Just gets better!!!

Today me and Evie nipped to the Lottie just to check progress and was told by another Lottie holder that our broccoli was ready. Before he had finished what he was saying I had nipped back home to get a knife and carrier bag and started to harvest. Only 10 of 30 plants were ready but as you can see there is enough to keep up going for a couple of meals.

We was told the best way to store these is to boil them approximately for 2 minutes, place them in freezing cold water, let them dry out then bag them up for the freezer.

We left the last batch of broccoli to boil the completely. Wow, not only can you see the difference but you can really taste the difference. We all loved it including Evie (cant be bad). It was great for her to be bagging it all up with me one minute at the Lottie then literally 20 minutes later eating it at home. Surely cant get any fresher than that.

We have also dug up a full row of Duke of York potatoes which we filled over a 12.5kg bag. we have already gave most of this away to friends and family - Awaiting feedback now!!!

Harvest Begins!!!

We curiously dug up one of the potato plants today not knowing we would discover some modest sized potatoes attached. We lifted a few more plants which was slightly hit and miss but before we knew it we had half a bucket of nice sized potatoes. We lifted up 7 plants - Only another 193 plants to go. Shame Evie doesn't like them, he he!!! Hope everyone else does. Also lifted our first cabbage which tasted lovely. Its so exciting to cook with our own home grown produce. Even if we have got enough potatoes to feed the U.S Army.

We also planted 3 varieties of tomato plants - 2 x Shirley plants - 2 x money makers & 2 x Plum tomatoes. Quite intrigued to see how these turn out as the lottie is quite an open site to winds,etc. I'm sure if we stake them well they will be okay. As we had no more room at home we thought we would experiment with some peppers on the allotment. Really not expecting anything to happen but just thought we would see if they would survive there.

Whilst we were down there we noticed that the calabrese was just starting to show. Apparently within a week or two these will be ready to harvest as well which is exciting.

Another productive day!!!

Finally it feels like the veggies are growing quicker than the weeds, really cant believe the potatoes grow so fast. Also had my first glimpse of a new potato that was accidentally unearthed! Slightly smaller than a golf ball i would say.

As you can see in the pictures Evie really enjoys being at the Lottie, however messy she gets its always a bath as soon as she gets home.

Jobs we done today was to get some more sprouting broccoli planted, weed the whole plots and made our own organic fertiliser. To do this we basically pulled up a load of nettles from the nearby ditch and screwed them up to put in our full water butt. We will now leave this for atleast 30 days with which it should have broken down enough to use. Apart from getting stung a dozen times and looking slightly weird walking along the nearby ditch pulling up random stinging nettles I recommend anyone doing this on a budget as it costs didderly squat.

A job well done

We spent a good couple of hours here today with the help of Tony & Eileen. We managed to weed both plots which I would never have managed on my own as the potatoes had been slightly neglected and were fairly weed infested.

We managed to plant out our sweetcorn and leeks. With the leeks we trimmed the roots and soaked the whole leek in a bucket before planting out. We then made a 6 inch hole with a dibber, placed the leek in and filled the hole with water, trying not to get soil in the hole. Some of them we did not cut the roots off so will be interesting to see whether this makes a difference.

Throughout the late afternoon we could here a drone from the distance, I looked up and spotted a Lancaster on its way home. It flew right over us which was absolutely awesome. Evie loved it.

Greenery at last!!!

Nearly 6 weeks in and the potatoes are doing really well. I keep getting warned about covering them over if frost is due so im tryingto stay on the ball as far as the trusted weather report goes.

As you can also see onions,cabbages, brussel sprouts and broccoli are also doing fine. I really cant believe how quick these bloody weeds grow though. If i can grow veggies the way I grow weeds i will be a happy man.

I have a busy next couple of weeks so I hope to spare some time down there to look after the ole plot. I have to also mention i still havent added, sprayed or used anything not organic as of yet so feel fairly good so far.

Extra help!!!

What a bonus today, extra help and a pack lunch from good ole Mum. Its nice to spend time with people down there with no distractions getting in the way. Evie really enjoyed the time there and always insists on helping, (well getting in the way) bless her.

We carried out general weeding through out both plots. The potato plants have started to come through which is excellent. Not sure what were going gto do with regard to the frost. Didnt think these were going to grow so fast and the fact that we mounded the soil up so much we cant earth up anymore.

We also started to dig in a bed which will be used for a sweetcorn plants that we have growing in the make shift greenhouse. These wont be in for a while so we have plenty of time.

Got a new motor John???

Picked up a seriously good bargain. I have been looking for a cheap rotovator since we had the Lottie but couldn't find anything as cheap as I would like. Anyway, I got in touch with someone that was selling one on an online auction. I arranged to look at it it as it was a only a 10 minute drive away. To cut a long story short he couldn't get it started and was not mechanical minded in anyway so I offered him £50 with which he accepted. I took it home and within 2 minutes i had it working (Bonus!!). We took it down the Lottie with which it ate through the soil, so impressed.