Allotment update

 The first Gladiator parsnip of the season coming in at 17 inches.

 Finally a picture in focus of my Falstaff brussel sprouts

 The Helenor swede is fattening up nicely.

The Marshmello strawberries bed had a bit of a tidy up and trim.
I planted a row of Cristo garlic and 2 short rows of White Lisbon winter hardy spring onions.
The next planting will be Senshyui and Electric Red overwintering onions.

A couple of day's in the garden

The recent weather has facilitated a general garden tidy up.I have collected 4 black sacks worth of rubbish and consequently found my lost Wedding ring.I now take it off every time I do anything in the garden or allotment.

I have looked at last year's leaf mould and stirred it up a bit,it is full of worms and seems to be breaking down nicely.I have emptied 1 compost bin and turned over two others.

The tomato graveyard is rapidly filling up and I am gradually pulling up my plants.The Tasmanian Chocolate and Dwarf Mr Snow have been exceptionally disappointing,so far I have had no ripe fruit.The Alpatieva 905 are a good size but something has been eating them likewise with the Beijing Yellow.
In the garden I have planted Blue Hyacinths,Iris Reticulata and Tete a Tete dwarf daffodils.
In pots for spring I have planted Carlton daffodils with Tete a Tete and Iris Reticulata,and one of Tete a Tete with Muscari.
Some of my pots from last year are already showing probably crocuses.
In seed trays I have started Calendula Fruit Twist,Cornflower Blue Diadem and some self saved Hollyhocks.
On the seed saving front I have bagged up Beijing Yellow,Slovenian Black,Harbinger,Mortgage Lifter,Alpatieva 905,Reisentraube,Napia Early Pointy Red and Alberto's Locoto.

Allotment update

For the first time in ages I went to the allotment.It was perfect weather for it.dry not too hot or cold and I got a fair bit done.The old onion patch was dug over and I planted of row of leeks.

On the harvesting front I harvested Green Delicacy kohlrabi,Flyaway carrots,Snowball turnip,Helenor swede,Ishikura spring onions,Greenleaf lettuce and Autumn Bliss raspberries.

The recent weather has finally killed off my tomato patch so I have harvested any that show any sign of colour and pulled the plants up.I have also dug up my Annabel french beans which were finished,I am leaving the runnerbeans for seed.

In the brassica cage I have finally got around to planting some Kale plants,I am sure that the resident whitefly will soon be feasting on them.I have some Falstaff brussel sprouts on the plants,I have also taken lots of munched leaves off.

Potatoes

A pictoral history of my maincrop Picasso and Pink Fur apple potatoes

A row of Charlotte salad potatoes,three rows of PFA and 2 of Picasso.

The incessant rain of spring and early summer sees the crop growing.

Unfortunately the site got struck with blight so the stems were cut off and basically left in the soil.

The dreadful conditions led to my Picasso's splitting.

Some did come out clean and are now in storage,

This is the last of the Pink Fur Apple's which have provided me with a decent crop and will be grown again next year.

I spent yesterday afternoon digging up and over the rest of my potato bed,all that's left are a row of Gladiator parsnips.In front of that is the unweeded Onion bed which is my next job.