Another Quiet Week

Between the poor weather we've had this week and the start of the school holidays, there's not been much happening at the allotment, although did add some pallet wrap around the tomato bed to help keep off the worst of the weather and planted another row of carrots (Amsterdam Maxi 2).
Spinach left, centre was grown from seed, stared in the garden at home in May and the row front left was sown direct a few weeks ago.


Peas and beans, more flowers and more peas starting to show, shouldn't be long now !

Leeks are doing ok, especially the big one on the end.


Stopped off for a walk around Chibbanagh plantation on the way home.

Quiet week

Well, its been quite a quiet week at the allotment, weather hasn't been great, and when it has been good i've mostly been out on the bike.

Popped in on the way past today to make sure everything was ok, and it is, even the weeds don't seem to be too bad at the moment.


Cut a few stalks of celery to try (very nice, stronger taste than from the shop) and brought back some chives too.

The early potateos seem to be loosing their colour a bit, they'll have been in about 10 weeks next Friday, so hopefully they'll be ready to pull up very soon - there was one plant looking a little worse for wear so dug it up and got a few potatoes from it, although if the few I've dug up so far are anything to go by, there wont be that many potatoes from the earlies !

The first pumpkin, found another still with flower so pollinated that one.
I'm still a bit dissappointed that there's lots of work gone in so far and not much has come out, but have to keep reminding myself that only 2 months ago, it was a grassy bit of field.

And another first, a very small cauliflower.

Oh...forgot....

I saw a little frog today :-)

But he hopped away into the grass before I had a chance to take a picture.

Tomato Hilton

The allotment is in a very exposed location with no shelter at all from the Isle of Man's prevailing south westerly winds that blow up though the Irish Sea.

So....as the weather has turned much cooler and windier this week (I had the heating on at home yesterday!)... I've started work on a cover for the raised bed with the tomatoes, cucumber and melon plants (the last two haven't really done anything since being planted out) 3 sides are now up and as the weather isnt particularly good at the moment, I've wrapped some debris netting around to keep the worst of the wind out.

Also, picked up some clear pallet wrap to try and sheet the sides once I've got the last few pieces of wooden frame in place.

At home

The Sub Artic Plenty tomatoes have germinated, sown a week yesterday (Sunday) so thats pretty good, I know its really way too late to be sowing these but as its a fast maturing variety and supposedly good to grow in low temperatures I thought I'd have a play.


Also potted up the fennel (or presumed to be fennel) x3 and the mystery herb from the posting on 15th July which I'm pretty sure now is tyme (x14) - to go with the purple basil (x14) so far from the herbs sowing at the start of July.

Unwelcome Grass Mulch

Popped in on the way past today only to find the whole of the front of the plot covered in grass cuttings from another plot.

Not very happy, a few damaged plants from the weight of grass on top of them, and no doubt more damaged by me trying to clear the grass off them (an hours worth of work I hadnt been planning on).

Still lots of grass inside the cabbages/lettuces, just hope it doesnt go all soggy and ruin them if it rains !!

Sowing at allotment

No pics from today, but sowed some dwarf french beans and dwarf broad beans (The Sutton) , some turnips, parsnips and cabbage (mammoth red rock).

I'll have a Pea Please !

The very first peas !! Not much of a meal to share between two !!



Lettuce growing well. Using this Lolla Rossa as cut and come again.

One of the two rows of Sping Onions planted at the start of June.

Couldn't wait any longer so had a rummage around the early potatoes and found a couple of still quite small but perfectly formed new poatoes, not enough to make it worthwile boiling, but a minute in the microwave and eaten with some butter melted over them - delicious.

I read last night that I should take the flowers off the potatoes so that they're not using up energy to produce flowers, pity to loose then as they're quite nice really, but removed them anyway.

One of the mystery herbs in the garden at home, in my eagerness to sow the herbs some of the lables I made didn't last the first shower, so not quite sure what this one is, but its doing quite well !
I presume this is fennell, but still not 100% certain.

Isle of Man, Allotments News

Port St. Mary allotments given go ahead after the Department of Local Government and the Enviroment approve rules governing their use.

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/south-news/Village-allotments-goahead.5422787.jp

Published Date:
02 July 2009

Isle of Man, Allotments News

Allotments scheme progressing

Plans to create allotments in the Borough of Douglas continue with the Council’s application to the Department of Local Government and the Environment for change of use of a field above the lawn cemetery in Johnny Watterson Lane.

Leisure Services Committee Chairman Councillor Stephen Pitts said: ‘We anticipate launching the allotments scheme around November this year. We are hoping that in partnership with the Department of Transport we will be able to incorporate vehicular access and car parking facilities by late summer on this site which is designated for future development of the cemetery, but not for some 75 to 100 years in the future.

‘We will be looking at providing around 50 plots of various sizes, offering them first to Douglas ratepayers. Should any allotments remain we will extend the scheme to people living elsewhere on the Island.’


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Article posted 09 June 2009
http://www.douglas.gov.im/shownews.asp?ID=3163

Isle of Man, Allotments News

The minutes of Lezayre Parish Commissioners meeting held on 5th March 2009

Complaints - Allotments at the Garey.

The Clerk was asked to write to Mr Cowin (owner of land where allotments sited) to convey concerns raised by the local residents and also to request a copy of the tenancy agreement for the allotments.

Potato Comparison

Above 14 July ; Below 6 July - quite a difference in just a week !


Also sowed another small row of radishes (french breakfast), a patch of coriander and some parsley (giant italian) in the herb bed, a row of carrots (amsterdam maxi 2) and some more beetroot (boltardy).

At home I potted up 14 basil seedlings from modules sown at the start of July and sowed some radish (french breakfast) and turnip (purple top white globe) in modules just to see how they do !

BBQ

Today we had the first get together at the allotments, a BBQ.

Sowing at Home

In modules sowed some of he new seeds received in the week from Pemier Seeds, Lettuce - Marvel of 4 Seasons - also 2 trays of Sping Onions - Redmate and White Lisbon, 6 Egyptian Walking Onion bulbs (although 3 were very very small), and some Tomato Artic Sub Plenty, just to see if i can get anything out of them being sown this late !

Will try and remember to do a weekly update with pics once there's something to see.

Last beds dug over - at last

Not much new to see today, but did quite a bit of weeding and tidying up, and managed to get the last couple of beds dug over. Not quite sure whats going to go in there yet, could probably do with getting some decent sowings of carrots going, some more beetroot, and maybe some more cabbage and cauliflower.


The first few peas have now appeared, Kelevedon Wonder, ao hoping it won't be too long before we can start picking some.

After a day off

I managed to stay away from the allotment on Tuesday but was there for a few hours today, I've become a bit conscious of how many trips I was making, and at about 7.5 miles each way, it adds up to quite alot each week. So from now one will try to limit it so that I dont need bigger shoes for my carbon footprint !


The first ever batch of French Breakfast radish seem to be finished now, although theres some nice big ones left they've started to delevop boltchy marks, although these ones tasted ok.


Looks like the birds have been back, this young Black Beauty cougette plant was pulled up, I've replanted and watered it, hopefully it'll survive.

And here's the first little sign of the Purple Srouting broccoli bought from Greeba Nurseries and planted out late May.

Tynwald Day

Spent a couple of hours mostly weeding and checking on things, looking for catepillars on the cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts. Harvested the very first lettuce and another bunch of the French Breakfast Radish.

Planted some more spring onions (redmate and white lisbon) and some organic spinach.

Total so far :-

Raddish (French Breakfast) - 5 bunches
Lettuce (Little Gem) - 1
Rocket - 1 bag


Peas and beans were only planted about 3 weeks ago but are doing quite well now, added a second level of string to give them something extra to climb up.

Courgettes started at home at the start of June seem to be catching up a bit now, the smaller ones behind were planted out at the end of last week.

Potatoes, maincrop are starting to flower, I's sure I read somewhere that they should be fed when that happens, must check on that one.

My very 1st tiny tomato, one of the things I'm really looking forward to is my own tomatoes, just hope they grow and rippen ok. I've been planting some of the larger side stems that have been removed so hopefully if they take I'll be able to add to my rather small collection of tomato plants.

The lettuce didnt seem to be doing too well, but on the whole they seem to be fine now. This is one of the Webs Wonderful bought from Watsons Nursery in Greeba a while ago.

French Breakfast 3 Radish

I thought it was time I thinned my French Breakfast radish but instead of thinning them I ended up with a few nice bunches of radishes !

Here's what Wikipedia says about them :-

French Breakfast is an elongated red-skinned radish with a white splash at the root end. It is typically slightly milder than other summer varieties, but is among the quickest to turn pithy.

Information

Crops in 30 days

Sow regularly early spring to early summerl. very thinly 1cm (½in) deep in drills 15cm (6in) apart.

Thin out the seedlings to 3-5cm.

Useful as a catch crop.

Radishes are rich in Vitamin C and potassium and contain sulphur compounds.

Raised Beds

With most of the bought plants and the potatoes now planted, I thought I'd have a go at some raised beds.

Six 8 foot scaffold boards, with two of them cut in half, nailed together through the ends they were fairly easy to build at look quite good.

Digging over the soil and adding more to fill them a bit was quite hard work but worth it.

Sunset

Some more brassicas planted out at the front of the plot, and a nice sunset too, unfortunately it looks like the camera setting on the phone was set to low quality !

The weather has been fairly good since getting the second plough done so I feel like I've started to get a good bit done.

Planting Out

These are the sprouts, cabbages and cauliflower I bought recently at Watsons nursery in St. Johns.

They were reduced to half price over the bank holiday weekend so they were only about 75p per tray. They looked really healthy, and the staff there were really helpful too, so I'm sure I'll be back.

With 6 modules to a tray but mostly double planted so split the plants as carefully as I could and planted, hope I've not damaged them doing this, but time will tell I guess.

At last !

At last the weather has been dry enough to get the second pass with the tractor done, which means I can start to plant.

First thing to go in was these potatoes, 2 rows of lates on the right and one of earlies on the left, right at the back of the plot by the hedge - unfortunately I lost the bags they came in so dont know the varieties, they just came from B&Q, maybe I can find something on their website to give me a clue ?

Great feeling to have something planted at last, cant wait to see if they all grow !

I tried a bit of an experiment on the last few at the far ends of the rows, I'd read that potatoes will grow from just a small section of seed potatoe, so cut a few up and we'll see how they compare to the 'whole' ones planted.

Stones

I'd been told the site was very stoney, so whilst I can't actually start any planing yet, I've started to pick out some of the larger stones, and yes there are plenty of them !

Some of the other plots around the site have used them for paths which looks quite nice, not sure if I'll do that, but I'm sure they'll get used somehow, I dont really want to have to sift them all.

1st Plough

The 1st plough has finally been done, the weather has been too wet for the tractor to do it over the past couple of weeks. Very frustrating as now I'm keen to get on.

We need to wait for this to dry out a bit and then it will be done again to break up the sods more. So just hoping for dry weather over the next few days !

A little bit of a field

Well, I finally got the details of my allotment, and here it is, 180 sq ft of field at Braaid in the Isle of Man.

Its the first year for this allotment site, so from a field last year to allotments this year.

There's someone on site with a tractor who for a small fee has cut the grass and once the ground has dried out a bit, will plough/rotivate the ground (its been a very wet May).