snow!

colin took a walk to investigate the snow at the allotment last week

mystery squash : garlic : cornflowers : chammomile : tomatoes : peppers : bean seed pods

autumn is here, and beautiful

i arrived under a rainbow this week

while the wet summer has been good for watering the outdoor crops, the peppers still need some sun to ripen

the beans are just about finishing now. i checked back and we started to harvest them on 20th july, so we've had 2 months of fresh beans every day ( and often twice a day )
and in three fun colours too
i would guess that we've easily picked 1.5 kg / week, maybe more
sainsbury's are selling fine green beans at £7.50 / kg

...that's the equivalent of £90 of beans !!! for free.


carrots and potatoes are good too, but my basket was looking dangerously full.
we have eaten very well this year

here's what we collected this morning

also sweet peas and a tickle with the friendly cat


a ladybug on patrol
this is the flower of the black canterbury bean, very pretty

potted up the gojis, they are doing well

the garlic is done

lots of courgettes, yellow ones, green ones, stripey ones and chubby ones

and we have a new friend who visits very regularly

some of our beans, purple flowers at the front are 'black canterbury' which unexpectedly are green beans. there's some courgettes there too, and chamomile and the first of some lovely cornflowers

today's treasure

i got to the plot just after 7am this morning and it was very beautiful.
came home with:

this is what a goji berry plant looks like - i sowed some seeds ( from a dried berry bought in the wholefood shop) and they seemed to grow very easily and quickly. these plants are only about 2 months old. my research tells me that they are fully hardy if protected from frost for their first winter and bear fruit after two years. i'm looking forward to tasting a fresh goji berry in 2012.

this is why the garden makes me so happy ! aside from all the edibles, a posy as pretty as this every day of the summer if i wish.
these are scabiosa, marketed as pincushion flowers in b+q last year, and the pink one in the middle is an aquilegia.
it'll be sweet pea season soon.

i got the bike, she's called Britney ( she's a Pashley Britannia).
i have lots to show you, here's fanny's tomato plants
they got planted out into the greenhouse - we will take care of them for you fanny.

purple peas are flowering

as is the pomegranate tree

here's some polyculture in action: purple peas on the left, and then a big old mixture of peas, beans, courgette and squash and sweet peas too. the cds really do work to keep the pigeons and rabbits away.

happy sunny little poached egg plants

sweetcorn, variety ' sparrow' we have about 20 plants
and i've been merrily collecting chamomile and elderflower to dry for tea - i really, really recommend picking some elder flowers and making some fresh tea. this is what it looks like (on the right) and you'll recognise the delicious smell

and all this chamomile ! i picked 4 big bunches and strung them up in the greenhouse to dry.

some beautiful weather lately and everything is looking great !
that's garlic right at the front
the yellow flowers are the purple sprouting broccoli, further back on the right are a patch of purple peas and a variety of beans and squash.

the greenhouse is waiting patiently for the sweet pepper seedlings that are gathering their strength on my garden table ( sown from seed collected from last year) and the pomegranate tree has decided to make flowers this year - he didn't do that last year... will he fruit ?
could it be canterbury's first ever pomegranate.

lots more seedlings on the way to fill the rest of the gaps. sweetcorn, more peas and beans and squash and some sweetpeas.



tim and i managed to get a whole barrow full of compost to spread where we planted some beans and squash. i think it's the first large scale use of our homemade compost and i have to say that it looked very good. sweet smelling and full of worms.


i planted one pea-bean and one sweet pea together and a couple of spaghetti squash amongst them. i understand that the legumes provide nitrogen for the squashes and the squashes provide good ground cover to suppress weeds and moisture loss. that's kim's purple peas next to them, they look very beautiful with their red-tinged leaves, and very healthy too.


woody and i took some wheels for a spin yesterday. it takes me half an hour to walk to the plot, all the way across town. i thought if i had something as lovely and useful as this then i would be able to get there more often ...

the purple sprouting broccoli is doing really well for the second year running, seems to be the least bothersome of the brassica family.

a few beans are in - 'black canterbury' a dwarf french bean

tim's nectarine tree has sent forth some blossom, and it's pink !

and here's a lovely message from ashley, our amusing friend and neighbour.

congratulations to fifi and mayler on the arrival of yasmin - we've planted some winter jasmin for you all, and happy birthday kim - have a great day out at the weekend.

spring-o-rama

it's all gone a bit sci-fi on the window ledge

fanny took some great photos last weekend while we sowed potatoes and onion sets.
we don't know what Ashley was doing with the salad tongs on his plot