Forgive me farther.

For I have sinned.

It has been 3 months since my last post - but I have thought about you on more than one occasion.

I have given up on trying to blog at home - our BT connection is so rubbish. 0.256MB! Crazy. Hopefully we'll soon be with Virgin who quote 'up to' 10MB - but let's face it, even 1MB will be an improvement!

Anyway - back to the plot.

I shan't bore you with a run down of what I've done since my last post. A) it would take too long and you'd never read it, B) I can't actually remember what I've done in all those three months. So, I'll start here, where we are now and we'll go from there...



These first pictures give you a good idea of how things look currently. The first is from the gate and you can just make out the compost heap (which needs turning) on the left bottom of the picture. There are a number of beds now created - most of which are being used and some still awaiting tenants.

At the back of the picture (top right) you can see the rhubarb which has done really well this year (although it keeps bolting due to the shortage of rain - no matter how much I water it), and next to that the raspberries. The raspberries need a good weeding as there is a lot of grass and other weeds growing up through it - so it's a hands and knees job.



The next photo is from the other side of the plot and you can make out the four beds of potatoes (yes, four). This is pretty much how I started when I first started planting on the plot - scroll back through the posts and you'll see. Kind of completion of the circle I guess.

The bench is still holding up - though I will probably move this to the back of the plot - away from the pond and create a kind of area for Hayden to play in and Bev to relax in - make it a kind of family friendly plot. There is already a load of timber there that I intend to use, when I find the time of course!

So, here's a quick run down of what's in the ground.

Onions - 'Sturion'. Spring planted and I feared that I might be a bate late with these, but with the cold weather it may have been a blessing in disguise as I may have caught up with everyone.



My garlic seems to be coming along nicely - growing fat necks and a decent amount of foliage. I can't recall the variety but they are not a supermarket garlic - which is what I grew last year. These are 'proper' growing garlic, so I may be a convert. They even received a compliment from one of my fellow allotmenters.



I have three types of peas growing - all HSL varieties. Some 'Stephens' that are self saved seeds from last year - and some Victorian Purple Podded and Poppet.







There are also Martock Broad Beans - again, grown from self saved seeds, and also some Crimson Flowered (HSL) which look to be doing ok.





I'm trying 4 varieties of potatoes this year - Kestrel, Pink Fir Apple, King Edward and Golden Wonder. My heart sank when we had the late frosts - almost all my plants were hit - I didn't realise that they would come back, and come back they are thankfully. Might be a bit later than usual, but hopefully will still bear fruit (as it were).











I also planted a rose (Dublin Bay) against one of the rose arches I bought a couple of years ago. I've never grown a rose before - so thought I'd give it a try. It seems happy enough at the moment - time will tell of course.



What else...

Oh yeah - I have a row of beetroot (did really well last year) and a row of Swiss Chard. Never tried chard before, so will probably stick to the one row. Might need a bit of thinning out at some point, but still exciting trying new things to grow!





I've also made a bit of a start on growing herbs - not a great start, just some Dill - but it's a start right?

I have also planted two lots of sweetcorn - one standard 'sweetcorn' and another double coloured variety. I can't tell which one's which from the photos, but hopefully will be able to tell them apart when they fruit...

In some 'spare time' I also made myself a cold frame - I know it's a bit late in the year but not having a garage or a shed big enough I'm restricted to working outside on things like this and with the weather we've been having of late. Well. I had some left over chipboard from the bike shed and some odd bits of timber in the main shed - so drew up some plans (in my head) and set about putting it together. It needs a lick of paint, and I'm hopefully going to pick up some acrylic. I'm quite pleased with the result and look forward to making use of it next year.



I think that's probably about enough for now.

Oh, just one more thing - my other Bean is growing well, and should be helping me in the garden before long. ;)





Edit - just noticed the potato photos are skewiff - bladdy Picasa! I'll do better next time.