New Bean Frame Preview

This will be the new bean frame.I'm considering growing all the runner and frenchbeans in the same bed.....any advice?

Fruit Netted

I've at last netted the fruit to try and stop the birds getting too much of it while we are away next week. In theory.

Comfrey Update

The Comfrey is ready for cutting for the next liquid feed.

I've cut the haulm of Lisa's and my potatoes today - I need the space in the GH for beans and squashes. No need to spell out whose is whose! We're intending to harvest them tomorrow. 

The overwintered onions are swelling in the recent rain. 

The Gooseberries are getting larger. 

The seedbed frame is full of salad etc. 

Broccoli on the Wane

I decided it was time to get rid of the Broccoli today in order to prepare the bed for the runner bean frame. (As planned ever since I saw the arrangement on the Saunders' website in January)

Horsetail Carnage

After digging up the Purple Sprouting I needed to do the best I could with the horsetail which seems to be everywhere this year. I may grow the runner beans through GCV to try and keep them at bay as much as possible.

Done & Dusted

....and here it is ready for the bean frame. I may dig the compost heap into it first though.

Potato Update

I cut holes for the potatoes today and dug out what convolvulus I could from beneath it.Paul grows potatoes in his GH at home. Planted on Feb 14th and harvested on his birthday 16th May (yesterday). He grows up to 6 in a bucket at different levels!

Very Small Bean

After all that pampering I think I picked the first broad bean pod a little early!

Squash Seedlings

There's nothing quite so satisfying as a GH full of squash plants - it's now Sunday and these were sown last Monday!

'Ello 'Ello 'Ello

The pigeon police are keeping a close eye on the rubbish in the car park situation...

Sandy Sweet Peas

These are the roots of one of the sweet peas in the GH that had grown through the pots into the sand tray. I had been thinking of getting rid of it but it looks as if it is doing quite a good job.

Brassicas Rehoused

The brassicas are in their new home and protected with a cage of fleece and wire netting. As you can see from the gentleman in the background it hasn't as yet attracted a right lot of attention. I'm very pleased with it though. It is tied together with wire at the corners. I might put some vine eyes into the uprights to attach the wire to instead though.

A Closer Look

Will this deter the little blighters? Time will tell.

Ready to Go!

This was what the brassicas looked like on the way in.

Onions

I've planted out the onions from the modules in the GH. I laid them ot in position first . It saves a lot of time. I think I mentioned before it was my Uncle Peter's advice many moons ago. I'm doing it not because I'm terribly on top of things but because I'm desperate for the space in the Gh with all these squash etc germinating in the study upstairs. The rootball of the onioms had grown right into the sand tray as had the sweet peas I mentoined earlier.. Verdon's onions from modules were planted out a while ago and look really healthy but they are nearly all flowering. It will be interesting to see how mine get on.

A touch of glass...

I like a car with a touch of glass!!! I tidied and so on today but had to curtail my jobs due to a flat tyre. I also broke a pane of glass in the greenhouse by the potatoes just when frost is being forecast for today and tomorrow. I think it will be all right though.

Brassica News

This is the Brassica bed under preparation. I dug & weeded it, added chicken pellets, cultivated it with the claw, raked it, put some manure on this end of it, covered it, used hooks to secure it, and cut the requisite number of slits in it for Brassicas. Then I left it as it 's too windy for the poor little things.(If you're interesed I've got pictures of each stage of the process.)

Brassica Update

...and here are the Brassicas desperate to get in. These pictures are all from Friday but I didn't plant them out because it is so windy.Tim urged me to go ahead but I decided against it.

Goblin Stew

There's nothing quite like it for a hungry fellow down the allotment! Seems a bit hard on the poor little goblins, though.

Naughty Blackbird

Doesn't it know the string is a crafty way of protecting young seedlings from the likes of blackbirds and such? Is it having a laugh or what? If you ask me it's like one of those tabloid reporters getting in to Buckingham Palace - they just want to prove they can do it without causing any real damage.

Small Tortoishell

This butterfly was basking in me strawberry patch. I think it may have been up to something....