November harvest and planting

I went to the allotment today, to enjoy the sunshine, pick some food for the week (or the freezer!), and plant the garlic and onions - plus some lettuce plugs I got from the garden centre in the morning. The lettuces I planted some weeks ago are doing very well under the plastic tunnel,I have three types doing well and this in the photo is only one I picked today, 5 more still in the ground! The spinach plant is also doing very well, I picked this pile today and it's barely made a dent.

Hoy fui a la huerta, aprovechando que hacia sol, y me lleve cosecha para la semana y de paso plante los ajos y unas cebollas, y una bandeja de lechugas que compre en el vivero por la manana. Las lechugas que plante hace unas semanas se estan dando muy bien en un tunel de plastico, aqui en la foto veis la cantidad que cogi esta manana (tengo tres tipos), y esta es solo una de las 6 lechugas que habia! La planta de espinaca tambien se esta dando de maravilla, mirad cuanto corte hoy y casi no se nota.

The kale is doing fantastically well, and the colourful chard looks great. But the thing I'm looking forward the most is the leeks! I planted them too close, but even so they're thickening. I picked my first today and I'll eat it this week in a quiche, I think.

Las berzas italianas (las de hojas largas y oscuras) estan espectaculares, y las acelgas multicolores. Los puerros son una revelacion, los plante demasiado juntos y no pense que se fuesen a dar, pero a pesar de todo estan engordando! Hoy me lleve uno y lo voy a cocinar esta semana en un quiche.

I thought the cabbages were done, after I picked six two days ago. But I discovered today there's two more forming!

Los repollos morados son una sorpresa continua. Hace dos semanas me lleve seis y no pense que se fueran a formar mas, pero las dos plantas que quedaron estan formando cabeza:

And another surprise: another purple broccoli (or lose cauliflower?) coming up.

Y otra sorpresa: mas coliflor morada! No se si es una coliflor suelta, o un repollo apretado:

Finally I also picked some flowers:

Y por ultimo tambien me lleve a casa unas flores:

These are the onions I planted (a yellow type on the left, and one called radar that looks bigger on the right):

He plantado dos tipos de cebollas: a la izquierda una cebolla amarilla, y a la derecha otra mas grande que se llama 'Radar'.

And the garlic ('Marco', same as last year I think):

Y por fin, los ajos (una variedad llamada 'Marco'):

Halloween party

We had a Halloween party at the allotment last Saturday, complete with bats, hanging spiders and other scary things. It was freezing, but the barbeque, and later a bonfire of old rubbish and pallets, made all the difference - not to mention the food and drinks! We had a great time. Here are some pictures.

El sabado hicimos fiesta en la huerta. Hacia frio, pero lo pasamos genial! Fotos aqui:

The communal greenhouse

Some one dug the wrong kind of compost...!!

The communal shed looked lovely, with all the lights

October birthday roast dinner vegetables

For my birthday last night I made this roast chicken with vegetables for my family. The chicken lived a happy previous life in a farm somewhere, but the veggies... they all come from my allotment!

I dug up the main of my potatoes yesterday, and I was very pleased to see they survived underground perfectly well for more than two months, even after they lost the foliage in July to blight. I can't roast potatoes 'properly' yet so I made them into a mash.

The black (or Tuscan) kale is doing extremely well at the moment, so I picked a bunch of leaves. After months and months growing, the plants ate finally in full production.

But the purple cabbage is the revelation. It appears my clay-ish compact-ish soil is ideal for brassicas!
There are at least three more round cabbages in the ground, and the purple sprouting broccoli plants are having a second wind and producing some more shoots! So I should be eating homegrown greens ('purples' ?!) for a while yet!

Next challenge, Christmas! :-)

Purple cauliflower success

At last! A purple cauliflower! I've no idea how this perfect beauty managed to grow, with the bad weather summer we've had, and the little time I've spent at the allotment this season. But defying all odd, here it is. Isn't she beautiful.

Summer salad (at last!)

Because of weather and social commitments, I've been away from the allotment most of July. In the meantime the bad weather brought the tomato blight, and today I had to pull out all of my tomato plants - now I have a basket full of green tomatoes for chutney, hooray! But a handful managed to ripen before doomsday: see photo below. My lettuces all went to seed since I last seen them, a shame because they were looking good at the beginning of last month and earned me compliments from my allotment neighbours. But at least I have managed to get this handful of lollo rosso and rocket leaves. On the plus side, the cucumber was a total surprise: I thought I had bought courgette plants, and I didn't think thy would have survived the slugs and snails!

If the weather had been better, I would by now have sowed more salad leaves to have a succession, but since it's been so wet I don't have anything to replace the dead lettuces (and tomatoes). I may sow some autumn/ winter quick crops, or buy plugs; I haven't made up my mind yet. Guess it depends on whether I get another dry-ish day to go digging! 

Meagre results from the wettest summer ever 

Esta es mi unica cosecha del verano, de momento. El tiempo ha sido penoso, y he estado fuera varios fines de semana, con lo cual hace cosa de un mes que no voy. Los tomates cogieron una plaga y los tuve que levantar; estos de la foto son los unicos que tuvieron tiempo de madurar (con Los verdes hare conserva, yuju!). Las lechugas y la rucula echaron todas semilla y se pusieron amargas, solo se salvaron las de la foto. Pero lo que ha sido un exito es el pepino: yo pense que las plantas que compre eran calabacines! 

El problema que tengo ahora es que no tengo nada con que responer las lechugas y tomates. Si el tiempo hubiese sido mejor, tendria un semillero que transplantar, pero ha llovido demasiado. A Lo mejor compro plantitas para el otono/invierno, ya vere.

Sages transplanted

I've had this variegated sage plant in the garden in a pot for nearly two years, and yesterday was the perfect sunny day to transplant it to my newly created herb bed. Not only does it look great (to my eye at least!) among the other herbs and flowers, it also means fewer pots to move to the new garden! La salvia planta mas alta del medio es una salvia verde jaspeada que hace dos anos que tengo en una maceta en el jardin. Ayer hizo bueno asi que aproveche para transplantarla con el resto de las hierbas aromaticas: queda bonito y es una maceta menos que transportar en la mudanza!

This one is the other salvia I've had in a pot for two winters now. I think it looks good against the green of the mint plant. Behind it you can see the raspberry in flower already! Esta es la otra salvia que tenia en el jardin. Queda bien junto al verde de la menta. Detras esta mi frambuesa, que ya tiene flores!

Sowing and planting in early May

I was busy at the allotment this bank holiday. Hoy fue festivo en Inglaterra y lo pase en la huerta, plantando y sembrando.

1. More raspberry canes, the green netting is to stop the cats climbing the fence at this particular spot and snapping the new branches (it happened!). Mas canas de frambuesa, la red es para que los gatos no trepen justo ahi y rompan las ramas nuevas!

2. A patch of parsley seed. Un rincon sembrado de perejil.

3. I filled this raised bed with more compost from my garden (before I sell it), and transplanted some lollo rossa I sowed in a tray last month. And next to the lettuces I sowed radishes. Rellene la jardinera con compost del jardin y plante unas lechugas que sembre el mes pasado en una maceta. Y al lado de las lechugas sembre rabanitos.

4. Chinese cabbage grown in a tray and transplanted today, something I'm growing for the first time. Behind it, few purple sprouting broccoli plants in between two rows of beans (not sowed yet, still a bit cold), to make more use of the space (psb will be in the ground till next spring). Aqui transplante UNOs repollos chinos (una novedad para mi), y detras voy a plantar dos filas de judias pero aun hace algo de frio. Mientras tanto he plantado unas plantitas se brecol morado, que van a estar ahi todo el verano hasta la primavera proxima (asi se aprovecha el espacio mejor).

5. I bought some tomato plants the other day and today I planted them out, three next to the lettuces (see above) and three in these pots. Behind the pots are my peas, and I sowed a row of purple mangetout. The raised bed at the back has my spring onions, garlic, and in between I sowed a patch of rocket today. Compre seis tomates el otro dia, tres los plante con las lechugas y tres en estas macetas. Detras estan los guisantes, hoy sembre una fila de una variedad morada. Y al fondo se ve la jardinera donde tengo los ajos, unas cebolletas, y un rincon que sembre hoy con rucula.

Tree cabbage and mooli radish as cut flowers

It's not all digging and sowing for the summer, some things are looking pretty right now. These flowers are, guess what? Tree cabbage (the yellow) and mooli radish (purpleish)!

The plants have been on the ground since last autumn and now in spring they are flowering. They make perfect cut flowers, and I can eat the cabbage leaves too (and the bunnies love radish leaves). I hope I have time to save some seed from these before I move house!

Estas flores son... Un tipo de berza (lad amarillas) y unos rabanitos! Las plantas son del año pasado y estan dando flor ahora. Quedan preciosas como flor cortada, y ademas las berzas son muy ricas (y a los conejos les encantan las hojas de rabanitos). A ver si les da tiempo de dar semilla antes de la mudanza de casa!

Muscari in pot

It's not all compost and allotment digging, I also have some spring flowers...

No todo es compost y cavar en la huerta, tambien tengo flores de primavera...

Potatoes planted for 2012

My potatoes have been in the ground since 31 March. You can see in the photo how they had sprouted first - I had them in the greenhouse for a month beforehand. I put some of my own compost at the bottom of the hole.

From left to right, I planted: highland burgundy (mc), sante (mc), Charlotte (2nd), cosmos (1st), sharpe (1st).

Today I topped up the soil with more compost and more soil I dug from the other side of the allotment: the plants should be strong enough to grow through this amount of soil, and also I will have enough earth on the sides to pile on top of the potatoes when they show (creating a "ridge").

Perennial herbs and fruit in semi-shade

There are 4 perennial edibles here. From left to right: mint, raspberry cane, sorrel and thornless blackberry cane. In front I'm going to sow parsley and chives.

This is the strip at the top of the allotment by the neighbour's fence, which makes it a bit shadier than the rest of the plot. All these plants should do well in semi-shade!

Between this morning and last weekend I've transplanted them from my garden. It feels good to have proper soil to give my plants, as they'll do better than in pots, but also it'll make moving house so much easier, having fewer pots to cart around. And I still get to keep the plants I like.

De izquierda a derecha: hierbabuena (de la finca de mis padres), frambuesa, acedera (rumex acetosa) y mora (zarza sin espinas). En primera fila voy a sembrar perejil y cebollinos. Esta zona esta delante de la valla del vecino y le da menos sol que al resto de la parcela, lo cual es perfecto para todas estas plantas: se dan mejor en semi-sombra.

Me alegra poder plantar todas estas en el suelo directamente, pues hasta ahora las tenia en macetas en el jardin y espero que crezcan mejor en el nuevo terreno. Ademas, menos macetas que transportar en la mudanza!

French garlic cledor - spring planting garlic experiment

Despite the label stating very clearly this type of garlic, cledor, is to be planted in spring, I can't help but feeling it's wrong: I've always been convinced garlic needed a period of frosts to grow properly, and that's why you plant it in the autumn. But perhaps it's not the frosts, but the extra months of growing, and perhaps this variety is fast-growing and can catch up? We will see.

Last autumn, when I'd normally plant my garlic, I had no allotment, no future garden and, frankly, other worries. So I was very pleased to discover this variety and I'm keen to give it a try. I may not need to go without garlic this year after all!

Early sowing of peas - in loo rolls



Early pea variety 'Kelvedon' can be sown from beginning of March

While I finish (er, start, even) digging the soil to make it ready for sowing seeds directly into it, I am sowing seeds in trays.  The idea is that I will finish with the soil preparation over the next 3 weeks, and then have little plants in the trays ready to transplant into the soil - and therefore I should have my first crop an extra 3 or 4 weeks early. 

A lot of seeds, and definitely these peas, could be sown directly into good soil from March onwards, you don't need to use trays or a greenhouse.  But because I only inherited the plot at the beginning of March, I simply don't have the time to dig the whole thing any quicker, and my green fingers get itchy - I can't wait to start sowing!

Other things I have sown into trays (5th March), currently sprouting in the plastic greenhouse:
Lollo rossa, little gem, chard 'bright lights', Chinese cabbage, red cabbage, calendula, tagetes, borage, purple cauliflower, spring onion, leek, sweet pea.

Mientras termino (o mas bien empiezo) de cavar el terreno y prepararlo para siembra directa, estoy haciendo semilleros en bandejas. Estos guisantes son una variedad temprana que se se puede sembrar a partir de principios de marzo, pero como veis mi suelo aun esta cubierto de hierbas asi que siembro en los rollos de papel. El plan es dentro de tres semanas tener suelo limpio y plantitas listas para transplantar.

Otras cosas que he sembrado la semana pasada en bandejas, y que estan brotando en el invernadero de plastico:  lechuga 'lollo rossa' y 'little gem' (una roja y otra verde), acelga multicolor, repollo chino, lombarda, calendula, tagetes, borrago, coliflor morada, cebolletas, puerros, y una flor que en latin se llama 'lathyrus odoratus' y en ingles 'sweet pea' pero el nombre en espanol no lo recuerdo.

Planting plan sketch

I know I can't draw... But this is my general planting plan, including some herbs and flowers I already have and need to be transplanted - and ideas for things I'm going to sow later in the year.

Este es el plan general para este año. Algunas de las plantas las tengo en maceta y solo necesito transplantarlas, el resto lo sembrare en durante los proximos meses.

First steps at Plot Number 5, my new allotment

This is the start of my second year at my local allotment site in Wood Green, Salisbury Road, and after one year sharing a plot and on the waiting list, at last the time has come and I have obtained A PLOT OF MY OWN! Here are some photos introducing Plot Number 5, and the first things I've done there so far - I've only had it for less than 2 weeks, one weekend. I've been going there every morning this week before work, as there's quite a lot of soil that should be sown and planted this month.

Where my work begins every morning

This section of a tree trunk comes from when the site was cleared by the council to be turned into allotments. They cut down the trees and left bits like this around to be used as seating, and I inherited this one with my plot. It is extremely useful, especially as I'm coming there in the mornings on the way to work and I need to change my shoes. I keep the wellies and some tools in the plastic box, so don't need to carry muddy boots into the office. I am working on the "paving" too, all those bits of brick and boards were left on the site so I can recycle the materials.

The plot is a long rectangle in shape, and I'm lucky enough that my neighbours on both sides have made wooden paths already (I have a direct root to my wellies without having to step on mud!). I have divided it into 4 "strips" with some more boards across the width of the plot, and one of the raised beds will go in each section. The whole space is about 3 times bigger than I had before, and I am very pleased to have noticed the soil is much better. I transplanted some things this morning and when I watered them the water drained almost immediately, it barely made a puddle. The soil is on the sticky side (clay), but drainage appears to be quite good - what a welcome surprise!

Having 4 distinct sections will allow me to do a crop rotation, like the allotment books recommend: carrots and root vegetables, potatoes, brassicas (green leafy stuff), and beans and peas. In the beds I will go more creative and plant all the things that I'm not sure which group the fall into, such as courgettes, flowers, and perennial crops (so they don't get in the way when I'm digging the plots).

New kids on the block

I plan to move the 4 raised bed frames from my old plot across the path but so far I've only had time to move 1, which what you see in this photo. I planted it with some stuff I had in the garden: at opposite ends, two perennials to give the bed some permanent structure (a rosemary and a lavender), and in the middle 3 lunarias (in front of my neighbour's greenhouse) and a sweet rocket plant. This bed is next to the tree trunk I use as a seat, so I want to plant it with lots of lovely smelling plants.

Before the digging begins

This is what the rest of the plot looks like at the moment, before I start digging and putting my beds in . The part missing from this photo is the first section from the top where I've put my first bed and started digging. Also missing is the very top of the plot, beyond the first bed, against the fence panels that run between the seat and the greenhouse, where I am going to transplant my raspberry and blackberry canes from the garden.

Propagation has begun this week

While I'm waiting to do finish all the digging and soil preparation I have started sowing seeds in trays into the plastic greenhouse, which I've also moved from my garden. The idea is that, with the extra warmth of the plastic cover, the seedlings will germinate more quickly, and come April when the soil is finally ready I will have some plants ready to transplant!



Potatoes chitting at the allotment

These are my seed potatoes for 2012. They are currently chitting (sprouting) in the plastic greenhouse - what a grand name for such a modest contraption, which I've moved to the allotment (photos of that coming soon!). On my way home tonight I'm going to cover them with some bubble wrap plastic recycled from the office, it'd help protect them in case of frost - which would kill them. They can be planted just before Easter, when soil is warmer (and I've had some time to dig it over first!).

They look really cute at the moment, I have 6 of each of these varieties:

• Sharpe's Express, very early - harvest from end June
• Cosmos, early type - harvest from July. This ones I got from an Abel & Cole veg box, the biggest potato I cut into 3 pieces all with growing eyes... I heard you can propagate them like that, but it's an experiment!
• Maris Pier, second early - harvest from end July
• Sante, another Abel & Cole experiment. This one is a maincrop, so ready to harvest in September (if the blight doesn't get to it first!)
• Highland Burgundy Red, another maincrop but I grow this one for the novelty: it has RED FLESH, I can't wait to see this! :)

Overwintering veg crop (and flowers)

Just before the big snow in February I managed to harvest of all these:

Winter veg: two types of kale, chard, onions and sprouts

Justo antes de las nieves de febrero tuve cosecha de berzas, coles de bruselas, cebollas y acelgas. Como el tiempo, antes de la nevada de febrero, era tan suave hasta la nemesia seguia en flor.

The weather was so mild at the beginning of the year that many plants carried over from the autumn.

This Nemesia has been in flower since last summer...

La nevada de Febrero 2012

Algunas fotos de la nevada que tuvimos a principios de febrero:

Radical changes ahead in 2012 - Purpleveg moves!

The purple veg blog has lain fallow for a few months, but with spring and other changes approaching... we’re back! The reason for this lack of activity is partly because of the autumn and winter weather, but there are also more subtle reasons. In the past 4 months my home life has been turned on its head, and it’s interesting how this has affected my relationship with my garden too.

After only 3 years in this house (and 4 years of marriage), my husband and I are splitting up (we have been discussing this since October). For financial reasons we have decided to sell the house, and my plan (fingers crossed!!) is to then buy a smaller place on my own. Needless to say, “sole use of the garden” is top of my list of requirements… Coming to terms with these lifestyle changes hasn’t been, and still isn’t, easy. I found it too heartbreaking at first to be investing emotionally in growing things in a garden that doesn’t have a future (with me). Also the garden was winding down towards the darker months, and I know that you have a lot more leeway in this period - you can almost always catch up later in spring. So gardening wasn’t very urgent.

Now, 4 months later, I find it less shocking to look at my garden and think “I’m not going to get to see it flower and fruit in the summer”, and so I can start to be practical about what needs to be done for my upcoming move. I plan to record the whole process in this blog , so if you’re reading this I hope you will find it interesting!

Despite the autumn neglect (fallen leaves didn’t get swept up, pots with summer crops such as basil didn’t get emptied and put away), winter flowers still did their thing so in January I had some very welcome flowers: in the first few weeks of the year, which coincided with very mild weather, the primroses and one of the irises flowered (it all got obliterated with the snow at the beginning of February). And the skimmia japonica and the sarcococca (Christmas box) also flowered, as they have been doing for the past 3 winters (I bought them on my first year).

Blue iris and yellow primrose, in flower 15 January