Gilly's Allotment

[Bigmallly]

Looking good Gilly. The tatties need to be in a light frost free place so the Greenhouse will be fine. Rub off the white sprouts on your fridge ones, they have grown because they were in the dark. Potatoes do not "have" to be chitted, it's mainly earlies that folk chit to give them a head start.

[Gillykat]

Thanks - I'll take the white shoots off tomorrow when I'm next up.

Really enjoyed myself today....don't think it's quite sank in that this plot is actually MINE to have fun with!!!!

[Bigmallly]

The fun really starts next month when you start sowing. Glad you're enjoying it.

[Kristen]

Rub off the white sprouts on your fridge ones, they have grown because they were in the dark.

Not sure I would bother?? The white shoots are pretty short, and will not colour up in the light. I think its only the long white shoots that matter, as they are brittle and break off easily when planting out, but I reckon?? that those are short enough to be OK (and breaking them off will mean the tuber has to start again, making new ones). If main crop it won't make any odds either way ... but if earlies I'd be much more inclined to leave them be

[NatalieCooke]

Hey Gilly,
Really enjoyed reading your thread. You plot looks great, looking forward to seeing more photo as time goes by!!
Sorry it's late but welcome!

[Gillykat]

Thanks Natalie....I'm having SO much fun and spend every available spare moment there And so does my non-gardener of a husband!!! He's absolutely loving being able to build stuff and has big ideas for a new shed for himself (a man cave!) as well as a nice seating area where he can enjoy a can or two on the summer evenings. Even in just the three short weeks we have had this allotment I have seen his stress levels go down SO MUCH!!!

A few things have been done since my last post: I decided to plant the small spuds (Maris Peer) from my fridge into the polytunnel...just to see what happens really Got quite a few perennial flowers planted up ijn pots in the greenhouse ~ Dahlia 'Arabian Night', Kniphofia x 3, Heliopsis x 3, Dutch Iris x 20, Lupin x 4, crocosmia x 10 and 5 x Chinese Lanterns. On the veggie front I have four Cucumber 'Marketmore 76' and six Tomatoes 'Gardener's Delight' growing well on my south-facing living room windowsill....and today I just noticed a few Pepper 'sweet colour spectrum' beginning to emerge.

Day off work tomorrow so whatever the weather throws at me (and it ain't looking very dry!) I'm still going to get up on the plot and see what jobs I can be getting on with.

A few pics from the last few days.....excuse the 'mess'....it'll all look good once it's done

[bobbin]

Ohh fab plot Gilly. Lucky girl, my has that plot been loved! Well you can't be that great a gardener as you don't seem as successful at growing weeds as the rest of us!
We can't have greenhouses or poly tunnels or sheds on our plots. So I'm super envious. Your comment " shy bairns get nowt" made me laugh as I'm from Gateshead..(someone has to be) and living in Sussex no ones says that! I see you live in Alnwick,I must pay a visit to Alnwick Gardens When I'm up that way maybe in the summer as I've not been yet, have you?
Enjoy your lovely stress busting allotment, it will be one of the best things you've ever taken on.

[Gillykat]

Thanks Bobbin Would you believe though that despite living barely 200yds from Alnwick Castle and five minutes walk from the Gardens I have never been inside *blush* Now THAT would be bad enough but for the fact that Neil used to be a security guard IN the actual gardens himself a few years back!!! He had the whole place to himself every night and would often text me late at night or in the early hours to tell me he had Roe Deer walking past his booth or had a Fox trotting by him, completely unfazed, as he did his patrols or had Tawny Owls hooting like crazy in trees above him It was like a completely different world. I was SO jealous because I'm a keen birdwatcher and nature lover and have to actively go looking for these sort of experiences yet my dear husband had them on a nightly basis!

I definitely plan to get a season ticket for The Garden when I get paid on 27th though and then I can go in whenever I want and enjoy the changing plantings throughout the seasons.

Oh and proof that the allotment is already doing him good - Neil's blood pressure reading at his regular blood test & check-up (he's borderline diabetic) was the lowest it has been for ages and the nurse was really pleased with it. I've noticed a huge change in him myself as he was very stressed out and tense and snappy before but now he's almost Mr Chilled

[TheChemist]

Wow Gilly, aren't you a lucky girl!? That polytunnel is delicious!

Really looking forward to seeing what you do with it all

[Gillykat]

Oh I love my polytunnel....as soon as the council guy mentioned it in the first phone call I was thinking ''I'll take it!'' before I even saw the rest of the plot!!! It's obviously homemade by the previous tenant but I think it'll last another year or two before Neil and I build or buy a better one.

I've already got a few small salad potatoes in (the ones that were beginning to sprout in my fridge ) and I think I might also grow some tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, spring onions, sweet peppers, cucumbers & chillies as well as some flowers inside. I'm a complete and utter novice at growing vegetables so it's a really exciting learning curve and I'm just going to have fun

I was also reading an article in a garden magazine at work today about tomatoes being sweeter when grown outside so I'm going to do a little experiment I think this first year.....have some in the polytunnel and some outdoors (same variety) and see how they compare

[Gillykat]

I've had to transfer my cucumber seedlings (Marketmore 76) into bigger pots as they are growing like beanstalks!!!! I didn't have any suitably 'taller' pots so cut down some 2 litre pop bottles, put holes in the bottom, filled with John Innes seed compost and carefully replanted my plants. I got up this morning expecting them all to have keeled over but they looked happy enough and I've now got some plastic bags over the top to keep the temperature/humidity up AND, more importantly, keep Lily from nibbling on them

Hopefully I'm not doing anything DRASTICALLY wrong....if I am please tell me Will the cucumbers be better off staying in the living room for now until the weather warms up or should I transfer them to the greenhouse where it's slightly cooler? They're on a south-facing windowsill during the day but brought onto my desk (or the small table next to it) once we close the curtains so they don't get chilled overnight. Am I pampering them too much and treating them too much like houseplants!

A quick pic...plastic bags not touching the leaves: I'll make better covers tomorrow if needed

[Bigmallly]

IMO the outdoor grown Toms may be more susceptible to blight so just keep an eye out on them.

[TheChemist]

I'm a novice too. We've done a bit in our garden and in containers, these past couple of years. But no "serious growing"! And I've never really grown flowers, so after the allotment is underway I might actually attempt to make my garden look pretty and not just a muddy, container filled chicken playground!

Have you seen the growveg garden planner? It's free for 30 days. I'm using it to just try and figure out a rough plan. Garden Planner

I've also seen some great spreadsheets about (although I'm sure some graph paper and a pencil is just as good!)

[Gillykat]

Thanks Bigmally....I'll keep an eye out for that

I'm the opposite to you TheChemist ~ I've only ever grown flowers! I'm still going to have a few flowers on the plot to attract bees and hoverflies and other goodies but I'm getting really excited at the thought of having a bash at growing something I can actually eat!

[Bigmallly]

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