Greenhouse weather

Over the past few days we've popped up to the allotment a few times to rebuild the greenhouse. I wanted to make it bigger so I took down the existing, rather successful one and set about making a new one in the same style. I reused the front side panels and the door and made new, bigger sides. The frame above the door is a little higher now so the slope of the roof will be preserved. The water will run off into the gutter on the shed to add to the water in the tanks behind the shed. The floor area will be about the same as the shed and should give us enough room to grow all we want. The frame is pressure treated one-by-two, which is thin to be light weight and allow lots of light in. We will cover the side and roof with plastic sheets which are easy to cut to size and add a huge amount of strength to the whole structure.

There has been a bit of snow over the past couple of days, with a bit more forecast. There has been much less of the usual guff on the TV about arctic weather and yet actually this winter is earlier and colder than for many years. I've been slightly worried about the plumbing for the water system, but the lagging seems to be working. When I get the plastic sheets on the greenhouse that will restore the heating of the pipes to make that much safer again.

The parsnips and leeks are still going strong - some say frost sweetens parsnips, so we'll see next time we take some. The leeks are standing up to a bit of snow, but the main problem with the parsnips is that their tops have withered so finding where some of them are is getting harder, snow or not. They are also frozen in so digging them up without breaking the root is tricky too.

Gentle harvest

The wet and windy weather had a rest today, so we ventured up to check things out and dig up some parsnips and leeks. They were lovely.

Garlic has appeared

We planted a row of garlic last month and they have begun to grow. They are a bit close to the trampled line from the gate that is becoming a path and I was bothered that we might be damaging them. The very wet weather has kept us off the plot, so the garlic has had a chance. The parsnips tops have wilted so we can get the roots up as we need them. The remaining leeks are still getting fatter. We think we will still be eating leeks into January.

Giant parsnip

Jean popped up to get a parsnip and came back with a tree trunk. You just have no idea how big the root is going to be until you dig it up. In fact it was so big she broke the root digging it up. One of the other parsnips had some canker in it - I hope there isn't much more, canker that is.

Bricks, digging and slabs

The bricks have been laid on the concrete footing. The line is fairly level, but if the front of the new greenhouse follows the line of the bricks we will have a bow-window front.

Over the last few days all of the empty parts of the plot have been weeded and dug over. I cut down the asparagus to the ground, then turned my attention to laying paving stones into the new extension of the greenhouse. I had to cut a paver, which smashed into many pieces, but two of them fit the space so that will do.

The winter onions are doing well, the rhubarb has all died back so everything looks good for the start of the winter. No sign of the garlic yet, but that's not an issue.

Concrete results

We took advantage of a fine, bright day, albeit a bit cold and breezy, to fill our foundation trench with a concrete mix. We used spare gravel from home mixed with a sand and cement mix left from some bricklaying at home to make up a concrete mix. It was a bit quick to go off so I think I got the mix wrong, but as long as it will hold a course of bricks it'll do me. It is fairly level, so a reasonable bed of mortar for the bricks will give a great base for the woodwork.

We took a cabbage and the last of the beetroot along with some tomatoes. The colder weather seems to be arriving, so the toms will need to be taken home on the vine to ripen. As soon as we do that we can start to extend the greenhouse.

Onions, garlic and trenches

Over the weekend we popped up to plant the garlic. Jean dug over the row again while I fitted a handle and catch to the shed door, which I hope will stop it getting blown open. I hope we'll see the garlic over the next few weeks. The first of the onions have sprouted in the two rows we planted.

The last of the fennel is starting to go over and the last of the cabbages are pretty ropey, but we might have a couple left to use. The parsnip tops are beginning to wilt so we'll see how the roots look. The leeks just get better and better.

We also dug out a shallow and narrow trench which will form the foundation for the extended greenhouse. When we have a few dry days forecast I'll mix a little concrete to fill the bottom of the trench, then lay a course of bricks to form the base of the extension. This needs to line up to the existing concrete supports to keep things level. My brick laying is not the best, but it is an allotment greenhouse not a palace.