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.

Spuds!!!!

Well........All our potatoes are now in. We have 1st Earlies, 2nd Earlies and Maincrop. As follows:

1 st Earlies - Duke of York & Saxon

2nd Earlies - Charlotte

Maincrop - Cara, King Edwards & Maris Piper

We were running out of time today so didnt get chance to take many photos until it was all completed. Just have to wait now till they all start to grow.

Onions in

We spent a couple of hours preparing our onion bed today so that we could plant some onions and beetroot. There were 3 separate varieties. We mainly chose Stuttgarter as they were recommended to us. Im still on the lookout for a cheap rotovator (if theres such a thing).

Well it finally feels slightly worthwhile now - We planted cabbages, Cauliflower and Kale. With your mind fixed on digging all the weeds, etc you forget what your actually doing all the work for. Seems worth it now.

We purchased 7.5kg of Maincrop Cara potato seeds today with which these will be going in on 2 plots. This will be used to clear the other plots from weeds. So i have been told this does a good job.

Holiday

Since our last update we have had a holiday and been generally busy but we still managed to pop down for a couple of hours here and there. we have one full row all ready to go now which will be for our potato seeds(all 180 of them). we have also started on the second row which will hopefully be for onions, etc. I ordered a small set of overalls for Evie which they quickly arrived. She now looks the part bless her. Was thinking of getting a set for Paula, LOL!

Light at the end of the tunnel

I had a really good productive day today. Watching another guy with a mini tractor turn over his plots in minutes today didnt help but hey ho. Im about 6ft away from finishing the 2nd plot so once this has been done we will turn over the other plot once more then will look at getting our First Early potatoes in. I couldnt believe after leaving the Lottie on Sunday that the fire was still going (just). I added a few more dry bits of grass then slung on bits of roots as I dug up. I did my bit when leaving by wheeling a couple of barrows of weeds from the neighbours plots and piling it on the fire. Hope they dont mind!

Paula and myself got stuck in first thing today with the target to clear the 2nd plot but we got no where near.

A lady who also has an plot on the site kindly gave us some rasberry bushes that she no longer needed so we spent a while planning out where these need to go, etc. We decided to plant these near the shed that may produce a mini windbreak in the summer. We were very excited planting these and are feeling like we are now actually getting somewhere now.

Romantic Valentine day out!!!

With a little bit of snow still on the ground we all ventured over to the lottie to crack on. In fact it wasnt long after that our winter jackets came off, hopefully this a start of something. As you can see Evie absolutely enjoyed it. Theres not an awful lot to report for today but was just glad Evie wasnt too cold to enjoy digging and playing.