Trying to spare some 'allotted' time.......

Over the last few weeks I have been weeding the allotment as if it were my full time job and tonight I'm sitting watching TV whilst busily scratching away at the many tiny bites incurred.
The trouble with such a large allotment is that whilst your head down plucking weeds out of the cabbage bed there are others sneaking up behind you in amongst the Asparagus.

The allotment takes priority because if I get behind on that then I will simply lose the plot (if you pardon the pun). As a result the garden has a few more weeds than I would want but it is manageable and so I am tolerating it.

It is an odd thing that the weeds are so prolific when there has been practically no rainfall for the last 4 to 5 months. On average we only had 1.6" of rain per month and April only had 7mm (less than a third of an inch) whereas last year the figure was 4". I'm surprised that there is not a drought order on us especially as we had one this time last year. All through the winter everyone else seemed to be getting a soaking, especially Wales but by the time the clouds reached Norfolk they were empty.


Most of the farmers have had to hold back the setting and sowing by many weeks because it was both so cold and so dry and the yields are expected to be a fair bit lower as a result.
So that sets up my excuse for a poor crop in my allotment then.

That said we have already harvested 12lb's of Asparagus and 25lb's of Rhubarb, which is pretty good I suppose. We have eaten, or posted  (see previous blog), most of the Asparagus and mostly frozen the rhubarb so we can use it in our winter crumbles.

I originally broke my veg plots into 3 for a three year rotation but quickly realised that I much prefer the root crops and so used two beds for these thus screwing everything up before I even started.

 Here is the original root crop bed. I know it looks bare but it is very full indeed. In the foreground are about 100 seedling leeks then 2 rows of beetroots.

To be honest I don't 'get' beetroot at all. Alison loves them in a sandwich with cheese.  I'd rather have acupuncture performed on me by a newbie student, with rusty pins.... who was blind than have to eat that concoction.
I use to hate the things when I worked in the Supermarket because they were so messy when they leaked. The fresh ones in the veg dept. simply dripped their blood on all the other shelves and customers clothing more often than not an expensive white jacket. The real bummer was when a jar of pickled beetroot smashed on the floor. Within seconds the vinegar would strip the polish off the floor and then instantly the beetroot would for reasons I have never fully understood stain the floor blue. I know..... what must it do to your gut?
 So I have grown these for love and there can be few more noble reasons than that.


Behind the Beetroot there are two rows of carrots, four rows of Parsnips (a bit thin as I lost some to a mixture of weeds and too little rainfall) and behind them 16 rows of onions. These are made up of white, red and shallots. I have lost several of these down Alice in Wonderland like holes which have been created by troublesome moles. I'll try to replant them and as I push down to firm the earth the onion, the mud and my fingers all suddenly disappear into the ground without a by your leave.

 Ahhh, the potato patch. I bought a couple of bags of 1st earlies, 2 of second earlies and 2 of Main crop potatoes. Concidering they were meant to all be in the previous bed it is all the more frustrating that the next bed was completely filled up before I even touched the Main crop spuds.
Still as you can see these are nearly ready for harvesting and the few that I have pulled have been smashing.

I have never been very successful with brassicas but so far this years crop is coming on great guns.
In this bed
  I have Broad Beans, Sprouts, Round cabbage, Savoy cabbage, Kale, Courgettes, Sprouting Broccoli and bloody poppies everywhere.

At the far end of the brassicas my runner beans lurk.
 I have used the Hazelnut branches that with the help of some friends we coppiced from the trees in our back-garden.


Yes there are some weeds here and yes I'll get round tuit!

The nearest small bed here has Butternut Squash in the foreground and Maize. There is also a weedy piece of Purple Asparagus which I assume is only in it's second year. I will look after this plant for another year or two when it will then be able to be harvested.

The bed behind is the prolific Asparagus plot and then behind that the Rhubarb patch and the orchard.



Right at the back are two strawberry beds which I planted and we have had about 250g of strawberries so far. We are the only plot where strawberries are ripe already, Mmmmmmmmm!

So that's the status of the Plot at this moment in time. One of the mates of the previous allotment tenant keeps taking photos of the plot to show him how much I have done with his old weed bed. I think it might be an unsolicited service!


I'll leave you with a couple of slightly blurred photos that I took of the many Barn owls that are frequently to be seen around us.

They are a magnificent bird and whilst these pictures were taken at dusk most sightings of them are made around mid to late afternoon. Last year Alison & I watched two adults hunting and taking mice and voles to a barn to feed their young, it was just stonkingly brilliant.





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