much in one go...I'm getting enough to share around at home with ice-cream - but will need more plants next year if I want to make strawberry jam.


The onions are nice and mature now, so will just take these home as required...so no need for shop bought...ok, that is apart from red onions, and spring onions! I'll grow some red onions next year to give a bit of a mix.

Broad beans are coming to an end, I've been really pleased with this new vegetable, it grows quick it fairly hassle free - it crops very heavily and tastes nice too. I've had three big harvest of about 4-5kg each time - and this gives about 1kg of beans to eat, I think I'll have another small harvest to go, and then I'll clear out the bed. My excess beans have been blanched and frozen. Also given some away to people who say they like them (had them as kids etc...).

I've got some canes up at the plot, which gives a professional look to the plot.




Unfortunately the canes are over 2metres tall, and the peas I've planted are only going to grow about 90cm. So will look a bit bare!! Should have put in some runner beans, but no one was keen on eating runner beans!! I have also planted some French Bean (alors!), which don't climb high, and some courgettes.
The photo above is shows the last of the sweetcorn from this bed - 8 plants left, from the original 40 - I've moved them together. I'm hoping that the slugs will leave some of the french bean and
peas alone, but the word from the rest of the allotment is that the slugs are on the rampage. Watch this space - which is all that the slugs leave behind.

News from the rest of the plot...fish are happy, raspberries and currants show early fruits, so I'm feeding these up. Carrots are few and far between, beetroot looks good...potatoes are healthy.