@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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I guess we’re officially up and running with planting seeds for next year ❗️❗️👍 Planted seven small trays of alliums 😎 Red Creole Onions, Red Baron Onions, Walla Walla Onions, Globo Onions x 2 and Musselburgh Leeks x 2. Once up we’ll put them under grow lights 😜 , , ,

Allium seeds ready for planting
Trays planted, covered in vermiculite and sitting on the heated propagator

DemocracySpot, to random
@DemocracySpot@mstdn.social avatar

deleted_by_author

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    DavidPB,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

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

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    The bare root strawberry plants arrived 🍓 although they were so dry when opened ❗️ We are sure they’ll be fine 👍 and have planted them into one litre pots for the winter 🥶

    Sieved spent compost with some added blood, fish and bone added
    Clean one litre pots for planting the strawberries
    Strawberries (24) planted ready for winter

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    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,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

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

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    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,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @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,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @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
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    Reorganisation of the fruit cage underway 🤗 Some of the fruit like the blueberries will stay in the huge tubs but other things like the currants are going into the ground 👍 This is our lingonberry that we have moved to a larger tub 🤓 Moved from a thirty litre tub to a forty litre tub 🙌

    Closeup of the lingonberry plant
    Lingonberry plant upsized to a forty tub

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    The late calabrese 🥦 is forming nicely in the greenhouse and will be ready to pick before we know it 🤓 Even the late swede have started to form roots and will be picked by Christmas 🎄

    Calabrese head
    Small calabrese head
    Swede root forming

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    A little colour in a damp, miserable day 😊 An artichoke flower on the plot 👍

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    The hunt begins ❗️ It rained again last night so the ground is wet 🌧️ The hybrid chickens 🐓 know it rained and are not interested in anything other than looking for worms 🪱

    Hybrid chickens

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    Strange year with the weather ❗️ This morning we noticed more asparagus spears appearing 🤔 It’s almost October and do not recall having them growing this time of the year previously

    Asparagus spears

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    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,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @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
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    A strange world with this weather 😳 Last year we grew 70+ butternut squash in the same space and this year I can see only two ❗️ There will be much less squash to harvest this year even with the Turks Head and Uciki Kuri we have growing 👍

    Turks Head squash
    Uciki Kuri squash

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    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,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

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

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    Too shallow❗️Since we relocated the strawberries, the beds could do with being deeper so we’re adding timber and making them twice as deep 👍 We removed the hoop tops and trim, added boards, lined them and returned the trim and hoop tops before painting 🤓 Job done ✅

    Added a level of boards, lined them and replaced the trim
    Beds ready to fill, painted and the hoop tops returned

    peeteepee, to gardening
    @peeteepee@mastodon.me.uk avatar

    Looking towards next season, I need some recommendations for seed supplier. I used to buy mine at Wilko's, but they're closing, so where would you recommend I switch to?

    @gardening #gardeninguk #allotmenteering #growyourown #gardening #allotment #homegrown

    DavidPB,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @peeteepee I like Real Seeds too and would also suggest you look at https://www.kingsseeds.com/home and https://www.premierseedsdirect.com/

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    Started picking corn today 🌽 We have no idea what it’ll be like so only four for now ❗️The winter squash have also started growing well, particularly the Turks Head 😋

    Corn is ready to pick
    Winter squash starting to grow well
    Turks Head squash taking shape and growing well

    DavidPB,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @levampyre they are ready and each day I have cut the top half off to compost, just less work when we clear the beds!!

    DavidPB,
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    @levampyre we do, we strip the leaves and leave about two foot of stalk in the ground until February/March. It is also so much easier to get the roots out of the ground after they’ve sat there over winter 🥶

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    On a neighbouring plot 😎

    image/png
    image/png
    image/png

    DavidPB, to gardening
    @DavidPB@mastodon.social avatar

    We left them overnight to dry before bagging them up to store 👍 From the first nine tubs of Picasso potatoes 🥔 we managed to get 55lbs and one stood out, weighing in at just a smidge under 2lb❗️

    Tray of the smaller Picasso potatoes
    Tray of the larger Picasso potatoes
    One Picasso potato weighed almost two pounds

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