Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Racing Against it - Again.

Yes I know its a bit of a recurring theme, but that just seems to be the way its is.
No matter how much of my weekends I spend, and for the past two its been about 11 am till 5pm on the plot then until about 9pm in the greenhouse both Saturday and Sunday, I don't seem to be able to keep up. It probably wouldn't be as bad if I already had frames and covers and raised beds already built or available but getting to that point seems to take forever.
Anyway I have managed to get some things done as you can see from the photos. I'll try and take some on the plots at the weekend so you can see how things are progressing there, rather than relying on my descriptions. I now have the runner beans in, the first batches at least both at home and on the Sunningdale plot, which means I've also got the frames up and the bean trench done. As things stand I've 30 of my home grown beans in alongside the greenhouse, planted 2 per pole. These are an Enorma derivative I think, saved year on year for the past 3 years. I've another 32 in the greenhouse if they all germinate that I sowed about 10 days ago. In the front garden I've a wigwam of the 10 Daniels Defiant that germinated. With the house between the two types they shouldn't cross pollinate. In an attempt to stop this on the allotment I'm putting peas in between the two varieties, Scarlet Emperor and Painted Lady, although I've only got the modern peas (Kelvadon Wonder) in at the moment. Can't remember what the heritage variety are but I must get around to sowing them. So far I've only got 9 Painted Lady in (I only had 10 seeds) and 12 Scarlet Emperor, although I've supposedly got another 32 in the greenhouse, although having sown them 3 weeks ago they're being very reluctant at the moment.
I've also earthed up my first earlies at home, filled most of the tubs to try and keep up, and done half of the second earlies on the Sunningdale plot. The main crop could have used it but I was just too shattered on Sunday to do it. I just hope the frost hasn't got at them too badly.
On the Bracknell plot I've put all of the French beans in, 50 in total a mix of Purple Teepee and an unnamed variety from B&Q (I think). I was supposed to put the Mangetout in as well but I don't have enough deer fences made so they've had to go in at home. I've also filled up the space quota available for onions, which means 90% of the sets are in. Now all I've got to do is find space for the 120 seed sown ones and the 160 leeks although once I've earthed up the potatoes on the Sunningdale plot I think I'll get a chunk of them in there.
Also on the Sunningdale plot I've got 18 of the Calabrese given to me by a friend in Wokingham in and 9 Kohl Rabi. I've also got 9 of the Brocoli(Olympia) grown from seed in, with the remaining space in that bed reserved for Cauliflower, when it arrives from Marshals. I'm actually disappointed with their early Calabrese and Cabbage, as mine are doing much better, especially the greyhound I sowed in early February.
Now if you think thats not enough, I've just completed planting up the greenhouse, with this years tomato, cucumber, and melon crops. From left to right, and back to front we have Tasty King and Telegraph, Black Russian, 2 Alicante, Sweetheart, 2 Telegraph, 2 Early Sweet, 2 Supa Roma, and 1 Black Russian. I've still to sort out the Marketmore and Moneymaker for outside, and the peppers desperately need potting on - along with a whole gamut of other stuff.
I've also put the first of the sweetcorn in for this years 3 sisters bed. This uses up 20 of my 100 seedlings. These were in the greenhouse and getting too big. The others have been outside and are slightly smaller. The race is now on not only to sort out space for these but also for the rest of the cabbage and brussel sprouts.

Anyway to end I'll just round up the remaining photos. At the very top we have the raspberry patch. As you can see I don't do anything to train them other than provide a wire to stop them falling over in the autumn when they're heavy with fruit. What you can't see from the photo is exactly how far they've escaped into what we laughingly call the lawn.
At the bottom is an update on the potatoes/lilies. The shot of the single bucket didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. I had wanted to show what a healthy bucket of, in this case Estima, looked like when a standard potatoe bucket is planted with 3 seed potatoes.

1 comment:

Blunts & Brazil Banks & Bibby Trundle said...

Good Lord man! That's a serious workload. Top growing Vortex. Nice to hear my old stomping grounsd mentioned. Haven't been to Southill Park for years.
Ta Rah.