Sweetcorn envy

This is Chris's second plot - It is always immaculate, his crops always appear to grow bigger than anyone else and I am on a mission to discover his secrets.......

This is his first plot from the greenhouse up towards the strawberry bed....

This is his strawberry bed & his greenhouse beyond - which is already producing good sized cucumbers.

And this is his sweetcorn - and it's massive, about 5 times the size of mine. He must feed it on rocket fuel! it is far more advanced than anyone's on the site.

Mmmmm.....undercover operations are required here I think!

Balls

I was wandering round Asda when I spotted bargain ball pond balls so snapped up a bag to use as cane toppers to stop me poking my eyes out on the canes.....Lots of people round the site use old milk bottles for this purpose but I think that the balls are much nicer to look at & add colour!

The front of the plot...

My front flower bed.... many of the plants got caught by the frost & looked like they would not make it, but they seem to have made a comeback & are starting to flower.

Domestic Goddess

Well at last came the rain - a whole day of it so rather than get completely soaked I decided to do some inside jobs, and here's the result....... a beautifully clean & tidy shed.....

Once the shed was done I moved into the greenhouse & potted on the aubergines...

and some of the chilies......

and the curly kale.....

Emma's tomato emporium

Have now planted the tomatoes I started in the greenhouse, into the polytunnel - There were alot of them!

Down this side there are Costoluto Fiorentino, Sungella and Garden Perle

Down this side there are Moneymaker, Roma & GardenersDelight

and at the end Cucumber (Telegraph)

Mmmm....now what to do with all those tomatoes!

Chips but no fish

By some fluke I went to the plot & came in a different gate to the one I normally do and spotted a huge pile of woodchips - Quick phone call to son bribing him to come & help me barrow woodchips to my plot from the far end of the site and this is the result - all the paths now have woodchips on them and the plot looks much better.

Look what I've been up to...

First; dig a load of holes....

Then make a door & door frame out of treated timber......

With the help of a chicken that thinks it can read the instructions!

Next hammer posts into the holes, then put anchor plates over the posts and back fill the holes, with the help of a lovely assistant....

Then slot hoops over the posts & fix the ridge pole in place & attach bracing poles to each corner.....

Next fix door frames to hoops at either end and base rails to bottoms of hoops....

Put paving slabs up the middle to form a path.....

And then cover the whole structure in plastic (try to do this without swearing!)

And there you have it...... a polytunnel!

Just add plants......

Look what I found!

Fabulous tasting carrots, baby beetroot & radishes

and broad beans....

The chickens absolutely love the radish tops.

Hen house

Went to a meeting, and got back to find that my daughter had gone out leaving the back door open, my son was in his room oblivious to what was happening below......the chickens decided to investigate how the other half live!

May update part 3

Buddy posing for the camera!

Got the courgettes planted onto half of the sweetcorn bed - There are 8 plants 1n here....just as well we like courgettes alot!

The sweet peas have started producing flowers, and these 2 coloured varieties smell lovely

I sowed some peas in root trainers then planted them out. they have grown away really well, however the ones I sowed straight into the bed germinated well but then the pigeons spotted them and have nibbled every single one - I covered them in fleece and it looks like they will be ok. The pigeons have not bothered with the ones I started off int he greenhouse.

Planted out the climbing french beans & sowed runner beans direct on the other side of the frame.

This is a view down the plot.

Harvest time, broad beans, mixed salad leaves & carrots.....yum yum!

May round up part 2

I have been planting flowers as well as vegetables on the plot and this rose is one that Stasha gave me as a thank you for all the greenhouse glass I gave her. It is a lovely red one which should look great against the blue shed.

Sweetcorn planted out

The garlic is doing really well.

This is my roots bed - I have carrots (early nantes), beetroot (boltardy), radish ( french breakfast) and parsnip (white gem), all of which I have grown in succession, every few weeks.

Onions & leeks - all of which are really starting to come on, particularly the shallots and onions I grew from sets. The leeks are growing well also - I thought these would not do anything as thew were extremely skinny when I planted them out.

May update part 1

I have been trying to upload photos of my progress on the plot repeatedly and all it keeps doing is saying 'bad request'. What is going on with Blogger? - Is anyone else having any trouble? I managed to upload these photos one by one which also took ages!

Over the past few weeks I have been very busy on the plot, getting everything planted all the final bits of digging done, general titivating of the plot and.....harvesting!

Got most of bed 4 dug over & planted out the kale and sprouting Broccoli. When it came to cover the plants to protect them from the pigeons I had a brain wave - I used an old IKEA bed canopy - fits perfectly and the holes are small enough to prevent all but the tiniest insects from getting through.

My fruit trees have established well, but none of them have much fruit on so I don't think there will be any harvests this year. Hopefully next year they will produce fruit. It's not surprising really as I only planted them out this spring.

The carrots (paris market) that I grew in the greenhouse produced lovely little roots and gave us about 4 meals worth. They were delicious!

More digging!

Yet another baking hot day - got to the plot this afternoon after it was not quite so hot, and started digging bed 4 so that I can put out my brassicas - all of which are growing like mad, particularly the kale. Even so I was very quickly drooping as it was so hot! - stuck with it and eventually it got cooler and I managed to dig about 1/4 of the bed.

In the greenhouse the sweetcorn I sowed has started to come through.

I use loo roll inners alot for sowing into because you can just plant them as they are into the ground, but they are great for those seeds that need a good depth of pot like peas, beans etc. The only thing it I have run out now and I need a load for my climbing and runner beans!

Done digging bed 3!

Another scorching day - but when are we going to get any rain - am having to water everything which is a pain, this early in the season. I finished digging bed 3 at last - Hoorah! and then got on with planting out all the rest of the onions & leeks. The whole bed is nearly full and I have sown some more leek seeds as we like leeks alot so I don't know where I am going to put them - I think I need another plot!

Publish Post

Planted the leeks into holes I had made with my dibber and then watered them in - some of the leeks were spindly so I will see whether they grow into anything worth eating.

The potatoes I planted are starting to come through & will need earthing up soon.

Just before I went home I harvested some salad leaves & radishes, which I ate for my tea with eggs from our hens.