Mid-autumn colours

The last of the sun caught the allotment this evening making it look its best. The pear tree nearest the shed is still holding on to its fruit. They are quite sweet and I'll bring them in soon.

As the potatoes came out I have replaced them with leeks. They are looking good for a Christmas harvest.

We have has weeks of beasutiful dahlias this year. They are still going full pace in the allotment and we will be enjoying them right up until the first frost.

The roses are still producing a few flowers - they don't last long indoors, but they are beautiful and smell perfect.

... and special greetings to my number one blog fans from Brixham, Devon - sorry for the gap between updates!

Basket of delights

At last the rain had come back. Now it has rained on and off for a week, and everything is greening up again. The rain butts have some water in and the stream is folwing again. The roses in the allotment and in the garden have started to flower again and we have a fresh vase on the dining table again. The potatoes continue to delight, and now the tubers themselves are getting larger. The last plant I dug up yesterday (Baltic Rose) has plenty of potatoes for one and half meals. And so far they are all in good condition. Somehow the potato beetles failed to find our plants this year.

Nearly ready for the zoodle machine

Courgette production is still modest - no doubt held up by lack of rain. Nevertheless, there are some courgettes to be had. The trick is to harvest them young enough for the zoodle machine. Maybe I can have zoodles with the chili tonight ... let's see.

The lilies come back every year. They only flower once, but are so cheerful I keep them there.

Branches weighed down by mini fruit

Because we have had very little rain, and the fruit trees in the orchard don't get any extra water, we have had a strange crop this year. Last year the mirabelle did nothing - no blassom and so no fruit. This year it was covered in blossom and is now covered in (still unripe) fruit. There are so many mirabelles that they are managing to bend teh branches of the tree over, making a pretty arch over the path through the orchard.

The apple tree next to the shed is the only one with any number of apples - and it is covered. The apples look great, but non are bigger than a tangerine. Perhaps all the flavour will compressed into the smaller volume! Again the weight of the fruit is really bending the branches. They have hit the floor and are lying on the roof of the shed.

St. Swithun’s Day - a few drips of rain at least

After the lightest of showers the allotment looked a bit better. Nestled between the bars of the shed chair, a furry caterpillar has settled in to a sort of nest. I jope it turns into something nice.

The pumpkins are continuing to advance, and the first fruit are changing from pale vanilla to a sort tangarine colour. It looks promising for a good harvest in the autumn.

Not much chard grew but the few plants that did will provide plenty of leaves. They are looking great mixed in with the marigolds.

Early harvest progressing okay (despite a terrible lack of rain)

The potatoes continue to produce well. In the Sieglinde row, the haulms are starting to die off, but the crop is very good. From one potato planted, we get enough back to feed 2,5 people for one meal.

The pumpkins are going full pace and starting to swamp everything else as usual. The Hokaido plants are a bit less vigorous, but also doing well.

The pair of pear trees (Glou Morceau - grown from bare stick cutting - a gift from my cousins in England) are doing okay, but have drifted off down different paths. There are a couple of pears set on the one by the orchard gate, but the tree near the shed has a really good crop.

Lastly, the apple tree near the shed (and the water butts) has a huge crop of great looking, albeit small apples. I hope they hang on until they are properly ripe - and that the sagging branches don't collapse completely under the load in the meantime.

Mid-summer growing season

Here is a big green grass hopper / cricket which lives in the long grass in the orchard:

There is a small plague of ladybirds, but they are always welcome. Here are some sitting on the leave of the courgette plants:

The courgettes are starting to bear fruit - it's still small now but in anither 3 or four days the harvest can start.

And for the record the potatoes are really good so far. I planted Sieglinde and Pink Gypsy (I think) on 20 April and they are just ready now. Each plant is providing around 12 eggs at around hen's egg size.

Alien shaped succulent

Whilst not strictly allotment or orchard related, my wife continues to demonstrate a creative flair with her growing collection of succulents. In the photo' they are planted in an old sink which was salvaged from the original garden "villa" on the site of our current garden. The specimen at the front edge of the sink (sempervivum) has created plenty of small versions of itself and now thrown up a spectacular flower spike - just the kinf of thing to find in the guest accomodation on board the Enterprise in Star Trek - the Next Generation.

Snap shot of early summer

Here are a couple of pictures just to show that the allotment is alive and doing fine despite no rain for a long time. Most of the plants can get by with just a splash of stored rain water at sunset. The potatoes plants are full size, but haven't flowered yet. In the background, the courgettes have flowered but are still very small plants. In the flower bed the roses are producing some flowers (although nothing like Gentle Hermione in the garden) and the dahlias are gradually getting going.

There is a 50/50 mix of Hokaido pumpkins and muskat pumpkins, all of which are now big enough to fend off most of the slugs.

And along the fence between the allotment and the orchard, the rambling rose is full of flowers, even though it is only one year old.

Slow worms

This year we have seen several slow worms in the orchard. They particularly liked the transition from brambles to long grass at the edge of the river bank. I hope they stick to slugs, snails and worms and leave the roses alone.

It seems they have no defence against cats. I hope Sturm, Schnee and Pantera leave them in peace.

Post-equinox kick-off

Now that there is some heat in the sun and the soil has started to warm up, the new season is just getting underway in the garden. In the real garden the cowslips and primroses are in full bloom.

Over in the allotment the first planting is done. 200 parsnip seeds are in last year's pumpkin bed and the dahlias are out of their sacks in the shed and in the ground.

Signs of spring

Nearly all the peas have germinated and are growing well. Now they just need some warm weather to help them along.

One of the conkers (horse chesnuts) we planted last autumn has also germinated and so far looks healthy and strong.

The insects are also getting used to the warmer weather. A hardy wasp has started making a nest in the tool cupboard at the side of the shed, and the Maikäfer are in full flight.

Most of the seedlings are also now in bigger pots and will be ready to go into the border soon.

First germination in the allotment and blossom in the orchard

After about three weeks the first green shoots have appeared in the allotment. The parsnips have started coming through in all three rows - not complete germination yet, more like 30%, but a good start.

This evening we also saw the first peas coming through. Still no sign of the dahlias, cann or potatoes. In the orchard the best blossom is on the mirabelle and cherry trees at the moment. You can see our house through the mirabelle tree.

And to bring some balance we only have two sets of pear blossom, one on each tree (Glou Morçeau). Last year we had endless pears, so no cause for complaint.

Actual final end of 2020 harvest

Today I harvested the last of the crops from 2020. The beetroots were terrible (again) - from around 30 relatively healthy plants, we got two or three tangerine sized beets, and the rest were rubbish. I will wait a while befor etrying again ... they never work out. The last two savoy cabbages were more of a success. They survived the hard frost in January and tslugs at the end of 2020, and were still good today. We had them sort of flash fried and served with carraway, duck breast and boiled potatoes.

First planting of the year (and standing stones at equinox)

The equinox has been and gone and the clocks have changed to daylight savings time. These two milestones, together with the sunny waeter today were enough to get me out for the first planting of the year. In the south east bed, next to the two small rose bushes, I have put in six small dahlia tubers and the canna from last year (it over-wintered wrapped up in the shed). I hope the dahlias will make some flowers for cutting - the canna is a 50/50 chance depending on whether it survived the hard frost. In the same bed I have put in three half rows of parsnips. The soil is still pretty stoney but you never know what might work. Next weekend I will put the pumpkin (Atlantic Giant and some tasty variety whose name I have forgotten) and chilli seeds (Apache) into seed trays to germinate indoors.

Perhaps somehow inspired by the recent equinox, we visited the local standing stone site. For completeness, our own stone are here:

Last Kohlrabi turned into curry

Yestreday I harvested the last few kohlrabi. They had lasted really well despite the very hard frost. We will certainly grow some more this year.

I turned them into kohlrabi curry. The recipe came from here: https://cheapandcheerfulcooking.com/kohlrabi-curry-with-roasted-chickpeas/ It was pretty tasty and a good way to use the leaves as well as the main body of the plants.

Final flourish of the winter

We had a cold spell in the middle of February and the temperature drop was too much for the Palmenkohl - they just withered and died. The savoy cabbages were gnawed through at the trunk and at the base of the leaves, just leaving the "soft" flat part of the leaves behind. I expect it was mice or voles looking for something sweet to eat. The romanesco plants just rotted before the hearts got bigger than a tangerine. The only real winner was the kohlrabi.

There are still a couple of good looking plants left before the brassicas are all done. Meanwhile in the orchard, there are a few splashes of colour as the crocuses come through.

I look forward to the leaf buds setting soon.

No obvious effects of snow

There was a modest amount of snow last week which made the allotment off limits - you couldn't see where the beds were and the ground was very soft. Today a quick showed that the brassicas are unaffected, and I could take some kale leaves for tonight's kale and pommegarnate salad.

There was even the first glimpse of the romanesco. Of the six plants, two show signs of a heart, and neither are much bigger than a conker. Maybe baby romanesco is a thing.

Winter brassicas

The six Palmenkohl plants (palm cabbages) seem to be working well.

As I harvest the mature leaves the stalk gets longer, making the palm tree effect. We have had the leaves sizzled quickly in a frying pan. Very tasty. The six kohlrabi plants were a moderated success. They made small kholrabis, but they were tasitier than expected. The disadvantage is that once harvested they are gone.

They will also get another try next winter.

New allotment up and running

After many happy years with my old allotment, 2020 was a chance to start again from scratch with a plot much closer to home. The new allotment is adjacent to the orchard and in shouting distance of home. Apart from the nearness, the main advantage is meeting all teh people who stroll past going round the block. The ground had never been worked and so the first months were spent clearing the worst of the stone from the first beds.

By late summer we had had the first crops (potatoes and pumkins mainly) and test brassicas were in for the winter. We have since been enjoying palm cabbage (Palmenkohl) and kohlrabi. I have used some of the biggest stones to build a small henge / stone circle. It is aligned carefully and bring a smile to passing neighbours.

In the small strip of woodland between the orchard and our garden (near the stream) we have put in a hedgehog house in autumn 2019. For the first time there is a hedgehog in there (the small stick over the door moved). That is a great thing.