N1 AND N2 PLOTS 2014 PLANS

 N1 Plot 2014

N2 Plot 2014

Beds 3 & 4 will be amalgamated into 1 single bed (as will beds 5 & 6)

Cleaning Before Winter

Another week or so of warm and mainly sunny weather has seen me continuing to clean vegetable bed 2 on N2 Plot, for several hours on a daily basis. With only 1 day with some evening and overnight rain the ground in general is dry and parched still. Number 2 bed is approximately fifty percent cleaned out of weeds roots and stones down to 1 spits depth, this being the depth of topsoil before reaching the rock hard sub-soil level.
Due to the vast amount of weed roots and "withey vine" infesting the bed I decided to start off by removing the top soil, forming a trench, then breaking down the large clumps of soil, filtering out the weeds and then moving the soil up the bed until the next trench was dug out. Similar to double digging but without the depth of topsoil.

Cleaning Out Bed 2 N2 Plot

Removing Withey vine

Bed 2 N2 Plot 50% Complete 26/Aug/13

 When time has allowed in between digging bed 2, watering and of course harvesting has been done. Sweetcorn is in abundance along with French climbing beans, Lettuce, Cucumber. Runner beans have been adequate but not in the abundant amounts of last season. Although some Red, White & Blackcurrants remain on the bushes they have been left for the birds to take, due to the vast amounts already in my freezer. Jam making was done last Friday and the remainder of last years frozen Strawberries were used for this, to make more room in the freezer for this weeks harvests. So far my Desiree Potatoes have been very good, with up to 12 large tubers per plant. As the ground is still dry the plants are only being lifted as the Potatoes are used up. I lifted the Carrots growing in barrels on N1 Plot last Thursday, which gave me a good selection of both large, medium and baby carrots. These were grown without being thinned out and were sown fairly thickly into each barrel, keeping them adequately watered. The remaining carrots in the roots bed of N1 Plot will be harvested this week, leaving 8 rows at the seedling stage in 1 of my raised beds.

Carrots from My Barrels 22/Aug/2013

HI!

 Many Butterflies, bees and other insects have been visiting my plots in large numbers recently due to the continuing warm and sunny weather. My camera has been playing up recently. The problem has now been sorted out, so I expect it will be raining again soon.

How Long Are Your Beans

Another Nice Harvest

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Buzzing!!

2 For the Price of 1

Last Monday was a pleasant day working down my plots, bright sunny weather with a cool breeze, so I decided to start digging over the final untouched bed of N2 Plot. The ground was baked dry even after the recent light & heavy rain showers and it was difficult to drive the spade into the soils surface. After the spade had penetrated the ground a few inches the dry lumps of clay began to break down fairly easily, easier than digging the central bed of N2 over last Winter I thought. This bed too is infested with various long standing weeds, (mainly large Dandelions again), but once it is cleaned out by hand future cultivating should be rather easy over the entirety of both plots. After a couple of hours digging and weed removal, roots and all, I had progressed down the bed just over 3 feet (1 meter). I then decided to check the condition of my Runner beans which have been of below average both in condition and amount this year. I was pleasantly surprised to see the first Honey bee (3 in fact) visiting the flowers on my beans. The 2 insects that have been missing from my plots until this week have been Honey bees and Hover flies, which I usually see a lot of. Since Monday both have again been visiting in significant numbers. Definitely better late than never.

The Honey bees Are Back

 Since Monday more Leeks have been thinned out and puddled into place where my garden peas were growing earlier this year on N1 Plot. My Sprout plants which are already showing small sprouts needed thinning out again and when that was done the N1 brassicas bed was hoed over and weeded. Due to the mostly hot dry weather conditions this year weeding hasn't been much of a chore. The black grape vine growing between my sheds has many "runners" sprouting from it, in all directions. I spent an hour or so attaching wires between the shed roofs to train the vine across the top of both sheds and also tied back some of its lower branches. My second batch of Onions which were lifted several days ago have now been dried out and are being kept, loosely stacked in trays in my garage as I haven't got the time or inclination to tie (hang) them. I seem to have run out of tights which was one method I used to use for hanging up Onions. Watering has again been necessary this week, mainly on the raised beds at the lower end of N2 Plot where I sowed Carrots, Beetroot, Spring onions, Cabbage & Cauliflowers. These are growing nicely in the semi-shade of the nearby hedgerow at present. 4 Tomato plants in 1 of the beds also require regular watering.

Butternut Squash Looking Good 15/August/2013

Pumpkins Soon 15/August/2013

Underneath The Black Grapevine 15/August/2013

Cucumbers Hanging Over The Side Of A Raised Bed 15/August/2013

  Several harvesting sessions have been done this week with extra veggies needed for family visitors arriving this coming weekend. Due to the dry ground conditions my main crop Potatoes (Desiree) are being lifted as required for use this year, thus avoiding any large scale storage problems. So far Carrots, French beans, Lettuce, Swede and Chard have been of very good quantity and quality, along with garden peas from the freezer and Sweetcorn coming in top of the list for the past 3 weeks or so. On the downside, the main growing stem of my Apple tree snapped off yesterday under the weight of the fruit it was bearing. Just goes to show that putting off jobs like thinning out some of the fruit, (which I intended to do last week) doesn't always pay off.

Some of This Weeks Harvest

More Harvesting 15/August/2013

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Don't Lose The Plot (The Last 4 Years Mostly)

I hope you enjoy the video, it took a long time to produce it due to various computer glitches and far too complicated file systems. As with gardening I think the finished product is worth it??

Some Gardening At Last

Since my last text post 11 days ago things have been busier than ever down the plots. Having spent a great deal of this growing season re-organising various areas of my plots, building raised beds, moving and repairing sheds, erecting then re-erecting a poly tunnel, moving tons of soil and still clearing out weed infested areas of N2 Plot, much of my sowing and planting has been a secondary consideration, to a greater extent.

2nd Batch of Onions (124) Drying Out N2 Plot 9/8/13

 Well, most of the construction work is finished now and for the first time in a few years I am starting to feel that come next season everything will be easily organized. Blogging lately has also taken a back seat especially with my evenings spent harvesting and sowing. For the past few days I've meant to publish a post, then having read through several other blogs I saw that the subjects I was thinking of posting about were already covered by other bloggers. Having taken quite a number of photographs down the plots earlier this week, to my annoyance I had to delete most of them because they were well out of focus and not good enough to publish in a blog post and then today I forgot to take my camera with me to the plots.

First Cobs of the Season Last Week

 Over the past 11 days we have had several heavy rainstorms, one with torrential rain and at last after the, as we Brits like to call it "heatwave", the plots are looking refreshed and fruit and veg is developing as it should. A few anomalies I noticed after several weeks of hot dry weather were. The beans of my Runner beans were maturing inside their pods quicker than usual. These had to be picked and discarded. The Runner bean plants were slow to "take" when planted out from pots and later the beans were not setting well. Chard, some lettuce, some Turnips and Swedes were running to seed quickly. Although my Sweetcorn liked the sunny hot conditions, the first cobs only fully fattened up after a good soaking with rain water. Parsnips have been almost none existent this year again only germinating after 2 months and a good soaking with rain water. Inconsistent watering didn't seem to be the cause, just the weather conditions. Anyway things are looking good at the moment and the failures or near failures are worth noting for future reference.

Buff Tailed Bumble Bee On 1 of My Gladioli N1 Plot

This Little Fellow Likes Mint

This Beauty Liked My Carrots

From the Carrots to the Pear Tree Wings Closed

In Amongst the Red Currants

Bee on Dandelion

Spot the Frog

These Funny Faced Kohl-rabi Were Left Neglected on N2 Plot

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Rooko's August Top 10 Tryouts & Tips

1. If your crops are being attacked by Aphids at the moment, try the following spray. Add a good squirt of washing up liquid to 2 liters of water and then add 3 or 4 drops of vegetable oil also. Spray your plants liberally not forgetting to spray underneath their leaves. More than 1 spraying may be required but this mixture works. I used it again this year on my Runner beans.

2. Despite varying expert opinions on watering veggies in hot weather the best times to do so are early morning or evenings, both for conservation of water and plant care. If temperatures are hot during the day water droplets on leaves can magnify the suns rays causing scorching. A good soaking of plants every few days during hot dry conditions is better than little and often but don't flood the plants. Try to water around plants and avoid splashing soil/compost onto the foliage.

3. One way of conserving water is to plant water loving plants in the same area of ground together.

4. During the past few weeks in UK thunder storms and heavy rain showers have been frequent. If they have stopped you from working outside in the garden or down the plot maybe some maintenance jobs to garden tools or machinery can be done inside or tidy the shed, catch up on the record keeping of whats been sown and grown so far, or make a note of water leaks in out buildings now before the Winter weather sets in.  

5. Epsom salt, (magnesium sulphate) has many uses in the garden or down the plot, aiding germination and chlorophyll production to mention just 2. Try adding 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts to 1 gallon of water, use on your houseplants every 6 weeks. The same mix is good for ailing Tomatoes as required.

6. This is a link to the R.H.S. veg sowing/planting planner, (PDF) (could be useful). Veggie Planner

7. With the decline of  certain species of bee population and other insects, it may be worth learning how to carry out hand pollination of plants, now, before its too late!!

8. Next season it is one of my projects to sow and grow plenty of oriental greens. Some examples of these are: Komatsuna, Mibuna, Mizuna, Pak-choi. These veggies are suited to the UK climate (Summer and Autumn) and can also be overwintered with protection.

9. If you are juicing fruit or vegetables much of the left over pulp can be used in cooking other dishes if correctly prepared. Good on the compost heap if you don't have "cooking time".

10. 

SOWING/PLANTING IN AUGUST

1. Sow the following this month: Spring Cabbage, Chinese Cabbage, Kohl-rabi, Lettuce (Winter hardy), Spring Onions, Radish, Spinach and Turnips.
2. Plant out Savoys, Cauliflowers and Kale.

OTHER JOBS IN AUGUST

1.  Keep weeding & hoeing.
2. If you are storing potatoes for later use, ensure any damaged ones are used, not stored.
3. Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes, leaving 4 or 5 trusses on each plant in general.
4. Turn your compost heap and spray with water if it is very dry.
5. Compost & manure heaps are atractive places for wasps to build their nests, so be wary when disturbing the heaps.

  

Noisy Rain (But Much Needed Again)