The BHOGG Plots 2011

oh no they dont

target spot blight

Four sweet potato plants in a rasied bed in the greenhouse

Guelder Rose in full bloom

Cara (main crop) planted in a trench and top dressed with comfrey, nettles and grass clippings then soil/manure on top.

Horse dung seed bomb!

oinion seed sowed thinly in a deep tray (old window box) where they will grow on until planted out in April

A Visual Diary

July

The best month for harvesting: kale, kohl rabi, runner beans, carrots, courgettes, potatoes, French beans, beets and salads, raspberries.

Pest watch is on full alert and looking for creatures to squash: asparagus beetles and cabbage white caterpillar eggs are abundant and threaten to demolish their host crops.

Planting out leeks and weeding but there is time also to enjoy the sunshine and make plum jam.

June

June 26th

Garden Gadabout Open Day

A glorious sunny day brought a steady stream of visitors to the site to help us raise funds for the Sussex Beacon.

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the day making teas, selling plants and showing visitors around the plots.

Late June

Found early blight on the charlotte potatoes. We lifted the crop and put the haulms on the compost but it isnt as serious as late blight and it isn't necessary to remove affected foliage as quickly so you can leave the crop to grow on in the ground.

Harvesting peas, kale, beets, salad leaves, potatoes.

Planted out sweet potatoes with organic potash and fingers crossed for a warm summer to encourage a good crop.

It's mid June and we are still complaining about the weather! At this time we want to be planting out the tender crops and watching them get off to flyers but the wet and windy conditions have left the squashes, cucumbers, French beans and runners looking lack lustre.

Some of the sweet potato slips have been bedded up in the greenhouse but we dare not put the others outside just yet.

Our spirits are lifted by the harvest flow as we near the most abundant season on the allotment: the first new potatoes and peas compliment the last of the broad beans and asparagus whilst beets, radish and Kohl Rabi make tasty raw salads.

The fruit picking season is upon us: black currants and raspberries have fared well on the Weald despite the dry spring. Thinning the (Autumn) raspberries last winter may also have helped to produce a bigger and juicier crop.

Many of the herbs - sage, lavender and hyssop - are approaching their mid summer zenith. We are reminded what a wonderful plant hyssop is with its deep velvety blue tones. It is easier to maintain from year to year than lavender as it doesn't mind how much we trim it back.

May

A warm start to the month has encouraged the French beans, squashes, courgettes and cucumbers to germinate in our unheated greenhouse and these are being moved outside to their final planting spaces as the stiff easterly winds die down.

Runner beans have also been planted out and are doing well. This year we are growing a variety called "Polestar" which has been recommended by Sarah Raven and Mark Dianoco no less so we have great expectations for them.

An early sowing of carrots was deemed a failure so this bed has been resown and germination has been encouraged with regular watering and a shade net to keep the ground moist.

Onions from seed (Bedfordshire Champion) have been planted out in early May and watered well to help them establish.

The first sowing of kale has been planted out and is doing well. We will sow again next month to ensure a succession of kale for the autumn.

Fruit bushes have been watered and fed regularly with liquid seaweed to keep them going through the dry spring. All promising a good harvest though.

And as the asparagus wanes we wait for the first broad bean.....

April

Harvesting asparagus, rhubarb, chard, perpetual spinach and herbs.

It has been a dry month so watering seedlings regularly and the rest of the plot once a week with a thorough soaking.

Giving the broad beans an extra boost with a liquid seaweed feed.

Mid to Late April

Sowing French beans, runner beans, courgettes and squashes in the greenhouse.

Planted main crop potatoes (Cara) with a fresh mulch of chopped up nettles, comfrey and grass cuttings.

Carrots, parsnips and radish sown direct into beds outside.

Early April

Planted out peas from greenhouse sowings.

Sweet peas to grow up our willow obelisk and an edible, "Robinson" - a heritage variety saved from last year - this seed gave us 100% germination rate!

The young peas have been protected from birds (with nets) and from slugs and snails with organic slug pellets.

Beetroot sown direct into the soil around the peas.

Kale sown in trays and potted on to be planted out later.

March

20th: Planted Charlottes - hope its not too early for them. Also planted shallots, leeks in seed bed, green manure on runner bean bed (fenugreek/lucerne mix), peas (Robinson from HSL) in long pots in greenhouse. Filled gaps in decimated broad bean beds with extras grown on in greenhouse.

Sowing radish and beetroot under cloches outside, and some kale (Nero) and red onion seed in the greenhouse.
Green manure: mustard sowed on two beds that will not be planted until June then topped up with fresh compost from the bins.

Harvesting rhubarb (heavenly)
and last of winter kale, sprouts and leeks.

February

A wet month so not much work done outside on the beds.

Potted on some seedling lettuce in the greenhouse (Arctic King)

Sowed some more broad beans in the greenhouse after crops outside decimated by bird attack (they peck off the green tops) and mice (eat seeds in the ground). Next year remember to net to protect from birds.

The onion seeds have germinated

Harvesting: leeks, parsnips, chard, parsley, sprouts and kale

January

Sowed onion seeds - Bedfordshire Champion - and left in greenhouse after we had burnt a sulphur candle to clear the red spider mite.

Still harvesting leeks and parsnips.