Away we go !

Been mostly sitting at home this Christmas and going stir crazy. Cant get on the allotment at the moment because it`s a mire. Santa brought me some grow lights so I have started some Toughball onions off and they came up in 3 days (Medwyns). They are now under lights for 12 hours a day. I`ll prick them out next week probably. I`ll also start some Vento off next week sometime
I also started some shallots off with a bit of heat underneath them. These are for eating not for showing.
I`m having another go at some hot chillis this year. I always struggle to produce anything with them and I think the lights will make a big difference. They are sooooo slow to grow initially but they should get off to a good start and be a decent size before they go into the tunnel.
I also riddled the topsoil for the carrots, it`s done now and just needs to be sterilized when I get the opportunity. Million and one jobs still to do !

I thought it was gonna be good but !

I spend a fair amount of time and effort making compost for the allotment. I,m pretty much the only person on our site that does this but I came to the conclusion a while ago that there is nothing better for keeping your soil healthy.
I try and make a bin full at a time. It will decompose faster and generate more heat if you do it this way. The key to making good compost is to layer and alternate your ingredients. I layer carbon and nitrogen rich materials in turn and put some alfalfa straw inbetween each layer. I use green materials off my allotment plus any veg that I cant`t use anymore, eg, swede that has gone woody, bolted leeks and onions, grass and comfrey. For the carbon, I use leaves and shredded paper (The Jehovah`s Witness Watchtower magazine makes great shreddings;-)
I make 6" layers of each type and put a handful of alfalfa inbetween. I use a product called Alfa-A which is basically a horse feed. It contains pure alfalfa which is dried and a small amount of molasses added. The molasses is a great addition because it`s a natural sugar which the bacteria love.
Within a week of a full bin being made, it will have sunk by 2 thirds. I will then fill the bin back up another couple of times before I leave it. The alfalfa generates some heat because it has a fairly hign nitrogen content and this helps the decomposition process.
Then it`s a process of turning out the bin after about 8 weeks into an empty bin. This helps to introduce air into the mix and speed up the process. During the spring and summer I can make good compost in around 4 months. I tend to use it as a top dressing in spring. It`s great for "waking up" the soil after the winter.
Analysis results below. This stuff is so rich I wouldnt put a seed anywhere near it but as a dressing, the numbers look amazing.

http://www.dengie.com/pages/products/alfa-a-and-hi-fi-ranges/alfa-a-original.php

Crimbo

I have it on good authority that Santa is going to bring me some new grow lights. I have obviously been a good lad !
My tunnel is finished. There, I said it !
Main bed laid out, 2 raised beds made, fitted and filled with compost. Stump carrot bed filled with sand and ready to go. I also started to prefab the long carrot house at home. If can can sneak away over Christmas, I will get it finished also.
Merry Crimbo.............

Other stuff I like !

I managed to get all the concreting done for the new greenhouse base. It needs to be solid because it will have lots of sand sitting on top. It`s got 8 posts in which is more than I would use for a regular deck. Now I can start to prefab the greenhouse structure at home and then put it together on the allotment. It wont see any plastic until next year (cant see any point of getting it ripped to bits over winter)
On a different note, I started to make fishing lures this year from wood. I do a desk job at work so it`s nice to do practical stuff at home cos I`m from a trade background and I dont think you ever lose the urge to tinker with stuff. It`s one of the reasons I love allotment life so much I think !
So, being a lure-making novice, I have had a go at 3 of them and they turned out pretty good. There is a pike trolling lure at the top, a perch trolling lure in the middle and a pike jerkbait at the bottom. Not too shabby methinks !
They just need a coat of epoxy and thats it.

Been a while but busy nonetheless

Been a while since I posted but things are moving on the allotment.
Just a word first about my second year growing veg for show. First of all, it would be unfair to blame the weather for my performance this year. If I,m honest, I have learned lots (again) and I think it will stand me in good stead for next time. I grew long carrots for the 1st time and was fairly pleased with them and although I didnt make it to an NVS event, I did produce a set which won locally. I`m currently building a new greenhouse for next years long carrots, and the stump bed is finished and filled with sand in the polytunnel.
It was all a bit of a rush this year so I`m pleased I got the jump on things and started to prep early.
See pic of the long carrot greenhouse base below.
Onwards !

Whats the marrow ?

I harvested one of my large ! marrows this morning. It had stopped growing so I thought I would cut it.
I just weighed it on next doors bathroom scales and it`s a measley 31 pounds. I had high hopes for this seed but it hasn`t produced. Back to the drawing board.
It`s Harrogate next week so I`ll be pulling the last of the long carrots and hoping I get a decent set. The plan is to zoom down after work on Thursday, do the staging and then get back up to Cumbria pronto cos I need to be at work at 6 the following morning. Then we are going to go down on Saturday to the show, back home and a 40 mile charity bike ride on the Sunday.
I`m gonna be knackered by Monday !

Lets get ahead of the game

I grew my stump carrots in containers this year and they were so rubbish I pulled all of them before the St Bees show. I emptied all the sand into a dumpy bag and decided to get ahead and build the stump bed for next year. It was easier than expected actually and I got it finished over the weekend and a couple of days this week.
A bit more prep to do on it and it`s ready for the sand to go back in. Then I`m moving onto the long carrot house / tunnel / greenhouse type thing. Not sure how it`s going to look yet but I`ll post photos when I get started.

St Bees show

 Top tray. I got a bollocking for the parsnips !

Some pics of my local show which was held last weekend. There was some great stuff on display despite the crap weather and a good turnout also. The flower exhibits were fantastic and my favourite was the Gladioli dispaly from Mark Hewertson shown above.
I entered a few classes and managed 3 red cards for top tray, parsnips and long carrots. The carrots won best veg exhibit in the show which was really pleasing. It means I`m doing something right. The parsnips were a bit ropey but I fancy a proper shot at them next year. I emptied out the containers for the stump carrots and I`m gonna start to build the stump bed for next year. This is going to be a blockwork bed with room for a bout 60 stumps. I`m also going to build something to house the long carrot barrels in for next year. I`m gonna call it a greenhouse but it will have open sides with a wind suppressing membrane and a plastic top. I think it will help to protect the carrots but will have good ventillation.Not much else to report ! I have a few long carrots left which look really good and a lot better than the set which won at St Bees.

It`s Showtime !

This time next week I will have staged my exhibits for a local show at St Bees in Cumbria. This was the 1st show I entered last year and remember crapping myself when I walked in the place. There were a few old codgers giving me the eye and probably wondering, "who the bloody ell is THAT !" But I ended up winning a couple of classes and it`s given me the confidence to take it more seriously this year although it`s been hard with the crap weather.
We have an NVS judge this year so I`m looking forward to some honest appraisals of my stuff. More pics of the show to follow.

Holidays, Olympics and Carrots (in that order)

Just back from a brill holiday cruising in the Baltic (which was bloody warm as it turned out) with my two favourite people. Had a fab time and visited loads of interesting places including Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and St Petersburg. Got back just in time to see her Maj jumping out of a helicopter to open the games. She`s a tough old bird !
The lotty was a bloody disgrace after 2 weeks away but I managed to get things sorted in a couple of days but it`s been a difficult 1st year of having a proper go at things. My stumps have been a bit crap actually and loads of them have gone to seed. The long carrots have done better but I would say they are a month behind what they should be.

I have a local show in a couple of weeks so I`m gonna do my best to bench something but I might have to be a bit creative to say the least !

Polytunnel Woes

"You can put it together in a weekend" said the blurb but it took a couple of weeks. An hour here and there is just no good !
Just the plastic to go on now and I can have a good tidy up of the plot.

Everything is doing ok apart from the red baron onions, another one or two seem to bolt every visit to the allotment. The long and stump carrots have loved the upturn in temp over the last month and finally seem to be doing something.

Long carrots

My long carrots have finally started to grow. They were an absolute bugger to germinate and then the weather was so cold, they just sat there for weeks and basically did nothing.
Its nice to see them doing ok.

The rest of the allotment is coming along ok too. This past week, the weather has been great and everything has responded well. I have potatoes, carrots, peas, asparagus, kale, sweetcorn, onions, garlic, marrows, beetroot and leeks all doing well.

Been a while

These warm days are great but the near to freezing temps at night are not very helpful. Maybe I keep forgetting it`s mid April.
All the long and stump carrots are now sown but last week I had to bite the bullet and order a new polytunnel. Long story !
All my onions and shallots (for eating) are in the ground on the allotment along with some early tatties, parsnips and carrots.
The greenhouse is getting full now and it would be good to get some stuff out of it and in the ground but it`s still cold out there.
Gonna sow some large marrows in the next couple of weeks, it`s fun to grow them !

Day off.

Had a day on derwentwater on the boat. Did some fishing, stopped on one of the islands and had lunch, made a fire, took some piccys.
All the carrot holes are now bored and filled plus I planted some stumps for an early local show.
The greenhouse is chocca !

Pass the Ibuprofen Mrs B !

Been putting this off for weeks cos I knew it was going to be a nightmare !
I got the sand delivered for the long carrot barrels on Friday. The entrance to our site is quite narrow and the driver wasnt optimistic about getting down there. The bloke turned out to be a professional swearing enthusiast and after much cursing (in a Glasgow accent) he dropped the bags off at the entrance to the site.
This meant a 300 metre round trip for each barrow load (see piccy). I barrowed for 7 hours on Friday and finally got it finished on Saturday morning.
Still need a little bit more sand but it just amounts to a few small bags.
Next job..........

Every bloke needs a day off

Had a days fishing with a couple of mates on Friday. This is Esthwaite Water right next to Windermere and just outside of Hawkshead.
Had a great day mainly consisting of us taking the mick out of each other for being crap at fishing, then this old girl turned up !
22 Lb`s of angry muscle which took about 15 mins to get in the boat.
I also started some 1st earlies off in the greenhouse last week and some sweet peas. I also got sent a load of heirloom tomato varieties from a nice lady in Wales. They were sown in the propogator yesterday.
Back to work ! The boxes for the long roots are now done and are going up the allotment this morning. Sand delivery this week I think !

Boxes Boxes Boxes...........

Been using my considerable joinery skills !!! making the long carrot and parsnip boxes for the drums to sit on. I`m glad now that I knocked down my old shed or these would have cost a furtune to make. As it is, they cost the price of a couple of boxes of screws.
Not too shabby if I say so myself

Compost

The sieve has been working overtime in the last week. Got my 1st 60 litre batch mixed up for the long and stump carrots. It`s looking pretty good I have to admit. Seed order also arrived from Medwyns with dribs and drabs mainly for the allotment.

I Got Verve !

I bought some cheapo Verve Multipurpose compost from B&Q at the weekend. I need to get some sweet peas sown in the next few weeks and it was 3 for a tenner so I got some.
Decided to use some for my carrot mixes for a couple of local shows I`m doing this year and it looked ok before I put it through a sieve. The first time through a 1/4" mesh produced a result "Time Team" would have been proud of. Twigs, lumps of wood, stones and what looked like a partially composted worm. It turns out that "Verve" is French for "full of shit"
After it went through a 1/32" mesh it was actually very nice stuff but I only ended up with 38 litres out of a 60 litre bag

Had some spare time today so I got the carrot and parsnip fertilizer mixes done. It`s another job off the list !
The mix is :
4oz Vitax Q4
2oz calcified seaweed
2oz seaweed meal
2oz lime
1oz Nutrimate
The vitax was ground up in a spice grinder but the rest was already powdered. This has been bagged up in individual batches and each batch will be going into the compost mix. (every 30 litres)

On to the next job !

It might not look like much but this was a massive pain. Concreted the path in this morning and then put the gravel in. At least now I`ll be able to get my shallots potted up.
Off to pick up some compost next week so the sieve and the coffee grinder will be working overtime.
On a lighter note, my seed potato order came this week from JBA.
:-)

Am I ever gonna grow anything ?

Did the shuttering for greenhouse base today. Concreting tomorrow hopefully weather permitting. It`s just another job on a long list.
Might get on the polytunnel at some point this weekend

These are the things that finally drove me crazy and lured me into the world of showing veg. This is my PB 749Lb fruit still growing in the tunnel in 2010.
I`m Gonna miss watching them grow this year. What I`m not going to miss are the 4.30am starts so I can put 50 or 60 gallons of water on the plant before work, the endless vine training, pruning and vine burying, disinfecting the fruit every other day and worrying that it`s going to split. Oh, and the 50 quid bags of mycorrhizal funghi.

Sun !

Well it seems that the rain has finally stopped and I have shed loads to do on the allotment. First job is to re-erect the tunnel which was mullered in the high winds before Christmas. It`s on a slope too which means I have to move a couple of tonnes of soil to level things up. Manged to get the ends concreted in yesterday and move some of the soil. Today was spent having the biggest bonfire in Crow Park history to get rid of all my rubbish. (The council are too tight to rent us a skip)
Hopefully, I`ll get the hoops up this week.