Leeks and plans

We took down the runner beans today. They've given us a great crop, we've eaten them, put loads in the freezer and given loads away. As well as our last runner beans, we took a couple of cabbages, a few tomatoes and three leeks. The leeks are short but very fat and they smell wonderful, we'll see what they taste like later.

We have begun to plan our plot for next year. We need to know where to put the manure, some plants don't like extra nutrients. We also need to make space for garlic which needs to be planted in a few weeks.

We listed what we grew this year and realised that we sowed or planted out a few things too early. There was a longish winter this year with some snow at Easter, but the things that were planted later generally caught up. I want to sort out the fruit soon too. We need to pot up strawberry runners and I want to organise their beds a bit better. I want to be able to put a simple, removable wire frame over them to make harvesting and weeding easier. I also want to plant some cuttings of black currants to increase our stock.

First seeds

We cut down the remains of the broad beans today and gathered the remaining pods for seed. I've spread them out on a shelf in the greenhouse to dry off. There are far too many for us, but someone else might like some. I gave away some fennel and a cabbage to Ken and Brenda and a fennel to their neighbouring plot-holders too. Our bodged support for the runner beans needed a little extra help but is still standing.

Beans are down, but not out

We went to the allotment to harvest some veg, but when we got there we were met with a little problem. The frame I built for the runner beans had been blown over. The plants were just laid over, so they were not damaged. They were covering the beetroot, but it was fine too. The wire guy lines had been pulled out by the wind and the supporting legs had snapped clean off. We stood it up, shortened the guys, fastened them to much more substantial supports and the frame was up again. Next year I'll build a more traditional pyramid or two from bamboo or the like.

We took two large cabbages and a good crop of now-upright runner beans as well as a few beetroot, some spring onions and a fennel. We cut back the raspberry canes that had fruited and began to tie in the remaining canes to the wire supports. I didn't finish - I got fed up. I also checked out the broad beans that we had left as seeds for next year. They are not yet ripe or dry enough to gather, so I'll cut them and hang them to dry next time we go. I think that will be tomorrow, just to check those beans.

All's well

We popped up today to check things over. The ground was nicely wet; it has rained over the last few days quite a lot. The tomatoes (in the greenhouse) needed watering - they always do. The first broad beans to be planted out have finished some time ago, but the last to be planted out have just produced the first few beans and probably their last too. Staggering the sowing didn't really work, so next year we will just sow them all at the same time.

The runner beans are doing well, we picked enough to make about four meals. We also pulled a couple of beetroot. We've had a few already. They take an hour to boil, but they are really good to eat as part of a salad. There are four large cabbages ready to take with many more to come.

The leeks look great. The stems are fat and lush. I think we will start harvesting them in a few weeks. The parsnips also look lush. I have no idea how big the roots are, but I'm itching to find out. I just hope our sowing and transplanting technique really has worked as well as it looks.

Do beans go with fennel?

Our sweet peas have finally finished after a great show. We've had loads of cut flowers from them and given loads away. We've had a good tidy up over the last few days, and things look good. There have been even more spears on the asparagus, they grow really quickly. The runner beans are now ripening increasingly quickly. It's a bit of a game hunting down the bean pods as they hide behind the huge leaves. There are loads of small pods growing fast and loads of new flowers too.

Our cabbages are filling out nicely too. We've pulled a couple to try and they were very good. We've had mixed messages about freezing cabbage so Jean tried freezing some, and it worked well. Fresh is better, but frozen is pretty good too and certainly not the mush some people predicted.

We took a couple of spring onions to try. They look pretty good, but there are not many of them so I'm not sure they were worth the trouble.

We have been growing Florence fennel as an experiment. The bulbs are beginning to fill out, so we took one home to try. It ended up much too small and very green, rather than the white bulb I was expecting. It tasted good in a salad, so when they are bigger we'll try some more. Gary on the next plot grows herb fennel for its root. I'll give him some of ours to see what he thinks of it. I wonder if it freezes?

After the beans: beans!

We popped to the plot today to water the tomatoes in the greenhouse and found a few runner beans were big enough to eat. They were delicious, and loads more to come.

More beans

We went to make another harvest this morning; all is well. The broad beans continue to produce loads of fat pods. I took a carrier bag full again today. We took the last of the raspberries - about 600g - which will make another fantastic pie. The gooseberries also produced their last crop, about 300g, which added to the other crops is fantastic for just one bush. The runner beans are growing fast, but are not quite ready to take any yet.

The savoy cabbages are looking good, but they are a bit crowded. We planted them knowing they were too close to fit all of the plants into the bed, so now we will thin them to give the other room. Our first cabbage is small, but looks lovely.

Paving Slabs

I've been a member of Freecycle for a while. It helps put people who own things they don't in touch with people who cold use them. Most of the things offered would go to a landfill site if they were not taken by someone. I saw some paving slabs offered and I got them. We went with the trailer to pick them up today - they were heavier than I expected and it poured with rain while we lugged them to the trailer, but they will be useful.

We had some spare plants in the greenhouse in case some died, but everything has done so well that they were not needed. No one else seemed to need them, so they hit the compost heap. The only thing left in the greenhouse is a growbag with tomatoes in it. They're doing well, but we realised that we hadn't been feeding them so they got their first feed today.

The raspberries and broad beans will be ready for another harvest tomorrow. The runner beans are setting little pods, so we need to keep an eye on them to pick them before they get too big. That would make them stingy and tough.

Get out

The plot looked very dry, so today I watered it from end to end. I also topped up the water butts since its about a month since we had any decent rain. I will try to use one first to empty it because I want to raise its stand a little to match its mate and level the base which has settled under the weight. It holds 210 litres which is a fifth of a tonne.

We took the plunge and planted out all sorts today. We looked through the greenhouse and made our choice. The biggest leeks went out into deep holes which were simply filled with water. The surrounding very fine earth was washed back in, but there is still a hollow which will love some more water over the next few days. The little spring onions were pricked out directly into the plot and watered in. The beetroot seedlings were just showing their first true leaves, so they went out too. The runner beans were bursting out of their pots, so they went into the plot already prepared with a net for them to climb. I soaked everything that was planted and I'll do it again tomorrow.

We have already sown some extra runner beans, though I'm not sure we'll need them, and some extra broad beans which we certainly have space set aside for. We will sow some more spring onions, some more beetroot and start our first fennel. We moved our pots with chilli seeds in to the greenhouse were they will be warmer and so might sprout.

All of the tiny tree saplings we planted have sprung into leaf. So now we have rowan, whitebeam, oak and hazel trees in the margins. I'd like a lot more.

Framed

I built the frame for the runner beans to climb. A couple of wooden poles, with a wire across the top and some wire guys. A plastic net hung from the wire and fastened to the sides completes the space for the beans to grow. I then knocked in some stakes to support the flourishing asparagus plants. This took longer than I expected so I didn't cover the strawberries. They are smothered with flowers so I must cover them before the berries ripen, but there's time yet. The odd little bit of bindweed was pulled out - we really must keep on top of the stuff.