@DavidPB@mastodon.social
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DavidPB

@DavidPB@mastodon.social

Allotment life.... Largely images and information about our successes and failures from our allotments in the centre of England. Mostly no dig, mostly raised beds apart from the fruit and potatoes which are in tubs. We keep chickens too and even though we have been doing this for a number of years we learn something new every week. It can be hard and exhausting but at the same time it can be rewarding and fascinating. We love it…

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DavidPB, to gardening
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That’s the onions 🧅 moved outside 👍 For the next three weeks they can enjoy the inclement weather before we plant them in their final locations 😎 AAA

Onions moved outside under netting

DavidPB,
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@stfn We do not sell them. We store them and have not bought onions for many years 😎 We do give some away to friends, family members and neighbours 👍

DavidPB,
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@stfn thought it may be easier to show you. We keep them year round in bakers crates on top of the bantams’ coop

Bakers crates sitting on top of the bantam coop

DavidPB, to gardening
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Onion and Leek – update 😎 Hard to believe that these were planted only five days ago on 26 December and they are all showing through this morning 👍 This year we have planted Red Creole, Red Baron then some Walla Walla & Globo which are yellow onions and some spare Musselburgh leeks 😜 , , ,

After five days the onions are popping up
After five days the onions are popping up

DavidPB,
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@levampyre We are also 7 (middle of England) Used to start them in January but wanted to follow tradition this year and see if that make a difference.

DavidPB,
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@levampyre under a garland grow light in a room that’s between 19 & 21 degrees

DavidPB, to gardening
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Just arrived 😊 Sadly quite exciting 👍 Twenty Polka raspberry canes arrived in a big box. Now ready to take the the allotment 🤓 Great price, great condition and great service from Ashridge Trees Limited 🧐

Raspberry canes in a bag at the bottom of the box
Label of the company from which we bought the raspberry canes
Label with the name of the raspberry canes that just arrived

DavidPB,
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@levampyre I wish you a swift recovery and healthy beeches 👍

DavidPB, to gardening
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Puddles, puddles everywhere 😅 It rained a lot ☔️ 🌧️ yesterday and one of the reasons we have raised beds ❗️

Puddles of water on the allotment
Puddles of water on the allotment
Puddles of water on the allotment

DavidPB,
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@levampyre Hi. I've used this weed membrane fabric for at least eight years. Stapled to the top of the beds and holes burnt into the fabric. Easily moved for maintenance of the beds and the re-tacked. It does save on weeding and comes from an eBay UK seller called QVSshop. Most of the things we grow start from seeds in 3.5 inch pots then transferred when ready. Some things we grow direct such as beetroot, beans and potatoes

DavidPB,
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@levampyre We use the fabric for spacing and weed control for just the alliums, legumes, padron peppers and brassicas. The beetroot, carrots and parsnips and sown in drills (so no fabric on those beds) and the potatoes in 30 litre pots. All the holes are the same size on each of the beds 😎

DavidPB, to gardening
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Brassicas in the greenhouse 🤓 On the right are the brassicas we will have ready for Christmas 🎄 and on the left are the brassicas that will be ready for early Spring 👍

A shirt video of the brassicas in the greenhouse. On the right are the brassicas we will have ready for Christmas 🎄 and on the left are the brassicas that will be ready for early Spring

DavidPB,
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@levampyre we also have light reduction from September through until April which stops us growing most things from seed. However, brassicas do well over the winter months but like you, at a really slow pace. They will give us an earlier crop in the new year and if we plant seeds by early august in the greenhouse we will have a last crop before Christmas 🎄

DavidPB, to gardening
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Before it gets too hot 🥵 Now emptied the rest of the garlic bed and filled the beds we built yesterday 👍 Washed the sides of the long garlic bed and lined with lots of thick cardboard 🤓 Then took more of the lower leaves of the sprouts before sitting down for a cup of tea 🫖

Finished filling the beds we built yesterday
Sprouts with the lower leaves removed
Sprout plants in their cage

DavidPB,
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@peeteepee they are yes and I borrowed the idea from someone else 😳

DavidPB, to random
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Padron pepper 🫑 bed preparation part 2/2 ….. Added 450 litres of compost to the front of the bed for body and levelled the bed 👍 Covered the weed membrane and stapled it on to the bed. 🤔 Positioned the pots where the peppers are going and burnt the holes for planting. The front holes are for the pots to be sunk in to water 💦

Weed membrane fabric draped to the top of the Padron pepper bed
Pots laid out to identify where the Padron pepper plants are going to be positioned
Holes burnt into the fabric on the bed to plant the Padron peppers

DavidPB, to random
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Padron pepper 🫑 bed preparation part 1/2 ….. Clear the bed, create a trench and back fill with cheap compost. So much life in the bed with lots of worms 🪱

Digging the trench at the front to back fill with cheap compost
Lots of worms in the bed which is great news

DavidPB, to random
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Mixed bag 💼 of tasks this morning 😊 Netting removed from the row of Charlotte potato tubs 🥔 Planted one of the two Lemon coriander clumps 👍 Then set out the six tubs for the cucumber plants 🥒 String for these is hanging from the frame of the polytunnel.

Lemon coriander planted in the greenhouse
Six thirty litre tubs ready to plant cucumbers

DavidPB, to random
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Vespa broad beans 🫘 (fava beans) A little overdue in planting so they’re a little bit leggy ❗️Ended up using one of the brassica beds as we have run out of space. Hey ho…

Cover and netting from the brassica bed removed for planting beans
Braid beans planted at last
Sides of the bed covered in green netting until the plants have grown

DavidPB, to random
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Before we left yesterday we picked a handful of the flower heads from the wild garlic 🧄 bed and made some amazing garlic butter for use another day 😊. The nine cubes pictured have been produced from one block of butter 🧈

Wild garlic flowers
Wild garlic butter

DavidPB, to random
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That’s a first 👍 Of the 98 parsnip stations planted 97 have germinated 😊 We usually have to move a few to fill the gaps so we’re quite pleased 😀 They will have to be a little bigger before we thin to one plant per station 🌱

Parsnips in a raised bed
Parsnip seedlings popping up in the raised beds

DavidPB, to random
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Globo onions 🧅 The last of the main onions are planted ❗️ 108 in the bed with about 12 spare. These are great for homemade onion rings as they are mild compared to the Centurion onions (sets) in the other bed.

Globo onions being planted in a long bed
Globo onions planted in a long bed
Globo onions being planted in a long bed

DavidPB, to random
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One of those days so far ❗️ Weeding ❗️ Sometimes I thinks it’s therapeutic but other times such a chore 🤔 Garlic bed long overdue and harder as it’s netted with staples. Brassica beds also weeded as there are plants that need to go out.

All the brassica beds weeded and awaiting plants

DavidPB, to random
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Asparagus update 🙃 The second asparagus bed has all five stations up and growing. There is a four week difference in the appearance times for the two beds. Clearly the one with more sun shows earlier 😃

The first asparagus bed has been producing spears for four weeks longer than the second bed

DavidPB, to random
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Potato update 🥔 The kestrel potatoes have recovered from the touch of frost that burnt the tips last week. Net removed today to let them grow 👍

DavidPB, to random
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Visitor to the allotment 🦊

DavidPB, to random
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Marigold update 🌺 They are in ❗️ The tagettes and marigolds have been planted in the large greenhouse. We plant in clumps and they have always done well ✅ Hopefully they will be three or four times the size by the time we plant the tomatoes 🍅

Marigolds ready to be planted in the large greenhouse
Tagettes planted in clumps at the front of both beds and the marigolds at each end of the beds in the large greenhouse

DavidPB, to random
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Last toot for today 😮 The marigolds are being planted tomorrow in the large greenhouse. They’ll sit in front of the tomato plants 🍅 Doing them now they’ll have time to settle in before the tomatoes are ready to go in 😊

Marigolds seedlings in trays ready to plant out
Marigolds seedlings in trays ready to plant out
Marigolds seedlings in trays ready to plant out

DavidPB, to random
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Asparagus update 😊 Three of the five stations have thrown garlic spears up at last in the lower more shaded second bed. Just two stations to go ❗️The first bed has loads of asparagus, too much to keep up with at times 😮

Asparagus spear popping through the earth
The first asparagus bed has far more spears popping up

DavidPB, to random
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They’ll be fine 👍 The overwintered garlic 🧄 in the long bed always struggles this time I of the year. Yellow leaves 🍂 suggest lots of things - under and over watered - too little or too much feed - too hot ❗️ By June they’ll be sound. The spare garlic 🧄 we planted in February (in the strawberry beds) are green and lush……..

Spring planted garlic in the strawberry beds looks lush and green

DemocracySpot, to random
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    DavidPB,
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    @DemocracySpot 0401 here and getting ready to go to the allotment 😎

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