Vinny's Allotment Plot

Poductive hour or two? at the plot today.

Started off by havesting the onions out of one of the diagonal beds. I then hoed the weeds and aked them off the bed to tidy it up. Did the same with another smaller bed.

I then hoed off the weeds off the end of a long bed and dug the section over. Ground was vey hard and took some digging. Once it was raked I decided to plant some thyme plants I had raisd from seed. The seedlings were getting covered by other taller  flowes so needed to be moved anyway.

I planted three clumps on the main path edge and wateed them in. Next I planted some of my home grown garlic in the bed and wated that in.

My leeks an't vey big this year but hopefully they still have a bit gowing to do?

I took a carrier bag full of onions home fo my daughter.

Called at the plot this moning as I usually do on my way back from exercise routine on a Saturday! The round courgettes are still prolific. Havested thee yellow round ones and thee green round ones. I also havested a couple of ridge cucumbers which was a bonus as I thought my cucumber plants had died!
To fill the carrier bag I added some onions.
A few of my onions have holes near the base which in all the yeas I have grown them I have never seen? It looks a bit like slug damage but only goes into onions maybe 1/4 inch so is easily stripped off! I wondeed whether it could be onion fly which I have only ever encountered once on my old plot, but they were confined to the leaves?
I now have two boxes, one with 100 Radar onion sets and one with 100 Senshyu sets in it. These are ready to plant but I need to 'Beef up' the beds they ae going into. I have some ompost I made myself and nealy a full bag of potting compost. If I mix the two together then tickle it ino the sufcae of the bed, plant the sets then add some BFB or slow release fertiliser, that will hopefully suffice. I also need to replant my elephant garlic!

A fruitful couple of hours at the plot this morning/afternoon.

First of all I harvested any onions that were still in the ground. A bit of a mixed bag with some deent onions but othes not so good?

I tickled over three plots two of which wee mucked last year and still had oganic matter in them, and one plot that didn't! The plot with no oganic matter got a good few shovell fulls of my own compost from the dalek.

1st bed got planted up with 21 Autumn Champion onion sets and the second one likewise. The third plot got planted up with 36 Radar onion sets. I purchased 100 Radar & 100 Autumn Champion so still quite a few onions to plant up yet!

Most of the beds are looking ok going into winter and the othes will get the rest of the onion sets, elephant garlicc and nomal garlic which should see a goodly amount of the beds with poduce in them ove winter.

I am hopefull that the mixed flower beds will 'self seed' and hopefully give me a display next year?

The second pickie is my Scorzonora.

The tips of my shoes appear to be playing a prominent role in pickies.

Hope your shoes aren't as holey as your cabbages. (Just envious, mine are more hole than leaf).

Hope your shoes aren't as holey as your cabbages.   (Just envious, mine are more hole than leaf).

I don't think brassicas are too bad consideing they haven't been coveed with netting? I had one red cabbage spare so planted it seperately in a well mucked area. Once I had stripped the outer holey leaves off it, it even has a tight heart which should be ready to pickle in a couple of weeks!

Back at plot again today, only one on site as usual!

Dug over and added my own compost (which just looked like soil) to two beds. Levelled with rake then used point of dibber to make shallow furrows for planting onion sets into.
I planted another 36 Autumn Champion in one bed and another 36 Radar onion sets in the othe bed. Once planted I wateed the rows which just about buried the sets (hopefully to stop reprobate birds from pulling them out, as this seems to have worked well for the other sets I have planted.)

I came away with a carier bag of yellow & green courgettes fo my Daughter and a carrier bag of cooking apples that wree hanging over my side of the fence!

Quite a podutive day today. Once more, only one on site again!

For a change, I managed to get done eveything I planned to do.

I started by digging ove a long diagonal bed with the intention of planting onion sets in it. Each time I dig beds I take stones out, and each time I find moe stones?
After digging, I raked the bed then planted 3 rows of onion sets. The centre row was Autumn Champion and the two oute rows were Radar. Before planting I scored three furows with a scrap piece of wood and planted sets in furows.
Once they were all planted (don't ask me how many?) I watered along rows which partly burried sets, which will hopefully keep the birds off them?

I took quite a few photo's of the initial dig,  the area once raked, area once planted and area after wateing in. Maybe others as well? No praticular order either.

Like your flowers, Vinny.

Like your flowers, Vinny.

Thanks Veggie! The two Alstroemeria are in the greenhouse under a section with no glass in the roof so I dont need to be so meticulous with watering and mostly rely on rain from above.
I would like to plant them out but don't know whether they would suvive? and they were reasonably expensive when bough!

I agree, really pretty flowers, some nice soil too. I think the big stones have a party underground, get a bit frisky and the result is baby stones. It's the only explanation I can come up with after having removed possibly a tonne of stones from our patch over the last 40 odd years. Although I don't think our stone problems are a patch on SC's her stones are mega.