Hello again, it's good to be back online and able to update my website after so long away, I have managed to get my broadband fixed and working and also I had to get my computer fixed afterwards but hopefuly it's ok now.


Well I know that last time I spoke to you I was going away to my caravan in Harlech, North Wales for a holiday before my son Daniel went back to school. We had a lovely break despite the mixed weather, plenty of rest and relaxation along with the rain, it was just what we needed though.

Back at home and on the allotments the change to cooler and wetter conditions has been better for the plants, flowers and lawns after the drought conditions we experienced during the Summer. Unfortunately it has come too late for some of our crops but for others it has given them a second lease of life.

As you can see from this photo there are plenty of beans setting on my Runner Bean plants that were sown slightly later because of mice eating the seeds, this is the second time in the last 3 seasons that this has been a better and higher yielding crop than my earlier Runner Beans. Perhaps this is a sign of things to come with the effects of Global Warming and maybe I will have to consider only growing them later to reduce the impact of warmer temperatures and less water.

During the last 10 days I have started to harvest the first of my Calabrese, this is the first time that I have attempted to grow this crop and I must say that I am really pleased with them. The flavour is wonderful and nothing like the supermarket ones, they are very clean and pest free, another successful crop from my new Brassica cage which has helped produce some excellent crops for me this season.

Daniel's Pumpkins are starting to ripen now, so I have removed some of the leaves from the plant to allow more light to get them, this will help them to ripen and if you turn the fruit so that the green areas are facing towards the best of the light, then this will ensure that you have an evenly coloured Pumpkin ready for Haloween. Another useful tip is to place either a piece of carpet or as in my case a piece of weed control fabric underneath the fruits, this will help reduce the risk of the fruit rotting prematurely due to contact with the damp soil and help prevent any pest damage.



The Celery plants have really grown while I was away on holiday, the extra moisture and cooler temperatures were exactly what they needed. The stalks themselves are not as tender as I would have liked, this according to more experienced plotholders on our site is probably due to the extreme weather we had this season and also due to a lack of water and feed on my part, I will have to give them more attention next year to ensure a perfect crop. They will not be wasted though as they are an excellent ingredient in soups and stews during the winter months, also they are lovely when braised as a vegetable in stock.



The Spray Chrysanthemums are still flowering away well, infact I cannot believe just how many second sprays they have produced this season, for next year though I am hoping to get a couple more different coloured varieties to go with the two that I currently have.

The Gardener's Delight cherry tomatoes are producing a very heavy crop of wonderful fruits, the excess tomatoes produced I freeze whole and are used to make either soup or pasta sauce for use during the Winter months so nothing goes to waste and also as it is not an F1 variety I save some of the seeds to produce next years crops.

I have harvested some of my Butternut Squashes as I do not want them to get any bigger than this, as you can see I have placed them on some newspaper on my greenhouse staging to ripen. To ensure that they get an even colour all over I have turned them every few days.

I have done the same with my Shallots to dry them out well before I grade them into ones that I will keep for cooking with, ones that I shall keep for next years seed sets and ones that I will pickle for the winter.

These are my Climbing French Beans that were too big for eating, I have once again placed these on newspaper in my greenhouse to dry out, I will keep some for use as next years seed stock and the others when dried are known as Haricot Beans and can be used in soups and stews during the Winter as well. Also you can see that I am trying for the first time to dry and produce my own Sweetcorn seed for next year as you will have noticed it is quite expensive to buy.

Elsewhere around my plots I have started to weed and clear the remnants of my crops that I have already harvested and added what I can to my compost heap, I have also taken down my Sweet Peas keeping the pods to give me once again next years seed, the wooden laths that I use as supports for them to grow up have definitely benefited from the lower 9" being painted with a bitumen paint to stop the moisture in the soil from rotting them.

You may or maynot remember that our allotments were due to have their Allotment Show last weekend, unfortunatley after most of last years entrants approached the committee with the news that due to this seasons extreme weather conditions, they felt that they would not have any satisfactory produce to enter the show, after a discussion it was decided to cancel this years show which was a shame but understandable.

However this weekend I had been invited to judge the Fruit & Vegetable section in the Strensham Village Show which I realy enjoyed.

During the last twelve months my parents have moved to this quiet village south of Worcester, it is a lovely village and the community spirit was evident as the show was very popular with both locals and people further afield , it was well organised and attended. I really enjoyed the judging and the show, I must say a big thankyou for being invited to the organisers who made me feel very welcome.

THE VILLAGE HALL..................... COLLECTION OF VEGETABLES

THE SHOW TABLES....................... A WONDERFUL CHILDREN'S EXHIBIT

A LOVELY FLORAL EXHIBIT...... A TEMPTING FRUIT EXHIBIT

MY DAD & WIFE 'SARAH' ............. DANIEL IN THE TUG OF WAR

After the judging I joined my family who were in charge of the show BBQ for the day, which was handily placed alongside the Beer tent. It was nice to see the community spirit at the show, unfortunately in today's era it is something regretably lacking in our soceity as a whole, however with events like this, the introduction of Farmer's markets to many places and to a degree Allotment sites up and down the country, a bit of community spirit does still live on!!

Well that is it for the moment, I will hopefuly update again at the weekend as normal, until then thanks for bearing with me and my technical problems with the internet, it's good to be back thanks Steve.