starting an asparagus bed

long term project: starting an asparagus bed.

the crowns take, probably 2 years to settle in and then keep going for up to 20 years.

they look like aliens

first you dig a trench into which we added some compost and some rock dust

then you make a ridge along the centre of the trench

then you spread the roots of the alien asparagus crown either side of the ridge, like this:

then you sit back and admire your new asparagus bed, carefully fill the trench back in

add labels

and wait ...

'pond cigars'

the spring sunshine made us very happy on sunday morning, letting us back to play at the allotment after such a long time.

we admired the fragile memories of last year's life, and found plenty of evidence of vigorous new life. 

the goji berry plants have sheltered in the greenhouse over the winter but had lost all of their leaves and i was less than hopeful for their survival, but look !

dried artichoke head

crocus

goji - made it through the winter

another goji made it too

 

and although things may still feel a bit bleak, and look a bit sleepy, spring is there alright, and here we shall encounter all kinds of abundance very soon.

jasmine for yasmin !

catkins

new garlic

 cut back raspberry canes

 

 

 

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