Monthly Archives: April 2014

There’s a new pest at large!

Yesterday I was enjoying the beautiful spring sunshine as I continued to dig out the couch weed on the orchard plot. I stopped for a break and looked over to admire the newly planted flower border. There was something amongst

Posted in Pests

Allotment Journal – Plot Update

A large part of this week has been spent keeping the grass under control and digging out weeds. With warm temperatures, longer daylight hours and the odd day of rain nearly everything that we don’t want to grow is growing, and growing

Posted in Allotment Journal

The Tayberry

Tayberries are a hybrid, first developed in 1962 by Derek Jennings, a botanist at the Scottish Horticultural research institute and David Mason, a fellow researcher. It wasn’t until 1979 that the Tayberry was commercially released. The hybrid was named after

Posted in Tayberry

Leeks. Oops!

We have been meaning to dig out the remaining leeks on plot two for a few weeks but with one thing and another they’ve just been forgotten. Ideally leeks that have been overwintered should be dug up by the end of

Posted in Leeks

Bindweed

Whilst bindweed is a ‘pain in the proverbial’ for gardeners, I thought it was worth writing a short piece about why I think it’s an incredible plant, despite being rather challenging. There are two types of bindweed both of which

Posted in Weeds

Growing Rhubarb

Recently we’ve been admiring the rhubarb grown on the other plots and decided that we HAVE to grow some. Saying that, I know absolutely nothing about rhubarb apart from I love it in crumbles, pies and fools. So, I’ve been

Posted in Rhubarb

Raspberries!

Today we bought raspberry canes from the garden centre and I’m thrilled. They are currently on my middle balcony enjoying the seaview. We had two raspberry canes on plot one but sadly they died last year so it was time to

Posted in Fruit, Raspberries

Allotment Journal – Plot update

We have spent most of this week continuing to prepare the plots, digging over vegetable beds and weeding. We have also planted  the flower border and have been preparing the rhubarb bed on the orchard plot. On plot two we

Posted in Allotment Journal

Pollination.

Cherry tree,  in full blossom. The fruit trees have been in blossom for about three weeks and we’ve enjoyed a rather cheery blaze of pretty white flowers on the orchard plot. The pear tree has lost most of its petals now and we

Posted in Fruit

April – MORE what we’re sowing

Courgettes and winter squashes Courgettes – Verde Di Milano, Dwarf Bush Courgette Last year we grew a variety of courgette called ‘Verde Di Milano’, a Dwarf bush courgette, from the Real Seed Catalogue. It grew huge! However, it produced plenty of

Posted in Sowing and Growing
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April 2014
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