22 July 2012 - how it's going so far!

Me & my turnips!

Mike & his snack

Amaranthus Calaloo

 My plan for putting toilet rolls round each seed so I'd know when an experimental seedling has come up - got a big FAIL - here's the 4 different types of seedling for amaranthus calaloo - definitely recognise 2 of them as weeds!  No idea what the plant should look like... Google images, here I come!

Leaves bed 1

Here's the first "leaves" bed - the brussel sprouts have survived their rabbit attack, nasturtiums doing fine and the toilet roll farm is growing well (whether they are seedlings or weedlings is a different matter altogether!). Got some brocolli and cauliflower come up, the leeks are doing fine between the leaves rows and the spinach is surviving at the end of the bed.

Sweetcorn

The sweetcorn has started to come up, I'm not sure if we'll get any crop but this is inspiring because I never got this far with sweetcorn at the previous allotment.  Very excited to see more coming up too!  It's not the crop, it's the growing something that counts (that's the link to when all these were planted!)

Here's the first roots bed, with the turnips that we're thinning out gradually (in the middle).

Mike's protected the Jerusalem artichokes at the end (just behind the sweetcorn, and I've protected the smaller sweetcorn and carrot seedlings.

At the front, we've protected some of the Scorzonera and right at the front is some carrot and the unknown-but-probably-beet seedlings coming up.  We've got a few beetroot coming up right by the turnips as well.

Sweetcorn, Carrots, Artichokes

Everything's a bit slower this year, probably because of the amount of rain & lack of sunshine, but here's hoping that everything works out!

Ornamental Gourds plants

Globe artichoke

Potatoes bed 1

First raspberry crop

2nd turnip crop

Slug eater bathing!

25 June 2012 - new growth

Pumpkin (possibly)

My brother very nicely got me some seeds for Christmas, I had planned to have a whole bed of my favourite pumpkins, but so far, all that's come up is the ornamental gourds!  Well, at least I've got something, but how do I get them to be ornamental?  I'm guessing I've got to get the seeds out, but you never see holes in the ones in posh shops.....Time to learn a new dark art!

ornamental gourds

I lost the label, so the plant in the root-trainer pot is possibly a pumpkin, marrow, melon or courgette!  You can see how well the roots grow in these pots (they split in half for easy access and reuse).

before....with weeds

after

Here's the "leaves" bed - at the front is brussel sprouts, then further back (in toilet rolls) is some cauliflower (plants & seeds), brocolli plants, amaranthus calaloo seeds, cos lettuce seeds and rainbow spinach plants.  Between the rows is leeks.
  

Purple brussel sprout

Turnips & Nasturtium

Corn & Jerusalem Artichokes

Globe Artichokes

We've got some fruit coming through - and plans to start making rhubarb wine!

Gooseberries

Cape Gooseberries

Redcurrants

Raspberries

Rhubarb v boot!

Plums

 

resident

relaxing after some hard work

19 Feb 2012 - Seed Swap Day

Well, Lovely Greens has been involved with planning this day for a while, and I've really been looking forward to it.  Yesterday we got some snow and I was a bit worried we wouldn't get there afterall because of the hills in and out of the area, but I still got my seeds ready - in eager anticipation.  Snaefell is already closed this morning, due to snow.

Bramley Corner recently went to a Potato Swap Day, which I was very jealous of, so hopefully this will make us even!

Going to catch up with The Looney Leadleys and hopefully meet some people from our allotments since we haven't been there long!  I've put my blog address on the back of the seed packets so that hopefully there will be more of us on here chatting away and passing on tips, although it is great reading what people are doing in other areas as well!  (Claire, you've created a monster!)

Of the 24 packets I made, the seeds I chose were: Capsicums (jalapeno), Kohl Rabi (green), Carrots (orange), Artichoke (purple), Spinach (rainbow), Komatsuna (Japanese spinach), Scorzonera (black salsify), Brussell Sprouts (red), Perpetual Spinach (leaf beet), Aubergine (purple).  So, not too many, but enough variety and some exotics in there as well ;-)

Girlie Gardening set up a wee stall in one corner

The weather turned out okay, no problems - the Laxey Sailing Club very nicely put the fire on for us and the turn out was so good that they were running out of members to sign us all in! 

Mike & the Looney Leadleys

Seed Swap table

We caught up with Alison & Tony and the skeet from The Braiid allotments, and we all shared our findings, so we have a few things to experiment with and can compare notes later - see what grows better in the north and centre of the Island!  Also caught up with Vic & Karen who are neighbours at our new allotment, got some potatoes from them and Vic giving us tips on what did well down there for them in previous years.  No sign of Richard, but did find out which plot is his, and it's not the one with the cage.

So, what did we end up with?  Well, we're now the proud owners of Feverfew (herb), Jerusalem Artichoke, Pink Fir Apples, Echinachea, Black Forest Squash, Cape Gooseberry, Garlic Chives, Brocolli - white and purple and Amaranthus Calaloo Red Leaf (which we think is a Jamaican spinach) - so all in all, a fab afternoon spent chatting about things we love! 
What more could you want in life?

If you were there, I'd love to hear what you thought of it, what you got and what you swapped!  If you weren't there, I'd love to hear what other allotment groups get up to!  Thanks for reading.