Slipping...

Just lately we've been slipping on the allotment duties.

A period of "over-wintering" is how it has been described.

The onions are slowly growing and 3 out of 7 beds are all ready for turning over next season.

This season we intend on adopting a more intensive system, concentrating on the crops that reap us nice rewards last season.

word out,,

J

3 sisters

The 3sisters bed

Some beans are doing better than others.

Horseradish

The Horseradish has started to flower

Paper Lantern Chillies

cucumber

Cucumbers

The first set of cucumbers have started to flower on this feminized variety grown indoors.

Empty Garlic Bed

The last of the garlic bulbs have been lifted today.

This bed is now being made ready for autumn and next season.

3 sisters

The 3 sisters bed seems to improve with each visit to plot19. Other people on site still seem to have blades of grass as sweetcorn, whereas we have stout plants.

This sweetcorn is our healthiest crop so far. Very happy with overall growth.

Many plants have cobs already,,, and it's still June ;o)

Garlic Harvest

We harvested some garlic today.

Peppers (indoors)

A selection of peppers from indoors:

Temps between 20-35c

Numex Big Jim - apparently the biggest hot pepper in the world (...lol)

Numex Twilight - a small hot chili.

Early Habanero Paper Lanterns.

Landrace Peppers - sown from seed collected in fruits from the local Indian Delicatessence.

Vine on Shed

Grape Vine on the shed will need some maintenance before next season .

Gardener's Delight

3 Sister

Peppers and Toms

Habanero Paper Lantern

The flowers on this hot pepper are lime yellow and small.

Salad Crops

These salad crops were given to us by a chap a few plots down.

Just add a dizzle of olive oil and some balsamic vineger.

More photos

Peas

These mid variety potatoes sure like our plot.

Chili Bed

The chili bed is slowly establishing itself.

Tepin pepper.

This year we decided to follow the advice of Monty Don (for some reason) by planting a bulk crop of chilies and peppers outdoors. The main varieties here are Numex Twilight and Numex Big Jim, with the odd Tepin planted between.

Following an organic method that helps reduce damage by slugs and snails we have surrounded this bed with grass clippings. We will have to wait and see if it works.

Plot #19

Every on the plot is now growing.

Tom Bed #2

Our friend Mr G is busy tending to his plot.

The tomatoes have now taken to the soil and are rooting in nicely.

The variety is Gardeners Delight.

x3 sisters in June

The beans at the bases of the canes are growing the best.

The whole bed has been covered with a top layer of coco-fibre to help reduce weeds and retain moisture.

Many of the courgettes we put into this bed died following those heavy rains at the end of May. The pumpkins and squashes placed out in early June seem to be doing much better. This pumpkin is already setting to bloom.

3 Jalapeno

3 early Jalapeno

Painting Peppers

Painting peppers by hand is a good way of mimicking nature when growing chillies indoors.

Carefully, using an artists paintbrush, transfer the pollen from one flower to the next.

Repeat this process daily throughout the flowering season.

Black Peppers

Tomato - Beefsteak Big Boy

The 1st Tomatoe

-----------------

FREE TIBET!

Glasshouses #2

This later variety of chili is a Habanero Paper Lantern.

info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habanero_chile

Of the 10+ cultivar we've attempted to grow this season these peppers have shown the best viability, health, and vigor so far. The Scoville Scale (at 100,000–350,000) indicates these will be the hottest chili we'll be growing.

This season we are both growing courgettes (and a gifted marrow) indoors and outdoors as part of the x3 sisters. Many of the indoor plants are already starting to set to flower. The rest were planted outdoor today (thanks for the help Ben).

Permaculture is a methodology and practise involving the management of agrarian resources alongside places of habitation. It's all about bringing the garden into the home and the home into the garden. Permaculture is the single most effective way in which people can help aid the ecology of the planet alongside the ecology of the social being.

Glasshouses

Luckily, we've both got glasshouses at home; allowing us to start tender plants off indoors, before planting out. Haylek's glasshouse sits 10c lower than mine, which is ideal for staging plants off slowly. These tomatoes outside under full shelter are already producing some nice trusses of fruit.

These chilies / peppers are indoors on the glasshouse floor.

Several plants make themselves naturally welcome in and around the home, so we are gradually become acquainted with a variety of plant species that we'd otherwise never have grown.

Plot19

From back to front the plot design seems to be working quite well. The main roots bed is a bit empty, but we still have some radishes and some tender herbs to plant.

The potato beds are the main feature at the moment. So far they are looking healthy with no signs of virus, pest, or disease. The garlic forefront started producing spears ready to flower and so have been removed.









From front to back this side of the plot still needs some work. The pond is drying out ready for lining so makes a great staging-off shelter for plants. The patio doors were already on-site, but make an ideal glasshouse roof.