Gary - Plot 16b:
Someone commented about how fabulous my fennel looked last year so I thought I would share what I did. I think I was just lucky as I didn't do anything special but here goes: The seeds I used were Kings Fennel Rondo F1 which can be sown directly into the ground or in modules. Kings say that fennel doesn't like root disturbance but starting them off in modules worked fine for me. You can plant anytime from April to May. I have some growing on the windowsill in the conservatory as we speak. Last year I potted them up into larger pots before I hardened them off outside. I then just planted them on the allotment, 25 - 30cm apart and let them grow, keeping the weeds at bay and keeping them well watered until the plants were established. As the swollen stems start to develop, it's a good idea to gradually build earth up around them to preserve the whiteness and flavour. I harvested the leaves from July and bulbs from September and October. I may have left some to get a bit too large, but live and learn. The only other bit of info is that I planted them where I had grown onions the year before, but I am not sure if that is relevant. Unlike the fennel in the herb section which is grown specifically for its leaves, this fennel is grown for the bulbous plant base which can be used chopped raw in salads, braised as a vegetable or added to casseroles. It has a mild aniseed flavour with a texture much like celery. I love it grilled on the BBQ and you can find my recipe (with a little help from Jamie Oliver) on the "Vegetables and Sides" page of the Recipe section of this website. Happy growing!
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Paul - Plot 4:
You can't have too many onions can you? Yesterday we potted up 240 onion sets (photo on the left), 160 New Fen Globe and 80 Red Ray. Do you pot your onions first or just plant them direct? It's certainly more work to pot them first but then we find that the birds don't pull them out for fun when they are already rooted. We had such a good crop last year (photo on the right) that we thought we would do exactly the same this year. We are down to our last 3 or 4 Red Ray now, so they keep well too! It's the first day of spring today and it really feels like it. What a lovely day. We did a bit more on the central path today and we are now almost done. We are just waiting for a bit of rain to wet the ground and we will then sow some grass seed. Hopefully all will then be lovely for the summer. It is coming up to the busy time now so it will be brassicas next for us. We will soon be sowing in trays in the cold frame and then potting up when the first true leaves start to grow. We have already prepared the ground by walking all over it to harden the ground. This stops the plants from moving about in the wind. We have also put lots of lime down as brassicas love a limy soil. Hopefully we won't get the dreaded clubroot this year. Paul- Plot 4:
You may of noticed that the central pathway is in need of repair after all those heavy tractors had churned it up. We started work on Saturday. It was pretty muddy after the snow and rain so we started by forking along each track to drain any excess water and also to loosen the ground. We then brushed a layer of sand in the holes. Pete Owen (plot 8a) kindly delivered some much needed top soil and grass turf for us to use. We will be filling in the biggest holes with this shortly. Work carried on during Sunday. It was a beautiful day so it was really pleasant to work in the springlike weather. What made it more pleasant was that Fiona (plot 3) had dropped off a homemade, delicious Swiss Roll for us to share. It went down very nicely with a cup of tea. Thanks Fiona! We are dodging the weather at this time of year so the work won't be done overnight. Please bear with us until it is finished and ready to look beautiful for the coming season. In the meantime, if you see any of us tolling away on the path, feel free to put the kettle on and make us a brew:-) Paul - Plot 4:
Don't you just love leeks? We do. I sowed mine on the 11th February in a propagator and they are already about 3 or 4 inches tall. If you haven't got yours started yet, now is a good time to do so. This year I have sown a tray of Musselburgh and a tray of show leeks, Snowdon. Musselburgh are a reliable leek of a medium size but our favourite is Snowdon, which grow to about 4 cm in diameter. You can buy them online from Kings or Plants of Distinction. Anyway, in about a week's time they will be ready for transplanting. I usually transplant them into 9" diameter, deep pots and put about 15 leeks in each pot. You can then leave them until the end of May when they should be about the width of a pencil. It will then be time to plant them so watch this space for some good tips on how to do that. What a funny week for weather! It went from spring sunshine to winter snow and back again in three days. Check out the gallery for some pictures which have been taken on the allotment over the last couple of days. Stan - Plot 33:
On Wednesday I received my new variable electric propagator. I set it up in my greenhouse at home & filled the trays with the appropriate compost. One day later, with the compost warmed through, I started to take Fuchsia cuttings of various varieties. The trick is to find yourself a nice plant from which to take your cuttings. I made sure there was no signs of disease then I found a stems with a couple of pairs of leaves and I cut the stems so that they were about 2” long. I then removed the surplus leaves which exposed a leaf node, and cut the stem up to where the leaf node was. That’s it, ready for planting into prepared pots. You can dip the end of the stem in hormone rooting powder or not. Sometimes I do, but the powder doesn’t seem to make much difference if the cuttings are healthy. I hope some of these plants will be available for Jeff to sell with his other plants with the money going to his charity. I also set the Dahlia tubers on my other propagator in the hope of having cutting available for the middle of March and then growing on ready to plant out in early June. Now is a good time to sow broad beans if you haven’t done already. I have sown Bunyards Exhibition in the cold part of my greenhouse. This variety has not let me down in the past. In the next few weeks there will be many seeds that can be sown. Like me, keep checking your seed packets for the appropriate dates. Paul:
This is my first attempt at a blog. I'm not sure how to structure it but hopefully it will get better as I carry on. My wife Jean and I work our plot together (plot 4). Its February and at this time of year there isn't a great deal to do on the plot other than digging over the ground, clearing weeds and generally getting the site prepared for the coming season. Today was all about potatoes. Last week I prepared my seed potatoes by standing them in egg boxes in the hope that they will "chit" or sprout, ready for planting. The secret is to keep them quite cool. At the moment they are in our spare bedroom with the heating off but I am not sure that Jean is too impressed by that so I may move them into the greenhouse and protect them from frost with a bit of fleece. I am digging trenches at the moment ready for the potatoes. We are having three rows this year, early and late crops. This year we are trying Arran Pilot and Cara. We haven't grown them before so watch this space. Today I finished the third trench and put in some leaf mould from our leaf bay together with some rather smelly chicken manure pellets and Blood Fish & Bone food for good measure. Normally I would put in cow manure but this year I thought I would try something different. The weather was cold today but it didn't stop us from doing some work. Jean was road testing her new oscillating hoe and was very impressed with it. It gets deeper than a standard hoe, and because it has blades front and back, you can use it with a forward and backward action. The cold weather is always a good excuse to get the kettle on and so we stopped for a cuppa and a chat with the plot holders who were around. The talk soon came around to Man U's abysmal performance last night in the European League in Denmark. The least said about that, the better. I finished with a quick trip to the tip with a few buckets of debris and the plot is now looking pretty clear. All in all, we put in 2 hours work (including the tea) so it was a fairly useful morning. |
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May 2022
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