2008 - the year of the allotment

as we don't have any major events planned for this year, mrs p and i are hoping to make 2008 the year of the allotment. we popped down to our plot last weekend and had a good sort out. it wasn't looking too bad (pictured) so we gave it a good weed and cleared a few brambles etc. we've got some good winter/spring vegetable seeds, things like beans, radish etc so they'll be going in soon along with the much needed pigeon protect, which might include a homemade scarecrow.

watch this space to watch things grow (fingers crossed)!

you say tomato, i say tomato

some tomatoes from our allotment.
juicy!!

the good...the bad...and the ugly!

the good.......................the bad.........................and the ugly!

yes, you've guessed it. we've neglected our allotment a bit lately. it's been a bit of a busy summer and unfortunately the allotment has not been top of our list. but now its time for "operation trowel"!

this saturday we plan to give the plot a real good going over to get it fully cleared again and ready for next year. we'll be digging over the natural fertiliser that has been growing on the left side of the plot (they aren't weeds, honest) and finishing digging the final bed at the back of the plot.

we're also going to trim the paths and lay some old bricks around the beds that don't already have edging, just to tidy things up really.

so hopefully by the end of the weekend i'll have some better pictures to show you.

when does a courgette become a marrow?

just before we got hitched and went away on honeymoon, i popped down to our slightly neglected allotment to check it over before abandoning it for a few weeks. imagine my surprise when i clapped eyes on one of our courgette plants.

now i'm not up to date on the current EU directive on courgette size and when it should be termed a marrow, but this has to be the biggest one i've ever seen (approx 12cm end to end).

unfortunately we were unable to sample it as we hadn't time, so our neighbour was the grateful recipient of it along with a couple of lettuces.

hopefully we'll have something to tuck into soon!

cour(gette) blimy!

as we don't have photographic evidence you're going to have to take our word for this, but we ate our first courgette from the allotment today.

we covered them in egg and flour and fried them quickly in oil, and even if i do say so myself they were delicious.

we promise to take a picture of the next one as proof.

yum yum!!

darks skys ahead

what with all things about weather and precipitation being in the news at the moment, i thought i post this dramatic picture of the sky over central suffolk this week.

another little visitor

we've had another little visitor to our patch recently, but this time i was more than happy to welcome him (or her) onto our allotment. hopefully from the picture you'll be able to see that we've had a little mouse come and say "hello". i'm pretty sure that they haven't been the ones eating all our crops (bloody pigeons!) so i'll be more than happy to see it again.

we're spitting feathers now

just a quick update on the allotment invaders. well it turns out that the rabbits weren't to blame for our damaged cabbages. it was a squadron of fighter pigeons with a taste for half grown veggies. needless to say we have taken evasive and hopefully they will not be tucking into our produce again.

watch this space to see what happens!

rabbit pie anyone?

we've had a little visit from some of our neighbours, and they didn't come round asking for a bowl of sugar! we've been invaded by rabbits, and by the look of what they left, i think they'll be pretty fat by now. the top picture shows what remains of one of our cabbage plants, which should have nice large, green, lush leaves by now.

so we've decided to sure up our defences to try and prevent another attack (and if that fails i'm gonna get me some of those wmd's!). the bottom picture shows our new perimeter fence along our northern border. we are also planning to construct a second line of defence around each of the individual beds. we will never surrender!

the fruits (& vegetables) of our labours

we went a bit mad today and got another bed dug and two beds planted out with mainly cabbage and broccoli.

things are looking good and hopefully very soon we're gonna have something to taste for our efforts.

we're now planning our next expansion, with a couple more beds to dig beyond the two we've done today. they'll probably be planted with some green fertiliser and then used next year (or later this year).

beyond that we plan to have a long thin strip of land for some climbing plants like runner beans or similar (we're open to suggestions).

dig for victory

well we've only gone and done it! me and sue have gone and got ourselves an allotment! here's a little 'before & after' shot of our little plot.

we're trying to be as organic as possible so we're fully prepared for some very funny shaped carrots (i'll be sure to get photographic evidence and post it here).

hopefully i can use this little blog to keep a record of how we get on and any successes and problems we have along the way.

those of you interested in allotments and growing your own veg should check out the organic catalogue (link in the "i like" section to the right). Its got loads of things to buy and its nearly all organic and very cheap.