MY WEEK : 40 (W/E 7TH OCTOBER)

Welcome to my latest update from my allotments here in Stourbridge.

The week started with the annoying discovery that our site had been broken into again, this is about the 6th time this year and despite our efforts to ensure that all of the perimeter fence is sound and secure they still manage to get in. This time I discovered a couple of house bricks on top of my Brassica Cage netting and a large hole in the one end which I soon darned a patch of netting over, but how annoying!! But by the end of the week the plots had worked their magic and I had soon put this behind me, enjoying what I had achieved and looking forward to what next year will bring.




This week I started on the last paths to be done on my 1st plot which are around the area I will be constructing my second large cage on. This involved strimming off all the dead growth of the weeds and grass, then raking them as level as possible before then rolling with an old garden roller that I have to compact the soil as much as possible. Then I fixed down the weed control fabric using barbed spikes into the soil followed by fixing the edges of the material to the wooden frames that I had previously constructed using galvanised felt nails.




These pictures are of the finished result which I'm sure will save me time otherwise spent on weeding these paths and will make it easier for covering the cage with netting and it's maintenance.



At the front of this plot I have also made an area where I can store my trailer rather than it take up a valuable car parking space, it will also be easier for me to either unload things like wood & manure as well as load any rubbish to go to the local tip.




The Sweet Peppers that I had grown outdoors on the plots were very disappointing during the Summer months but in the past month or two they have really picked up and now are producing excellent Peppers as you can see in the pictures above. These are grown from seeds that I collected from a Pepper from a local supermarket 2yrs ago now and I will save some of these again for next years crop.




The Coriander plants pictured above are now running to seed, these will provide me with next years seed stock but also the seeds are one of the main ingredients of Curry Powder which I make at home so they are a great plant to grow and easy.



Other plants that I have harvested the seeds from this week are both the English & French Marigolds which I grow each Spring for putting around the plots in a bid to attract beneficial insects and hopefully reduce the problem ones. As you can see from this picture each flower head produces about 20 viable seeds so I did not need to take too many to get what I needed.




You may remember that this year due to a terrible germination I missed sowing the Parsnips at the ideal time in February/March and then after discovering the seeds that I had collected myself last year I decided to sow some just in case. Well although I was about 2 months late with sowing them I am pleased to see that they have done very well and I will still have a crop of smaller than usual Parsnips but nonetheless still satisfactory for our needs.

You may have noticed at the top-right of my webpage below the seeds a link to a new magazine that was launched a couple of weeks ago called Tastes Of Britain, as a result of writing several articles for the Kitchen Garden Magazine I was interviewed by this new magazine for their December issue, I have not seen a copy of the article but hopefully it will inspire new people to take on an Allotment or even growing their own Fruit & Vegetables which is so rewarding and good for your health.

Well that is it for this week's update, in the week ahead I hope to plant my Garlic cloves which I have saved from this years crop, this will enable them to put on a good amount of growth before the onset of Winter, also I shall be sowing an overwintering crop of Broad Beans 'Aquadulce' to try and get an early crop next year before any pests such as Blackfly cause a problem. I hope that you all have a good week and if the weather forecasts are correct enjoy the Summery weather we are supposed to get later this week, thanks Steve.