The gluts have started!

We are now regularly picking 2 full punnets of strawberries every few days at lottieplotfour. In addition many of the other summer fruits are producing good crops. This weekend we have picked gooseberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and even more rhubarb!



The bramley apples are looking good.



This year we put in a cut flower bed. The dahlias are still quite small, but the sweetpeas are producing the first few flowers.









The potatoes are are bit behind due to the frosts, but last week we did have the first new potatoes.



The clemantis on the pergola looks well established now and is full of buds. Hopefully it will not be long before it is flowering.



The wildlife is enjoying the new herb bed and small pond. Thyme's are now in flower and we have tadpoles.







Many of the other vegetables are looking promising.

Lettuce with leeks in the background (nearly ready for transplanting)



Parsnips



Runner beans



This weekend and last Sunday we harvested are japanese onions and overwintering garlic. These vacated beds have been replaced with some late cabbage, cauliflowers and squash. The garlic and onions are now drying in preparation for storage.

In the background you can see a mini rotation which contains garlic, broad beans, swede, carrots/beetroot and blue danube potatoes.

first strawberries

Tonight we picked our first punnett of strawberries. There were a few that had ripened at the weekend, but today there was enough for a decent 3 servings. Here is hoping that we get plenty more. It is looking promising!

A pictoral update from LottiePlotFour

The strawberries are flowering nicely



The apple tree is in blossom about 3-4 weeks later this year due to the cold weather



The rhubarb patch loves the cool weather and the rain!



Red epicure broad beans are through and taking off nicely



Aquilegia are now in flower



Perenial cornflower is rampant as always



Some seedlings - leeks



Golden beetroot



Early nantes carrot



The gooseberries are filling out



Our blueberry plants (now a pair) have plenty of flowers



Our sweetpeas have survived the late frosts



Unfortunately the potatoes didn't bear so well, but these should recover



Here is a couple of attempts at some 'arty' photos. I was attempting to create a longer depth of field to tell a story. I have recieved a few photography books for my recent birthday and they all talk about this method. The problem is my photography skills certainly need development. The idea for this shot was 'working hard at the allotment'. Yes, I know it looks like poor Ant is having a wee behind the rhubarb, but he was cutting the edge of the grass paths honest!



The idea behind this pic was to focus on the apple blossom, but show humanist side with our shed and tools in the background. I quite like this idea and hopefully I will improve!



Here I am wielding a hoe this afternoon.

Major sowing sessions

Last Sunday and this Sunday have been our major sowing sessions for green-house raised crops to plant on LottiePlotFour. A few of these crops are a little later than what is ideal, but with the recent cold spells even the perennial plants are at least 2 weeks behind last year. With this in mind, I am not too worried! Things catch up!

Last Sunday I sowed:

climbing french bean - cobra
dwarf runner bean - hestia
dwarf purple french bean - purple teepee
sweetcorn - f1 sundance
runner bean - enorma

This Sunday:

Courgette - F1 Orelia
Butternut squash - F1 cobnut
pumpkin - invincible
pumpkin - jack of all trades
Sunflower - giant red single
winter squash - pottimarron
sunflower - giant single
brussels - maximus F1
lettuce - lollo rossa
black kale - palmizi senza testa
lettuce - webbs wonderful
calabrese - belstar F1
red cabbage - drumhead
lettuce - little gem
summer cabbage - greyhound
dwarf sunflower - dwarf mixed
french marigola
cucumber - picolino F1
iceberg lettuce - mini green

Ready to be hardened off we have a good few sweetpeas in root trainers and the tomatoes, chillies and peppers sown at the beginning of the month are ready to be pricked out.

I also potted up the dahlia and cala tubers to give them a head start before going out on the plot.

The plan is to sow some more tomatoes this week and that will be the main spring sowing session complete!

spuds planted along with a few early seeds...

Yesterday we took advantage of a dry day to get the potatoes in. We have opted for 5 varieties. 'Kestrel' has been very reliable for us, so 40 seed potatoes of these. In addition, last year 'International Kidney' (Jersey Royals) produced a huge crop. Surprisingly, these early potatoes when left were really tasty large maincrop spuds - so dual use. We also have done well with 'Anya' and 'Rooster' .

Pictured below is some of last years Anya crop as part of a sunday lunch pickings.



In a tester raised bed (6'x3') we are trying a small bed of 'Blue Danube'. These tubers have a deep blue/purple skin and have some alleged blight resistance.

A plague for all potato growers this disease is caused by a the fungus 'Phytophthora infestans'. The fungal spores spread in warm and humid weather - hence the typical British summer! This is the pathogen that was behind the 'Irish potato famine' and blight is a huge problem on our site. The fungus can lie dormant in any potatoes that are left in the soil overwinter. It is near impossible to remove every potato and on an allotment site this problem is compounded. A blighted potato crop can be destroyed in a matter of 24 hours. In reality it is a matter of 'when' rather than 'if' blight sets in across our site. If you are quick enough them cutting back the halms to ground level, letting the skins set and then digging up the tubers can save the crop. The main issue is that blight tends to rear it's head by the end of July. Maincrop spuds are often not well developed by this point, hence the reason the majority of our crops are 2nd earlies. We have found 2nd earlies can store well into spring.

I still haven't found room for the 20 Rooster tubers. These will have to go in over the next few weeks on our 2nd (shared) plot.

The potato crops have gone into four 10'x4' beds. Each bed has 20 seed potatoes in; packed in two rows of 10.

The Blue danube have been planted in our 'test' area. This is a series of 5 beds new for 2010 situated behind the flowerbed. These will be used predominately for a mini-rotation of new varieities we wish to test in small quantities. This year the blue danube will be joined by crimson broad beans, an unknown variety of garlic from our allotment shop and swedes which will trial planting from plug plants. For the root section of this rotation we are sticking with the firm favourites 'Boltardy' beetroot and 'Early nantes' carrots. The carrots, beetroot and broadies were also planted yesterday. Hopefully the weather will be favourable for germination!

Green leaping friends welcome...

Slugs are a major problem in every garden. They say that these slimy creatures are the gardener's number one enemy and this is very true. In a bid to encourage wildlife on lottieplotfour we decided to add a small wildlife pond. We are hoping that we will eventually have a small frog population. No miracle solution is expected, but every little thing helps!

A 3'x3' bed in a central location was choosen.



Ant dug a hole to fit our 'pond-liner'. We have choosen to use 2 plastic gardening trugs. This is an experiment and probably not a permanent solution. If we are successful this temporary pond will be replaced with something a bit nicer!



The trugs were added. There are quite strict restrictions on the size and depth of ponds on our site for safety reasons.



We used broken paving slabs to create an edge to the pond with plenty of platforms at different levels to allow any frogs easy access.



The only dissappointing thing is that it was very difficult to cover up the edges of the trugs. One idea is to add a couple of plants around the edge of the pond, which would improve the appearance.

Hopefully the pond will be functional - only time will tell!

The second project for today was to build a herb bed. We are pleased with the design and, once it fills out, it should add a bit of colour and help attract beneficial insects and pollinators.



Spring is definately here. The plot is beginning to show the first signs of growth.


We have expanded our strawberry crops with a new strawberry bed. These plants came from runners from our existing stock.



The rhubarb bed seems to be enjoying it's mulch of half-rotted leaves and within the space of 1 week has gone from not showing to this.



The other fruit bushes are starting to form leave buds. Here is a redcurrant.



The overwintering onions and garlic are growing well.