So it's gonna take a while.....

I thought to myself, let's get all those weeds out from the gooseberry bushes. It won't take too long, and then I'll have better access to them for pruning. Hey, it can only take one 'stint'. Won't it?

Well, no. It won't. It's going to take quite a few stints. I started today, and in just over an hour, this is how much I got done:



Not a lot.

Oh well, at least it's a start. Can you see the bushes? There's even the blackcurrant bushes in the foreground. Gotta keep going!

Strawberries In And Update!

I haven't been up to the allotment nearly as much as I would like over the last few weeks. It has been half term, followed by one thing and another. The latest has been marking - it takes priority over most things.

Today however the strawberries arrived, with instructions to put into the ground immediatly! And so I went to the allotment this savo with the mission of putting the strawberries in. I have put them into the bed that had the failed potatoes. I am a little worried that there may be a few baby potatoes in there even though the plants didn't grow too well. Every now and then I come across some teeny spuds. I hope they don't grow into 'weeds' next year in between my strawberries.


Here is a picture of the strawberry plants as they cam from Suttons in the post this morning. They look very bare and small. Let's hope that they know what they are doing and they grow up big and strong.


The leaflet says that I should remove all flowers for the first year. What! No strawberries next year? I want strawberries! Boo Hoo..... (I think I'm going to be a bit naughty and let a few flowers through....)

In other news.......

The lettuces are still strong, although the frost has taken it's toll. I think the time has come to dig them out. Still, I'm pleased at how well the raised bed/copper tape worked at at stopping the slugs.

Talking of copper tape, on the strawberry bed the tape is hanging off in places (see the strawberries pic). So I definately need to do something to make it stay put.

In the background of the letttuce bed is the onion bed. Can you see a few onions sticking up? Yay - the onions (or at least some of them) are growing. As well as lots of grass. I tried digging up some of the grass, but it looks like it is a little tuft on the top, attached to a huge couch grass root underneath. I think I need the onions to be more established before I have a proper go at digging it all up......

That's all for now, Folks!

Daffs in! Potatoes Died :-(

The title says it all really.

I wasn't expecting much from the potatoes really - it was the wrong time of year, but it was worth a shot. It means that I can now use the potato bed for the strawberries when they arrive - always a silver lining.....

The raspberry canes that I put in are looking healthy, so that's good. The picture in the previous post was actually taken today, so they have been in 2 weeks and are looking healthy.

The blackcurrant cuttings are also looking healthy. The buds are green, so that's good, and I'm assuming that spring is when they will spring. Can't wait to see if they do!

And I should have some daffs for the kitchen in spring!

Raspberry Canes

I have very kindly been given some offshoots from a friends raspberry canes, which I have duly got into the ground. Unfortunately, I didn't get up to the allotment on Wednesday, so I didn't get things done that I was hoping to do. On Thursday morning I dragged lil'girly up, but she was pretty unimpressed at being there in the cold. I therefore created a much smaller area for the raspberries than I should have, and they are crammed in a little too tightly. Oh well, if they grow big and strong I'll separate them some more next autumn.

Bed finished, Onions in

Today I got up to the allotment for a little bit, and finally finished off the raised bed. That's 3 raised beds in place and copper taped. I am going to have to find something to keep the tape in place as it just isn't sticking to the wood. Can I use nails? Somewhere I have in my head about a nail causing the tape to lose its electric attributes..... It's probably just me being mad though.

So having finished the bed, I put in my onion sets. For the record, these are Early Crop Radar onions, which should be ready for mid July. The 200g bag nicely filled the raised bed, so the quantity was just right.

Seeing as the bed looks the same with the sets in as before, (except for the copper tape) I didn't bother to take a picture. I'll take one when they start to grow.

Grape Vines!

We eat quite a few grapes, so when I saw a grape vine in Wilko's, I bought it. A bit of an impulse buy maybe, but free (ish) grapes? Can't turn that down! I am curious to see how well it grows though. Staffordshire is hardly Mediterranean weather...... It went in the ground a while ago now (June?), and it's looking fairly healthy, so on to next year and some fruit! (hah!)

Another bed in!

I got up to the alotment yesterday for a half hour of digging and finished up the next raised bed. It still needs copper tape around it, but other than that, it is ready for the onion sets. So that's the next job to be done!