Sun and smoke

A quick visit to the plot the low autumn sun was shining through the bonfire smoke giving a suitable effect for Guy Fawkes weekend. Although the sun was shining the air was still cold, I could see my breath at 3pm when I started to work.

The cold has finished off the French beans completely, the pods I had left hoping to gather beans from for next year were now rotten. The weather hadn't stopped the broad beans I planted from germinating, I have a nearly perfect zig zag row of them, I could only see where one was missing and perhaps it'll come trough soon. I do hope they aren't growing too quickly and will survive whatever weather we get until spring.

Both the garden centre garlic and the cloves I got from the allotment shop had began to sprout as well. I had another bulb from the allotment shop so I split that up and planted it too. I had a bag of fifty seed onions to plant, I marked out a row and dibbed holes for them 5" apart as recommended, then when I counted the holes I realised I had sixty four to fill. I guess I'd plant the onions in pairs as far as I could go because the soil on the far side of the plot isn't as good anyway, in the end I had planted all sixty four and there were still a half dozen left which I put in the gaps between the leeks.

I decided to pick a few herbs and gather some potatoes before I went home. I noticed that the foliage on the parsnips has begun to die back and curiosity got the better of me so I tried to pick one. I pulled on the foliage but it all came off in my hand, so I dug away a bit of the soil and then realised this parsnip was bigger than I thought. I got the trowel and began to dig it out, once I could get a firm hold of it I gave a big pull and this monster appeared. It's a bit gnarly and will need peeling before I eat it but i was really impressed with the size, there must be about another twenty of these to harvest.

Net gains

After the success of the strawberry nets I put a large net over the raspberries which look to have a lot of fruit developing on them. A bit difficult to see in this picture but their are two posts with a wire between them and a large net over the whole thing which is held down with pegs.
So far it seems to have worked and today I just picked my first four raspberries and a few dozen more strawberries, sounds a lot but they're only small.

Also I have now thinned out my leeks and one row has now become one and a half rows. I bought a lovely dibber at the garden centre to help me replant them, although it made good holes they mostly filled in again when I watered the leeks back in, I hope my leeks won't be too full of mud. The courgette plants are getting bigger and bigger, there are flowers ready to bloom but they aren't ready just yet.

The parsnips seem to be doing really well, I gave that area a good weeding the other day and was surprised to find a few carrots growing as well, not many but I'll see what happens to them. The mixed salad is growing well as are the second radishes, I've already planted a row of third radishes for when they are ready.

I can't remember which are my earlies and which are the main crop potatoes, the two rows look different, one has much darker foliage, I'll have to see if I can find pictures of each variety and see which is which. They're fully recovered now from that late frost but they're not yet in flower.

When clearing out the ground by the compost bin I decided to lift the onions that had been on the plot when I first got it, they were still rather small but tasted delicious roasted with chicken last sunday.

One foot extra

I didn't take a 'before' picture, but the daffodils were the top boundary to the plot and then it was rough grass, to align my plot with it's neighbours I had an extra foot of space to clear beside the path. In the warm afternoon sunshine I started to dig out the turf, it's very hard work and clearing that strip took almost two hours! I found lots of stones as I dug, I guess they had been thrown to the top of the plot by endless other growers on this site, I'm sure time team would have had a field day with all the crockery and bits of pot and so on, undoubtedly someone very high status must have once live here. I think I'll use this space to plant some herbs like rosemary, sage and lavender.
In other plot news the weeds are coming on fine, and so I had to pull quite a few out. As for the vegetables the broad beans continue growing, although a few have been nibbled. I can see the first growth of some of the potatoes, some of the onion sets are beginning to show and the radishes are still a tiny but perfect row of seedlings.

I Wandered Lonely as a Daffodil...

As you can see spring has not quite sprung at FPMAA, I think there's just one daffodil that you could say is open but the others won't be far behind. Having moved all these daffs from the middle of the plot I think they're doing rather well and make a good boundary to the top of my site.
The big news of the day is that I have the necessary written approval to get a shed! The north corner is the text book place for a shed and most people have them here, I want to put my shed in the the east corner, this is because it's also shaded by the tall hedge and next to the main path, also my rhubarb is very happy in the north corner and I don't want to upset it.
Today I planted out my onion sets, three rows that consist of shallots and both red and normal onions. Then I dug out the pathway I had left between bed two and three as it was a bit of a waste of space, it was mostly grassed over because it was the remains of a path made by the previous plot holder and I didn't really want the grass to spread, speaking of which my neighbour pointed out that my plot is well within it's boundaries and I'm perhaps missing as much as 60cm width, this will have to be addressed next year now as I don't really need the extra room at the moment.