Somewhat Belatedly This Year...

The old crops have given way to make room for the new sowings and that means the last of the tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. It has been a rather mild Autumn, which undercover has meant warmer temperatures for those non hardy crops. So to FF the compost bins are now overflowing and the beds in the poly are cleared for the new season. As I seek to draw a close on 2013 cropping, I look forward to 2014, which means an early taste of Spring - namely peas and broad beans.
Direct sown today were Douce Provence and Oskar pea; also Aquadulce Claudia and The Sutton broad bean.

The Moon In June

I reflect back on a month in which the "supermoon" occured.

It happened to fall two days after the Summer Solstice and marks the point at which the nights start to draw back in. Now, whilst we still have a long way to go in the growing season, it also signals how behind we are this year. 

The tomatoes in some cases are only just starting to set. It has been too cold to put out the sweetcorn, so I have supplemented my allotment planting, with a planting in the polytunnel.

These are lush and green, compared to my wind battered, slightly yellow tinged outdoor ones.

Now the night time temps are steady at 10°c and above, I have transplanted my two melon plants, cucumber and butternut squash. I have a full side of tomatoes inter planted with basil and marigolds. The climbing peas are flowering, as are the potatoes and peppers.

Going Potty In May

Well all this Spring sunshine has certainly brought on the plants. The flat leaf parsley has bolted and so I have removed it. The chooks have enjoyed that. In the gaps I have planted two tomato plants, Cyril's Choice and Grushovka. The broad beans are setting teeny tiny beans. The grape vines are unfurling their leaves. The garlic and onions are thickening up and shooting up. The beetroot leaves are doubling in size; chard too. Today's task was to empty the shelving of flower seedlings, moving them to the coldframe for hardening off. Then I planted each of my pepper seedlings into Morrisons' pots, filled with growbag medium, for hanging shelf growing. The peppers will remain in there so long as the weather is a constant 10 degrees at night.
My daughter's peas are through and we have two nice straight lines of double seedlings. The canes are already in place as it is a climbing pea, but I have not yet put up any netting. This I will do soon, as I am sure they will romp away in this heat. I also have a white borage plant flowering away. This year I must collect seed.
The sides are being lifted each day on the Haygrove at the moment and I love the fact that I can do this in order to assist air flow.

Spring Has Now Sprung!

Since I last blogged we have had a weekend of Spring sunshine. This was most welcome and seems to have lulled everyone into a start on their tender sowings. I am however holding off as the long range forecast has predicted further snow flurries and late frosts, IN APRIL!
I spent all of Saturday going through the plants in pots, planting those that needed to go into the garden, potting up herbs bought or divided, tidying up others that looked a little unloved. I regraveled the steps and put all pots on them, so that they could enjoy a little warmth. It meant that my central path in the polytunnel became free for me to walk down, so I took the time to perform a little weeding and watering. I pulled the last of the celeriac and we shall have that in soup. In its place some peas have been sown by my daughter. She chose a climbing pea and I am hoping that in the protected tunnel they will stay free of pea moth! As she was sowing, I noticed four dark green shoots, small but definitely there. Lo and behold, WE HAVE POTATOES THROUGH! These were the red Duke of York that I planted back in February.

The beetroot that I planted a week or two ago are coming on well, as are the chard plants. Carrots are a mass of feathery tops and the broad beans are now romping away. My grapevines are budding and I suspect are going to throw a mass of leaves anytime soon, I really must buy some structure for them to grow up. Finally the alliums are thickening and are looking lush and green. I am hoping they give me an earlier crop of onions compared to my allotment varieties. We will see.

Anyhow Spring I feel has now sprung, somewhat later than normal - a month later, which is why I am holding back on my tender sowings, just by a couple of weeks, to be safe, not sorry.

April Showers

Today felt like Spring finally. The Haygrove is really coming into its own now as the temperature in there was in the 30s whereas the air temp outside was 10. The greenhouse temperature readings were in the 20s.
I spent a long time today watering and hoeing at the soil cap. The beetroot seedlings were planted between the carrots and the radishes. No sign of any potato shoots yet, but it has been very cold.
The garlic, onions and shallots haven't changed from my last report. I must sow my lablabs soon if this good weather continues.

It's Bean A While...

As I write this we are officially in Spring and the snow lies not just on the ground, but also on the polytunnel cover. Visions of getting an early "March" on the allotment now lie in tatters, or should that be tatties? Mine are still nestled in egg trays on the dining room table and are resplendent with chits. I was rather hoping that either St Patrick's Day or Good Friday would provide me with both the time and the weather, but as further snow and low temperatures are predicted, that looks unlikely. Thankfully, I have planted a few tubers of Red Duke of York into a polytunnel bed. The carrot seedlings are through, radish also, plus spring onions are beginning to emerge. My broad beans are putting on growth and in some cases, flowers. Peas in guttering are poking their heads above the surface. Garlic is beginning to bulk up as their green leaves start to thicken into a proper neck. The onions are still rather whippy, but they too have new growth. The only sorry tale in the allium story is that of my shallots, which still appear to have nibbled or have no shoots at all. I will be lifting the last of the celeriac soon and adding a deep layer of compost mulch, prior to planting the peas.
But for now, my only job out there is to find a brush and get that snow off!

Winter Wonderland

It's a while since I last posted so it's time to bring you up to speed with where my polytunnel growing is at.
One bed is housing alliums, Onion Radar, Shallot Golden Gourmet and various varieties of garlic. The other bed was sheltering my overwintering herbs and the celeriac. The latter is coming on, but it's time to look towards my Spring vegetables and early pickings. With this in mind I have sown carrot Early Nantes, bunching onion and radish Sparkler. The former two have gone under added cloche/coldframe protection, the latter will have to take its chances. Further along and near to a door end I have planted my broad bean Aquadulce Claudia. These were getting a little too lush and leggy at eight inches, so I have lopped the tops off some, as they will resprout when Spring starts. They are sited near to the door as they will require pollination from the visiting insects.
Back to the alliums, which have put on considerable growth, again possibly a little too lush for this time of year - comparable to outside crops - but the temperature has reached mid teens in there most days. At some point the snows will fall and with it will plunge those daytime readings. It is at this point that growth will be checked, but I wait to see what late Spring will bring for me. Larger crops? Better crops? Earlier crops? Who knows,  I am in my first real year of learning as far as polytunnel growing goes, but I am hopeful that we will yield a start to making our hungry gap just a little bit shorter. Fingers crossed.