English country garden and allotment gardening diary blog week six february 5 to 11

GARDENING BLOG

Week twenty eight July 8th - July 15th

2005

Friday 15th July 2005I dug up two large buckets of Kestrel potatoes this evening (and planted more leeks in their place) as I finished John was pulling carrots from under his fleece. I must admit I'm impressed with John's fleece grown carrots and am goinghave to buy some fleece and grow them that way myself next year.

I have planted out more leeks this year than I have in past years even though we now have the leek moth on our allotment site and they can cause a lot of damage.

2004

14th July 2004 I have collected some seed from the land cress that I sowed for the first time last year

Judging by what I wrote in 1999 I took matters more seriously then - and I'm not sure that I was right about the sprouts either. They certainly haven't been growing in the same space since then - although that is partly because I took on the new plot next door.
The weeds are still a problem though.
My old bean haulms are on the compost heap this year and not dug in and in fact this years sprout plants have been planted in the space where the beans were this year.

1999

July 10th 1999 The Autumn sown broad beans have given a tremendous crop and still there was half of the double row left standing. Some of the beans are getting tough to eat and the Spring sown Green Windsor broad beans are just about ready to crop. The remaining Autumn beans are now in kitchen the old beans plants are several inches under the ground where they were once standing. French beans and lettuce have been sown on top to replace them.
  The other end of the row still has short stubs of the old plants left with one or two pods left drying for seed. The cabbages planted in between have yet to claim the space.
  I'm harvesting the shallots as the tops die down and keeping note of those that were particularly successful as these will be separated out to provide seed for next year.

July 18th - TOO MUCH WEED

Again I've lost the battle against the weeds on large areas of my allotment. Each year that I loose it means many years of weed to come. However some areas are gradually coming under control. I'm concentrating on getting the japanese onion bed (a permanent fixture) clean in advance of seed sowing in the middle of August.
  The sprout bed is also a clean, permanent fixture and doesn't rotate. There are two reasons for this. One is in recognition of my soil type and the other is for disease control. My soil is very light, sandy and hungry. Sprouts growing on this soil type have tendency to 'blow', that is, not make tight buttons. I sow my sprouts on the paths between last years rows this keeps the soil well compacted.
  The other reason for not rotating the crop is so that I can heavily lime the bed if it becomes too infested with club root. My feeding method is to heavily feed with blood fish and bone at the beginning of the season and liquid feed through until August when I feed again with blood fish and bonemeal.

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		GARDENING BLOG Week twenty eight July 8th - July 15th 2005 Friday 15th July 2005I dug up two large buckets of Kestrel potatoes this evening (and planted more leeks in their place) as I finished John was pulling carrots from under his fleece. I must admit I'm impressed with John's fleece grown carrots and am goinghave to buy some fleece and grow them that way myself next year. I have planted out more leeks this year than I have in past years even though we now have the leek moth on our allotment site and they can cause a lot of damage. 2004 14th July 2004 I have collected some seed from the land cress that I sowed for the first time last year Judging by what I wrote in 1999 I took matters more seriously then - and I'm not sure that I was right about the sprouts either. They certainly haven't been growing in the same space since then - although that is partly because I took on the new plot next door. The weeds are still a problem though. My old bean haulms are on the compost heap this year and not dug in and in fact this years sprout plants have been planted in the space where the beans were this year. 1999 July 10th 1999 The Autumn sown broad beans have given a tremendous crop and still there was half of the double row left standing. Some of the beans are getting tough to eat and the Spring sown Green Windsor broad beans are just about ready to crop. The remaining Autumn beans are now in kitchen the old beans plants are several inches under the ground where they were once standing. French beans and lettuce have been sown on top to replace them. The other end of the row still has short stubs of the old plants left with one or two pods left drying for seed. The cabbages planted in between have yet to claim the space. I'm harvesting the shallots as the tops die down and keeping note of those that were particularly successful as these will be separated out to provide seed for next year. July 18th - TOO MUCH WEED Again I've lost the battle against the weeds on large areas of my allotment. Each year that I loose it means many years of weed to come. However some areas are gradually coming under control. I'm concentrating on getting the japanese onion bed (a permanent fixture) clean in advance of seed sowing in the middle of August. The sprout bed is also a clean, permanent fixture and doesn't rotate. There are two reasons for this. One is in recognition of my soil type and the other is for disease control. My soil is very light, sandy and hungry. Sprouts growing on this soil type have tendency to 'blow', that is, not make tight buttons. I sow my sprouts on the paths between last years rows this keeps the soil well compacted. The other reason for not rotating the crop is so that I can heavily lime the bed if it becomes too infested with club root. My feeding method is to heavily feed with blood fish and bone at the beginning of the season and liquid feed through until August when I feed again with blood fish and bonemeal. // gardening diary // gardening links // gardening catalogues // gardening home // Thompson & Morgan - Online Catalogues and Gardening Information patrick@laslett.info	Gardening links Catalogues Photo libraries Photographers Artists Illustrators Broad Beans Sprouts Weeds Shallots