Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

A couple more photos



The new fruit bushes have been mulched with leaves.



Buds are breaking on the pink blueberry.



Rhubarb is showing signs of growth .

[Penellype]

March



Things re starting to look a bit greener.



The hotbed has been planted up and a cover put over for colder nights. The bed behind is empty and grew cauliflowers and romanesco last year so the plan is to move the growhouse onto this bed and plant cauliflowers where the growhouse currently is.



Beetroot has been removed from the 2nd bed, which will be a hotbed this year. The top layer of the nearest bed will be moved across to make it deeper. I have ordered the cauliflowers which should arrive mid March and some will be planted in the nearer bed.



The PSB in this bed is just starting to make central heads. I am hoping that the net has kept off the cabbage aphids, which are still a problem in the tunnel.



I've added extensions to the hoops over this bed and covered it with the biggest net I have. Hard to see, but there are some peas planted in the left half of the bed.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



The PSB doesn't look much different but there are plenty of shoots. The tricky bit is finding ones that are not full of aphids. The fleece in the middle covered beetroot which has now been harvested. I need to tidy up a bit in here.



Not much growth on the strawberries yet.



Parsnips are starting to grow new leaves and probably want eating soon.



I'm sure the strawberries are normally further forward than this. Perhaps they are suffering from lack of sunshine - February was very, very cloudy.



I think the spinach is starting to grow a little.

[Penellype]

Fruit



Flowers just starting to open on the apricot tree. Maybe this year I will get my first apricot, but I am not holding my breath!



Quite a bit of green on gooseberry Invicta, which is ahead of the other 2 varieties.



Buds are starting to break on the blackcurrant.



Loads of flower buds on the pink blueberry.



Rather fewer on the blue bush (Spartan). My blueberry bushes at home have almost no flower buds at all, which is disappointing.

[Penellype]

Veg



The spinach under the net is not looking very happy.



Meteor peas under the tall net.



The west side of the hotbed - spinach grown in modules and some direct sown, with slug gone wool pellets. The germination is rather patchy, but it has done better than the lettuce and red veined spinach sown on the right of the picture, which haven't appeared at all. The net is to stop the cat from using the bed as a litter tray.



Half pint peas in the middle of the hotbed. To the right (east) are onion sets which are just starting to show.



Close up of one of the PSB in the tunnel.

[Andraste]

I keep a log like this myself offline - although I'm not so good at taking pics (I resolve every year to do better). Prompted me to go back & revisit the first few pages of this thread & I just wanted to say 'Well done you!' The progress you've made since 2018 is a credit to your hard work.

Thanks for taking the time to share your plot. I find it inspiring to see what you've done over time & I often steal ideas or add to my to-do list (you're a few weeks ahead of me weather-wise so I get to compare how things are looking).

[Penellype]

I keep a log like this myself offline - although I'm not so good at taking pics (I resolve every year to do better). Prompted me to go back & revisit the first few pages of this thread & I just wanted to say 'Well done you!' The progress you've made since 2018 is a credit to your hard work.

Thanks for taking the time to share your plot. I find it inspiring to see what you've done over time & I often steal ideas or add to my to-do list (you're a few weeks ahead of me weather-wise so I get to compare how things are looking).

Thanks for your kind comments Andraste. One of the reasons I post these pictures every month is so that it gives people an idea of how different crops grow over time. I also find the photos extremely useful as a record of exactly where things were at a given time - its no good thinking something was ready in June when a photograph clearly shows it still there on 1st July! Its also useful for remembering what I grew where, especially as I tried several different naming systems for the beds, so in my notes bed1 was completely different in different years (not recommended!). I finally arrived at a sensible system about 3 years ago, labelling the 4 west beds W1 (road end) to W4 and the 4 east beds E1 to E4 and now I know what I am doing.

[Andraste]

I certainly learn from my pics too It wasn't until I was looking back at last year that I was able to realise why our cabbage didn't do well when we did nothing different. You could clearly see where they went from doing nicely to getting checked by a particularly not spell & never properly recovering despite watering visits. But I hadn't picked that up during plot visits at the time.

[Penellype]

April



Things are looking less wintery, with the blackthorn in flower in the hedge.



The cover has been removed from the hotbed, with onions, half pint peas and spinach doing well, The rhubarb is big enough to harvest now.



The old hotbed is waiting for cauliflowers, which I potted up in the greenhouse at home when they arrived as I had electricians in the house at the time and couldn't easily get to the plot. I need to get the bed behind filled with horse muck at some point to make another hotbed.



2 of the PSB plants are being harvested, the 3rd (same variety) is bigger but has no flower shoots yet. Potatoes have been planted in 8 buckets under the plastic cover.



The Meteor peas are growing well. I need to move the growhouse from the bed behind to the one next to it so I can plant cauliflowers where it is now. The panes of glass are easily lifted out and the aluminium frame is very light, so it isn't a heavy job, just rather awkward.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



The PSB is producing well although there are still a few pesky aphids. I keep spraying with dilute washing up liquid, which is keeping them under control. It apparently has no effect on the whitefly though. The bed in the middle has been mulched with compost from last year's potatoes.



Nothing in the cold frame yet (one of the lids is broken so it isn't all that useful for frost protection). I mist clear up that disintegrated brick!



Parsnips are well and truly sprouting - I always grow far too many, but at least my horse will eat them when they get too woody for me.



The strawberries are putting on some new growth.



Spinach at the shady shed end of the tunnel is growing very slowly. I have been picking some.

[Penellype]

Vegetables



Yellow beetroot grown in modules has been planted next to the cold frame in the tunnel. The white stuff is Slug Gone wool pellets.



Spinach near the raspberries is growing better than in the tunnel, probably due to more sun.



3 sowings of spinach in the hotbed - on the left are module grown plants, the other 2 rows were direct sown. The net is to keep the cats off, and the bed has been covered with a plastic cover on cold nights until yesterday when I pinched it for the potatoes.



Half pint peas and onions in the hotbed. This has a tendency to grow mushrooms - I removed a load yesterday but they are back in the top right corner this morning.



8 buckets of potatoes (4 Lady Christl and 4 Desiree) planted yesterday 3 to a bucket under the plastic cover. They have been mulched with Strulch to keep the weeds down and the moisture in.

[Penellype]

Fruit



Finally, after 8 years, I have apricots!!! I have been pollinating the flowers with my finger (a paintbrush didn't work last year) every day while the flowers were open, and I have about 10 which appear to have set fruit. There may be more, they are almost impossible to see. To me, this is definitely the most exciting thing at the allotment at the moment.



Loads of flowers opening on the pink blueberry.



Rather fewer on the blue version.



The cherry is about to burst into flower.



There are flowers on gooseberry Invicta. The other varieties don't seem to have many at all, and I can't see anything on the redcurrants yet. As they are in the shade a lot of the time, it may be a bit early yet, or they may need another year to settle down.

[Snoop Puss]

Spring has arrived. Looking lovely and full of promise, Penellype.

I was looking at an apricot tree this morning in our local builder's merchants. Very nice looking tree. I really like dried apricots and apricot jam, but I've only once had really flavourful fresh apricots, picked and eaten straight from the tree. This was in central Turkey, so perishing cold in winter and very hot in summer. I've often wondered if I could grow apricots here (no-one I know has a tree), but I walked away. You might have inspired me to go back and get it.

[Penellype]

Spring has arrived. Looking lovely and full of promise, Penellype.

I was looking at an apricot tree this morning in our local builder's merchants. Very nice looking tree. I really like dried apricots and apricot jam, but I've only once had really flavourful fresh apricots, picked and eaten straight from the tree. This was in central Turkey, so perishing cold in winter and very hot in summer. I've often wondered if I could grow apricots here (no-one I know has a tree), but I walked away. You might have inspired me to go back and get it.

My tree is a variety called Aprigold which was described as a "hardy patio tree" and self fertile. You'd need to check that any apricot tree you buy is self fertile as some varieties are not. They flower very early, hence the hand pollination as very few bees were around when the flowers were open.

[Snoop Puss]

My tree is a variety called Aprigold which was described as a "hardy patio tree" and self fertile. You'd need to check that any apricot tree you buy is self fertile as some varieties are not. They flower very early, hence the hand pollination as very few bees were around when the flowers were open.

Thanks. That's really useful information. I hadn't thought about the self-fertile issue.

Is frost one of the reasons why you might not have had fruit till now?