clearing up time..

you have been busy joan, sad watching it all go to sleep, but at least you can recharge your batteries ready for next spring, pond looking great to, you have come a long way with allotment in this first year, well done ;o))

Thank you Sandra,i know theres not much to do now but after clearing both the plots up & i looked at my garden..its a mess i have neglected it a bit this year though..Ben is off work this weekend so hope to get out & do some work on it ...if it doesnt S--W that is lol..:o)

;o(((

Your raised beds seem to have worked well for you...you'll need the compost heap/box with all your corn dregs...was it an animal or a human thief who enjoyed your corn, Joanella?

Good horse manure should be a real boost to the soil after a winter of rotting down. Well done with all your hard work.

Cheers J,the raised beds have worked ok its just that ants & slugs are everywhere on all the allotment not just our plots..the problem is i dont like using pesticides & have not found organic to work either..i think it was ants with the corn...

Looking good on the plot, Joan, I think the grasses are smashing, shame the corn couldn't be yours after all the effort you put in ! Are there any Winter veg. in ?

Is that why you've added a pond, Joanella? So you can attract frogs to take care of the nasties (or do they just eat snails...not too sure?).

I have known a few people growing corn over the years here in the UK and it seems to be one of the crops that doesn't do well for them...not developing husks or at best, very few. Lots of stalk and the airy husk that is peeled off to get to the corn...but not much inside :( I guess you've tried giving your slugs some beer or coffee grounds...some people say that works.

I'm not a vegetable grower as yet but just passing on what others have said.

hi Shirley, yes we have garlic,cabbage and 100 onions lol :o)
yes J that is why the pond is there & although it was full to bursting in summer with frogs..the slugs were gigantic ,we have 2 plots... corn on both ..the other lot was fine, i find what grows on one will not grow well on the other dont know why ..i have tried everything even dried sheeps wool pellets £10 from Tatton Park guaranteed..we made a ring of it on a bed put 2 slugs in the middle & watched the ******* slide over it ..lol

lol joanella did you take bets .... soz bt the corn i did it once and it was ok . bin doing the big tidy myself this week allso. 10 quids a lot to pay i wud complain hun .... x
lets hope noooooooooooooooo s...w lol (((((((((((

Cris its hard clearing up isnt it but it makes you look forward to next year.no we didnt take bets as didnt think they would get out of it..i was fuming i was going to write to the firm but honestly could not be bothered, if i complained about everything that doesnt do what it says on the tin i would not have time for anything else..like come on here lol

you have been busy.

thank you Clarice,yes..busy time but it will be worth it come spring :o))

Busy busy busy lol I hope you'll move those cacti before the winter. I don't think they'll survive in an unheated greenhouse :o( esp near the glass like that .....

thanks Hywel, i thought they would be ok..i will bring them home now, hmm have to find a space for them lol..

You certainly have been busy!!! I've not been able to do much this last month because of the rain, the cold & other things that have needn't more of my time & attention than I would have liked. :-((

I liken myself to a reptile now the colder weather has started! I have circulation problems & loose it in my extremities as soon as the temps fall below about 15C. I once cut a finger while I was chopping up some onions for a meal - the cut was small but didn't bleed right away so I though I'd only touched it with the knife. When I got a bit warmer a bit later it did start to bleed! So now I have to wait till after midday & the temps start to rise a bit otherwise I can't feel what I'm doing & lose all sensation in my toes, too. :-(( (I have Raynard's Syndrome, a circulation problem).

Yesterday I went down to the plot to put up the bubblewrap that Gerry brought down a few days ago. I had to empty the GH to give me room to move to put it up. I got it up around the walls but didn't have time to do the roof as I was called away & had to run off home.

I prepared a bed with Green Manure a couple of weeks ago (White Mustard) & it has germinated nicely. Few weeds to be seen yet among the seedlings & I hope it will stay that way.

We had a frost here Thursday morning & I was interested to see what effects it had had down on the plot. Friday afternoon I went down & I got the first indications as soon as I reached ours - the Pinto beans were a sad sight having been killed by the frost. :-(( I hope I can save some beans themselves but I suspect I'll lose a lot as they weren't mature enough to harvest. Same story all over the plots, but only the Pinto beans. I thought the Lentils & the Garbanzo beans would be a black rotting mess as well but, much to my surprise, they looked perfectly OK! I have (had!) some Pinto beans growing amongst some Lentils, the beans have died but the Lentils look as fresh as ever! :-))

Hi Balcony,sorry to hear about your circulation problem it must be difficult for you,i have not tried green manure but have heard it is good ,may try it next time i need some.
shame about your pinto beans but at least you managed to get something from your plot ..i have never grown lentils or garbanzo beans.. ah well roll on spring lol :o)

Thanks, Nariz. It was an experiment anyway without any serious intention of trying to get a decent crop! I've learnt several things anyway - one of which is that Pinto beans won't tolerate the lightest of frosts! :-((

Yet it was precisely the Pinto beans that gave me the best results & the only "harvest" of the 3 types of Pulses I sowed! I picked enough pods to get sufficient beans for one meal & my wife said they were the best beans she had since we left Spain! Not a bad compliment!!!

I've also learnt that the Garbanzo beans need a deeper, more organic soil as well as more water than they had this summer. A guy in the plot beside ours tried out a couple of rows of seeds I gave him & his did much better than any of mine & in less time! No time left for beans to form though.

As for the Lentils they have grown well but they are far, far too troublesome to harvest & remove from the plants! The only few I did clean up took longer &, if I were to apply the same wages scale to that time as when I worked in the factory, would work out as the most expensive Lentils possibly in the whole wide world! A fistful of Lentils for around £15-21!!!

haha.. nearly as expensive as saffron eh..:o)

I hadn't thought of that but, yes, you are right! They worked out every bit as expensive as Saffron but not nearly as colourful! (Nor will they go as far as a handful of Saffron!!!)

i have some Saffron i bring it back whenever we go on holiday abroad but think i have only used it once..i dont think i will bother trying to grow lentils now lol..

I seem to recall that we only bought it on a couple of occasions while we lived in Spain. Like here in the UK, we had to make do with artificial colouring.

the spices are a lot cheaper in Spain than over here though :o)