Jerusalem Artichokes - finally!

3kg ish of Jerusalem Artichokes

Well, the crop was certainly worth waiting for. Definitely my most successful vegetable so far. I added them to mashed potato (got away with it), made a kind of creamy bake to go with a roast (was ok) and made most of them into soup, which was edible.

Not high praise unfortunately, although I didn't experience any of the "after-effects", ahem, that Jerusalem artichokes are known for. I don't know whether to grow them again - it was lovely to have a crop that was so successful, but we really didn't love them...

End of September

Strawberries - repotted as their plot was horribly weedy and overgrown.

Jerusalem Artichokes!

Goodies!

My Mini Allotment

Chilli, beans, tomatoes and kale.

End of July

Sweetcorn

Jerusalem Artichokes

French Beans (I think!)

Peas

Courgette

Peas at home. First time I've ever eaten them raw. SO delicious. 

Sunflowers at home

Emily at the Allotment

End of June

Jerusalem Artichokes

Sweetcorn

Strawberries

Courgette

Peas

Covered with cardboard then manure

Inspired at home

I thought I would have a go at growing some plants at home, if only to keep a better eye on them and have at least something to eat this year! The grow bags were a bargain from Homebase (£2.50 on a 15% off day) and in them are tomatoes, kale, pepper and chillies. There are four bean plants on the right, either side of two sunflowers which are doing really well, bless them (my son planted them at a friends house ages ago). This is my front garden, which faces South-East. I also have a pot with three tomato plants in my back garden, which are flowering at the moment.

While my back was turned..

Slugs ate all my courgettes, sob. That straw mulch was a mistake! Let's see the if peas my kind neighbour gave me fare any better. 

Ugh. Where did they come from?

A wonderful 3 hours (luxury!)

I shouldn't have let the land cress flower.. bees love it though and adds some lovely colour to the plot.

Jerusalem artichokes going great guns!

Lettuces not doing too badly either.

Bottom half, trying no dig. Huge perpetual spinach plant in the middle, needs hacking back. That's Dad with the strimmer in the background :)

Planting out

Beans, pumpkins, lettuces..

Sweetcorn, kale, courgettes, strawberries.

Package from organicplants.co.uk

Tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans, strawberries, lettuce... I think that was it!

Second bed finished, and a VERY exciting find..

Dad got a strimmer for his birthday!

No photos today

I managed to get up to the plot today, but it was a bit of a sad trip. Lovely evening, but unfortunately the gorgeous sunny weather we have been having recently, coupled with me being out of action for a few days, meant that lots of the plants I put in on Sunday are now pretty much goners.

Then, pulling back the blue plastic sheets that have been used to cover the bottom half of the plot, I find the whole place crawling with ants. Yuck.

Nevermind. We'll see what can be done!

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Thyme seeds appearing

First allotment injury (possibly)

Spent a long time planting some lovely Freegle offerings last night, and woke up with a trapped nerve in my neck this morning. Gutted, as was hoping to get back there today (aside from the slight annoyance of not really being able to move!). Hope it fixes itself soon.

 

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Freegle Offerings

Jerusalem artichokes on the left, lots of land cress, mustard and sweet cicely on the right. Thanks to a lovely Freegle lady who dug them all straight out of her garden for me!

Saturday jobs

Finished my first bed! Sieved the soil to get out the huge lumps (chucked them on a bed further down to hopefully break down a bit), raked it over, then covered with manure to protect the soil a bit. Used my new lawn shears (from Homebase) to trim the grass round the edge.

Started weeding the second bed. Covered the bit I did with cardboard to (hopefully) protect the soil - from more weeds sprouting, and from drying out too much. 

My first crop! Kind of, the Rhubarb stem a bit too bendy for my liking. Not sure if it's ok to eat a previous year's crop, or whether I should cut it down and start again.. 

Allotments on Youtube (part 3)

Award winning allotment in Liverpool..

Allotments on Youtube (part 2)

Claire's Allotment (part one)

More from Claire..

Allotments on Youtube (part 1)

Rickvanman's Allotment Videos (this is day one).

More from Rick..

Freegle Goodies

Kale, Runner Beans, Strawberries, Mint and a Chilli plant

Lots of seeds!

I also got a load of plants from another very generous lady, but I didn't have time to take a picture as she pulled them straight out of her back garden! So I rushed down to the allotment to pop them straight into the ground.

Testing the soil

I have heavy clay soil, which means I need to add lots of organic matter to it to make it more workable. It's also a good idea to test the pH of the soil, to see whether it's acid or alkaline, and what treatments you need to give it to make it more neutral (unless you are growing acid loving plants). 

I used this kit which I bought on eBay - seemed to be good value and was easy to use. (If the link runs out, the seller was kkjc2.)

The only pain was that you need to use distilled water, otherwise you end up testing the pH of the water you use, rather than the soil. Distilled water is water that has boiled into condensation, and then cooled to become water again - hope that makes sense. You can buy it, or make it at home. I did make it in a very efficient way - I just boiled a couple of pans of water, and shook off the water forming on the lid. That only made enough for a couple of tests, but it's not too bad if you do it while making dinner or something else in the kitchen.

As you can see from the photos, my soil looks like it's a good neutral - 6.5 on the scale. You're supposed to do a few tests on different areas of the site, so I'll do some more once I've got more beds ready for planting. 

First seeds sown

I was able to get up to the allotment for just over an hour today. It was a beautiful evening. I pulled some weeds out, raked the soil and planted a few lettuce seeds. The plan is to plant some more every two weeks or so. The bottles and egg shells (and coffee grounds which you can't see) are my (possibly futile) attempt at protecting the seedings from slugs.

The line is measuring out a foot - I thought I would try some square foot gardening principles, as the usable space I have at the moment is so little.

I also managed to pull up some weeds along the outside of the bed, and trim the grass a bit. The shears left on the allotment aren't really up for that job (although they're great for brambles) so I might invest in some proper lawn shears.

Planting seeds

Planted these with the children today. Sweetcorn, Courgette, Peppers, Thyme, Sunflowers. I need to cover some with plastic to keep them warm. No idea if they'll work or not, as some of the seeds are quite old. Some Sunflowers have already sprouted on the left, planted at a friend's house a few days ago.