The AGM

This weekend we went to our first annual general meeting for the allotment society. Assuming it would be quite quick and eventless we got quite the opposite when some proper drama kicked off... A French lady basically accused the committee of not being straight with the finances and that money had disappeared back in 2001. It was something about the council not getting the rents for all the allotments that year that the committee had collected... She had actually gone to the council but as they only keep records 6 years back they had no documentation for 2001 to prove if it had been paid or not. The committee aware of the situation could actually provide a receipt they had received from the council in 2001 acknowledging that it had been paid! Still that was not good enough for the French lady. She was mostly just shouting out loud and not waiting for her turn to speak causing several people to shout out 'Shut Up!'. It was quite comical to be honest.

Next thing the French lady started to go off about was how the committee exploits the people that volunteer to work in the shop on the site. It is open 2 hours/week during the warm season and no one seems to do more than 2 hours every 2-3 months so not really sure it can be called exploiting. Also, if someone does not want to volunteer, then they can stop doing so.

In conclusion, we survived the first AGM and are pleased that there is a whole year before the next one...

Will now enjoy some of our produce... sweet peas, chard, onions and strawberries.

Long time no blog post... back to the story of the allotment

It has been a while since we last wrote something about our allotment. It does not mean that we have not been keeping busy with the allotment. On the contrary we have been working hard to get it to what it now has become. We are really proud. No major disasters yet, just some blackfly on the beans...

So what has happened since we last posted something?

First of all... Weeds, weeds, weeds... Then more weeds and even more weeds. We have spent whole weekends just dealing with weeds! The thistles are just the worst. Anyone knows what to do about those buggers other than digging them up and getting rid of the roots? We have been lucky with friends helping out dealing with all the weeds. Last weekend there were 5 of us spending 4 hours working through all the weeds and planting out our seedlings. We got it somewhat under control but again today, there are new thistles attacking our little plants! Big thanks goes out to Bethan, Paul and Andy for helping out last weekend!

Last weekend also saw the formation of the Butt Crack Club... It was Andy's idea (who else would think of such a thing) and the funniest thing is that he was the one with a sunburnt butt crack at the end of the day!

So what do we have growing there now?

Potatoes

The potatoes were planted in March after chitting them for 4-5 weeks. We planted three different kinds and to be honest we cannot remember exactly which ones they were... there are definitely some Desirees and some Swifts. The third potato, will have to be a surprise! All the potatoes are thriving. The Swifts and the unknowns are in bloom so we are looking forward to some own grown spuds in a few weeks time. It will be perfect timing for the Swedish Midsummer celebrations!

Tomatoes, Peppers and Aubergines

We have propagated about 8 kinds of tomatoes (green, striped, yellow, black and lots of reds), 4 different kinds of peppers (including a 'Chocolate' variety - guess why we choose that one...) and some mixed aubergine seeds (could be any shape or colour). All of them went into the allotment last weekend and looked like they were doing very well!

Beans and peas

The broad beans and peas are doing really well now and have recovered from a recent attack of black fly. Thankfully we had lots of lady birds feasting away on them and also a mixture of washing up liquid and water helped clearing them. First signs of pea pods are now showing and the berlotto beans are starting to climb up their supports.

Cucumber, Pumpkins, Zucchinis and Sweetcorn

We did have a set back with the Zucchinis. After propagating them and then setting them out in the cold frame to harden them off, the zucchini seedlings sadly died. The Cucumber seedlings which were hardened off at the same time are all fine - we thought those would be more at risk! Anyway, we have new zucchini seedlings on their way in the cold frame now and they seem to be doing much better. Just a case of trial and error.

Little Myles helped us plant the pumpkin seeds and the seedlings are now growing on the allotment sharing a space with the sweetcorn. Myles is looking forward to harvesting some pumpkins for Halloween.

Strawberries

All of our strawberries were seedlings taken from the four strawberry plants on Petra's roof terrace. We planted 12 of them and 10 are still alive... They did look somewhat sad until recently when we covered each plant with more compost and now they have taken on a new life again! We even have our first strawberries coming along.

Raspberries, Blackberries and Tayberries

We finally got all the raspberry canes, and the blackberry and tayberry plants delivered and planted. Mattias and Andy built some interesting 'crucifix-like' supports for the raspberries. It looks a bit like a grave yard to be honest but the raspberry canes will hopefully soon cover the supports with their green leaves and juicy berries.

Asparagus and Artichokes

We nearly gave up on the asparagus. We planted the crowns and then nothing happened... until a week ago! We discovered some small asparagus spears coming up. We have been told to leave them be this year, but looking forward to a hopefully getting a handful of asparagus next year! The artichoke plants were propagated from seed and now planted out. They do not look much at the moment and will not do so for at least another year!

Our first harvest!

Two weeks ago our first radishes were ready for harvest! We planted a bunch of mixed seeds so it was an interesting combination of colours that we got in the end. Today we sowed more radishes as we are now almost out of them.

In addition to the above we have also onions, beetroot, chard, purple sprouting broccoli, red cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, parsnips, sallad, herbs, and much much more...

Strawberries and Asparagus

Ok so here we are now a bit later... we planted the asparagus crowns some three weeks ago and also put the strawberry plants on the allotment. The strawberries all came from the two strawberry plants I have on the roof terrace. In between them, they produced 12 new little plants for this year.

Then the day after we got the very sad news that M's good friend and house mate had sadly passed away. This in combination with very heavy workloads for both of us resulted in having been slightly unfocused on the allotment for the past 3 weeks but we are going back there today to plant some potatoes (3 varieties and I am not sure we can remember which is which...) and also some peas. We have also ordered more seeds and some raspberry canes that will be planted next weekend.

Onions and Broad Beans

It has been the day of planting onion sets and broad beens on the allotment. We took 6 year old Myles down there for the first time and he really got right in to it and did most of the planting. We planted Red Onions, Yellow Onions, Shallots and some Broad Beans. With the team effort, all onion sets were rapidly planted and Myles got a bit annoyed that there was nothing else to plant right now. We have promised to take him down there again in March when the potatoes will be ready to go in and some of the other seeds we have purchased.

We have also bought some asparagus crowns that are to be planted later in the week. If anyone has any advise on planting asparagus crowns, do let us know!

Propagating

Started propagating a few things today... Leeks, cabbages, the first few early tomatoes and some herbs. Created propagating trays out of old fruit and vegetable containers from the supermarket, and used old toilet rolls as individual pots for the soon to be seedlings. Bought more seeds today but most of the rest are either to be started propagating in March or April or planted outside in April or May. Also bought some red onion sets and shallot sets that are to go into the ground next weekend. It will be the first things to be planted in our newly prepared allotment. It is very exciting! The picture below was taken yesterday! It is unbelievable that this is the same as the completely overgrown plot that we only took over 2 months ago.

Monster Carrot

Look what we found on the visit down to the allotment this morning. It is supposed to be a carrot if anyone is wondering. It is a bit of a monster but in good shape so will be a great addition to the salad bowl this weekend.

Crash Course in Allotment Gardening

This weekend we met up with one of the more experienced allotment gardeners in our allotment society: Mr O. He has been cultivating his plot for the past 9-10 years and was recommended to us to help clear and prepare our plot. It was fantastic to get advise from someone with experience as opposed to us beginners. It turned out to be a very valuable crash course to allotment gardening.

Mr O was telling us about the state our plot has been in the past 5 years. Long Rye Grass reaching 1.5 m in height that has been spreading thousands of seeds to the neighbouring plots. It must have been a nightmare for the neighbours. On the positive side, Mr O said that our plot is one of the best amongst all the plots in this allotment society and that the soil is top quality.

On the down side Mr O told us that what we had dug so far would not kill off the remaining seeds and that we needed to get down to the yellow clay layer deep beneath. He showed us exactly how it is done and it is looking like quite a job to get on with. We have decided to hire his services to help dig it over thoroughly in order to get it ready in time for planting. It may seem like a short cut to get to where we need but better to get some help and get it right rather than having to start all over a few months down the line.

Unless we get too much snow this coming week, then the plot should be completely dug over by next weeken. Then we will cover it with a layer of compost. Mr O reckons that by mid March, the plot should be in a good enough state for us to start planting on.

And the best thing of yesterday's meeting with Mr O, was the potatoes and turnips he sent us home with. It was from his own harvest back in October. The turnips were the biggest we have ever seen and the potatoes really large and firm and perfect for baking in the oven. A much appreciated treat!