Allotments 4 All

Week 43, and my tomatoes and peppers came out of the greenhouse border today because mould had started to appear. There are only a few runner beans left and frost is forecast for hereabouts at the weekend.

On the upside, we had our first (of many) leeks today. I've got an allotment full of kale, sprouts, broccoli, chicory, endive, winter lettuce and cabbages at various stages of development. The onion and garlic tips are already appearing. There's the seakale and witloof to get in next month for forcing. And in January it all starts again with the first sowings of tomatoes and onions and herbs...and potatoes to chit...

Then there's a few beds to prepare and the leaves to collect...

So 'the end' of the growing season is really only another beginning.

How's it going where you are?

I got some leeks from a nursery a few weeks aog - they were selling them off cheap, so I only planted them last weekend, they look like chives at the moment, so hope I am not too late?!

We have some winter lettuce in and planted our onions and garlic too. at the lottie.

I am TRYING to grow in the cold frame for planting out a) spinach, b) cabbage and c) spring onions but the first lot a) bolted, b) got got by caterpillars, c) taking an age to grow! so hope to be planting them out soon.

Picked another butternut at the weekend and have about 3 more TRYING to do something, so have wrapped them in fleece and cut the plants right back as they are still trying to flower and procude new shoots.

Got my garlic in last Friday ish and they're poking through already  :o  Winter lettuces are up as are the pak choi (risked a few late ones),  I've got some good looking spinach "Bordeaux" which are eaten at baby leaf stage apparently so not far off that already.  Still digging up gorgeous celeriac.  Cabbages doing rubbish so slung some of the awful looking ones.  Got some courgettes off yesterday but pulled the plants off now as they look terribly manky.  I'm getting my bean rigs up and putting old mouldy beans on the  "to compost" pile
Lovely and warm on plot yesterday - so had a lovely afternoon (after huge pub lunch) just pottering about on the plot.  Emptied the container pepper plants etc out and am going to move my home made cold frame to nearer the shed as it's a tad exposed at the moment.  Got some cauli seedlings to pot up and when they've made some growth, will put them in there.  Got orders in with Kings and Suttons.  Off now to watch the lotty prog on telly  :)

Still picking runners, much to my amazement!!! Got 5 augergines at the weekend, think that's it for them, have cleared the squash patch (+ 7 toads, put in new compost heap..) erm, still have pots to lift, leeks are now being eaten, loads left!! onions/garlic now shooting nicely, spring onions doing well, broad beans in. But have also had to clear out greenhouse toms, they got blight at end of the season, but they did really well. Cucumber plant  has 3 on it! Still have lettuce and celery, getting tough now though.
Preparing beds, but not digging this season, thank you Wardy!!
Now in process of expanding lottie area and digging trench to keep out bunnies, no moat though, this time.... ;)  And building bonfire for Guy Fawkes night bash, and yes, won't forget to check for hedgehogs, snails, worms, bees, small children and stoats...... ;D Lottie
Ooo thanks, Wardy, can watch 10 mins!!

Still one row of PFA potatoes to lift. Tonnes of carrots left, and beetroot. The spinach appears to be ok for picking still. All other seasonal stuff appears to be finished.
New stuff to harvest - leeks, and parsnips. the celeriac is looking very disappointing. The swedes are still small.

The newly planted onions and garlic are just that, no sign of anything yet. I still have 14 cloves of elephant garlic to plant ...

Everything else is concerned with clearing and digging. I am on holiday next week, so hope to get a lot done then. I will have lots of little fires, and maybe get the barbeque going too ...  :D

Derekthefox :D

Plot number one is still packed!  Have 4 rows of leeks, each row different, 1 row almost all in flower!  Have started using them now all of my japanese onions have been used up.

Celery and celeriac are still growing, the celeriac is nicely bulbing now and I have used a couple, the celery is big and leafy, but the stems are incredibly slim, tasty tho and great in cooking.

I didn't grow carrots in neat rows in the end, I made a flat bottomed drill and broadcast sowed the seeds so have masses and masses still in the ground.  Am hoping that as the plot is very free draining, they will be okay insitu, pulling as needed.  Following everyones advice, I have kept the fleece on and they are all coming out hole free!

Parsnips, 2 rows of, digging as I need them, whilst wearing plenty of protective gear!  Gladiator - a nice white sweet 'snip.  Had a couple roasted at the weekend with a lovely piece of pork - YUM!

Swedes are very small, but alongside them are 2 rows of beetroots which I am pulling as I need them, and again, am hoping they can stay put through the winter, just coming out as I need them.  None are huge, the biggest just a little bigger than a tennis ball.

Pulled out the last of the radish as they were flowering, but still have loads of different lettuce and radiccio and spring onions to keep the salads home grown for now.  May try using some fleece or a cloche over some of the young cut and come again italian leaf mix I have growing, to keep it going a bit longer!  Also have a nice patch of chinese mustard (thanks Yuet) - very spicy!!

Still lots of apples on the trees, which I really must try and pick now, and my strawberrys are in flower again....so you never know, might get one or two, if the sunshine holds on!

Sprouts aplenty!  Green and red!!  The green ones are getting huge, bigger than a pingpong ball some of them!  Delicious steamed, cut in half, then fried in butter!!  Kale, curly, red and black, spinach - proper not perpetual, sowed very late summer and has been growing quicker than we can eat it.  A much more delicate leaf I feel.  Bright yellow and white swiss chard all turning into monsters!  Cabbages growing well for spring greens.

French beans in flower again so fingers crossed, and my very late chancy sowing of runners is now cropping nicely.  I am picking them whilst they are still young and slim as I have no idea how long this good weather will last and it would be a shame to loose the lot!  They are delicious and are a variety called Butler.

Parsley, both curly and flat have grown into a hedge!  Don't know if I should freeze some, or cover the plants with fleece.

Plot number 2 is almost empty!  There are a few courgette and squash plants left, I will pick the last of the fruits when I go to the plot on Wednesday and clear the plants onto the compost heap.  There is also a row of tomato plants under my patent pending blight beating tomato house.  When I popped up on Saturday I noticed a few toms turning red.  Might clear the lot now and bring all the green toms home to ripen and make some chutters.  There is a row of mooli radish getting bigger by the day and that is it on plot number 2. 

At home I have moved all of the pepper, chilli and aubergine plants into the greenhouse, which is now lagged for the winter.  I am keeping everything crossed as I have 10 aubergines which are still babies!  Hope they grow!!  I will try to keep these going for as long as possible, and my choice, healthiest chilli plants will come into the conservatory in November time to overwinter in warmth!  I also have 4 big pots/bags with spuds in as a little experiment to see if there are any spuds in there on Christmas day.

So there you have it....looking forward to planting my onion sets and garlics on Wednesday and finishing off emptying my compost heap.

Sounds very productive still EJ.   My spring onions which were sown about six weeks ago are very spindly and seem to have no vigour at all.  Any tips.  I have been feedling them with Miracle Grow about once a week

I've got celeriac and have been eating it for weeks.  I'd never tasted it until I got myself a lotty (as you can't buy it in the shops) and now I'm a convert.  It makes fab soup  :)

I agree on the celeriac Wardy, although my favourite way of eating it, is as wedges thrown in alongside the potatoes when roasting. It comes out slightly crisp, and of course with its own distinctive taste. Yum yum.  :)

Derekthefox :D

I roasted them like potato galettes but they were too thin to get any flavour so wedges it is next time, as it's a waste if you don't get that lovely celeriac hit  :)

Very interesting posts folks: just one thread on A4A is worth 100 BBC2 documentaries on 'allotmenteers'!

They are worth a lot more than that to me TM, because I dont watch television ! ! !

Derekthefox :D

Almost like mild summer weather yesterday and today at the lottie - lovely.  Having cleaned out the g'hosue we are now very busy dividing the plot into permanent beds with permanent paths inbetween - easier to manage for us old folks! ;)

Lots of carrots still - fly free due to being kept covered, leeks thickening up and proably could start picking, have started picking the sprouts but they are not very tall this year (Peer Gynt), savoy cabbages looking great and heartening up nicely, winter caulis looking good and just beginning to produce heads, swedes have at last started to swell (due to very heavy 3 days of rain last week) and am waiting for that magic "touch of frost" to give them the best flavour!!  Think the Sungold toms are on their last legs but I will leave them until I have picked the last edible one!  Late strawbs still producing a few - tho not what you could call sweet still welcome.

Still lots of flowers giving colour so everything in the garden is rosy!!

Had our first leeks yesterday- smelled and tasted great! Picked the last of the sweetcorn and pulled up the courgettes.
Scuse my ignorance, but what/when is the aforementioned lottie ptogramme?

The big dig on bbc 2 at 3.30 till 4.30 all this week  :)

The good, the bad & the ugly!

Almost everything is out now. I won't bore you with the figures - but if you want to look -

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/tally.jpg

Tim   you're very organised and methodical. I envy that  :)  I don't do such stuff but wish I did as when it comes to planning what I want to grow next year I won't remember anything.  Making notes is a "must do" job next year

I must remember to remember to make notes next year... ::) Lottie  ;D

I'm very jealous. Just a newbie, started in July. Still I am picking courgettes and some beautiful French Beans. Radishes still OK but finishing.

Various things in for next year, brassicas, onions, and now to finish off the raised beds and put in a fruit cage.
Cheers
Cliff