Flighty's plot

I’ve been to the plot every day so far this week as it’s been mostly dry and sunny, although a bit chilly early on.

I finished forking over the rest of the patch where I’ll be growing potatoes next year.  That means I’ve now done all three vegetable patches and can leave them be now except to hoe off any weeds which appear.  I’ve also dug out, and sieved, the first barrowload of compost.

I recently mentioned that my plot neighbour has a large clump of ox-eye daisies on her plot which have self-seeded. She kindly said I could help myself if I  wanted any so yesterday I dug up three small clumps.  I’ve planted two out on the flower patch and the other one in the large black plastic container which stands by the shed.

It may be mid-November but I’ve still got flowers and fruit on the blackberry bush, and there are flowers on the strawberries.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

 

Have a good week, and take care!

has continued all week and I’ve only been to the plot once so far, although I’m hoping to get there after lunch.

I really only pottered on Monday morning as I didn’t do much.

It’s good to see the leaves on the double row of strawberry plants changing from green to red then pale yellow.

Looking round I was pleased to see this English Daisy tucked away against the side of of the path by the shed.  I think that it’s one I had in a pot at home on the windowsill which I later planted out on the plot.  It’s grown since and looks to be doing well.

I’ll be trying to grow some from seed again next year as so far I’ve had no luck at all.

The gloomy weather looks set to continue through the weekend and into next week so here are some  pot marigolds Flighty’s favourites from July  2015 to help cheer us all up.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

, and drizzly occasionally,  here for the past few days but I have been to the plot twice. I forked over the vegetable patch where I’ll be growing the onions next year.  It was still a bit claggy, especially near the croscosmia where it does get waterlogged when very wet.

Next year I’m going to try growing the sunflower Holiday again, having tried unsuccessfully a few years ago.  This variety is only four feet tall but grows four feet across forming a spherical bush with plenty of long stemmed golden yellow flowers.  Because of it’s size I’ll only be growing two or three plants. The sunflowers did well this year but were nearly all yellow  and it would have been nice to have had a couple of different coloured ones like these two from past years.

Looking round the allotments earlier in the week I was lucky enough to see a wren,  having only ever seen one previously.  I also saw a moorhen again, this time just outside the site gates.

Have a good week, and take care!

started sunny but by the time I was packing up to come home from the plot it was drizzling, which soon turned to rain.  Since then it’s been mostly overcast, but thankfully has stayed dry.

I’m all ready to start digging out, and sieving, the compost heap having moved the top few inches of uncomposted material into the composter.  I also had to sort out a new area to put the dug out compost as I used to leave it partly under the blackberry bush where the composter now stands. I’ll now put it round the other side.

This year the tomato seeds, both Gardener’s Delight and Golden Sunrise, I was starting off on the windowsill either didn’t germinate or did then simply didn’t grow so I ended up with some plants, mostly unknown varieties, I was kindly given.

Next year I’m trying two different varieties.  The red one is Outdoor Girl which I grew back in 2020 (as seen in the photo), and is widely recommended as one of the best outdoor varieties.  The other one is Yellow Perfection which is often quoted as, perhaps, being the most highly rated of all the yellow tomatoes.  It has high yields, beautiful golden fruit, crops early and has an excellent flavour.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

It was calm, sunny and relatively warm on the plot this morning and seemed like more like summer than a Sunday in late October.

Clearing the flower patches has been rather intermittent as the cosmos, nasturtiums, pot marigolds and even a sunflower are all still flowering.  The cosmos are flowering profusely, especially the white ones, and this pink one is over six feet tall.

There are a handful of flowers on the nasturtiums, and there is this one sunflower which has several small flowers.

Normally all I would expect to see flowering on the plot at this time of year are the white asters Twinkling Stars. Note that this is my name for these and the proper name is aster pringlei Monte Cassino.

During last week I saw a bumblebee on one of the few last roses Pretty Lady and a Red Admiral butterfly fluttering about.

Have a good week, and take care!

The weather this week has been much better, and settled, with plenty of sunshine.  On Monday I cut the comfrey for the fourth (?) time this year and added it to the composter.  I also collected a couple of bucketfuls of cornus leaves which I also added.  Any further leaves I collect will go into old plastic compost bags until I’ve emptied out the compost heap.

Heading home I’d almost reached the site gates when something on one of the other plots caught my eye.  Much to my surprise it was a moorhen which got closer, started to very cautiously cross the site road then changed it’s mind, turned round and headed back.  It was almost certainly from the adjacent ecology park pond or the wetland area on the park across the main road.  I have seen one on the allotments before, some years ago, but it’s a rather unusual bird to see there.  In the picture the tree in the top left corner with the dark red leaves is the cornus/dogwood and my sentry box shed with the tin roof is clearly visible.

Have a good weekend, and take care!

When I got to the plot yesterday afternoon it was good to see my immediate neighbour Julia working on hers as I don’t see her very often, so we chatted about this and that.  She’s got a large clump of Oxeye Daisies which have self-seeded all around and she kindly said to help myself to a few of the plants.  I’ll do that and I’m now pondering on where I’ll plant them.  She also grew a lot of white cosmos and said to help myself to some seed heads.

Friday and yesterday I hoed the areas where I’ll be growing the onions and potatoes next year.  I also made a good start clearing the main flower patch.  Today it’s wet and windy so it’s back to armchair gardening rather than plot pottering.

The allotments are only a few minutes walk from home. On the way there I pass two blocks of council flats which have small garden areas at the front.  On one of these is an impressive hydrangea which is still in flower.

Have a good week, and take care!

So far this week I’ve only been to the plot on Tuesday. It had been a dull morning but brightened up and was a sunny afternoon.  I only had a potter and took a few photos, including these cosmos.

It’s nice again today so I’ll be going there later, and tomorrow.  However the weekend looks like being damp and dull.

Below is the last rose Pretty Lady, and at home the rose Iceberg outside my living room window is still flowering.

That’s all for today, except to say have a good weekend and take care!

There was a frost early Friday morning which was followed by a calm sunny day, and I was pleased to do some plotting for a couple of hours whilst chatting to the robin. I caught a quick glimpse of another small bird on one of the sunflower seed heads which may have been a greenfinch.

Sadly the sunflowers have finished for this year but there are still the asters, cosmos and some pot marigolds providing welcome colour, and I also noticed a blue nigella/love-in-a-mist flower.

This morning I just had a plot potter and a chat with a fellow plot holder before heading across the road to the horticultural society trading shed to confirm what onion sets and seed potatoes have been ordered for next year.  As usual the onions will be the variety Sturon and the potatoes the same as last year, and they should be available early February.

Have a good week, and take care!