An annual challenge is the growing of aubergines.  Two crumby summers with very low light levels has meant very little success over the past couple of years.  However, this year is looking more promising.

We got the seeds under way in the first week of February in a windowsill propagator and then grew them on indoors for a couple of months before moving the strongest plants to the greenhouse in late April, while bringing on the remainder on the back patio ready for planting out in containers at home.

The following pair of pictures show that by early July we had quite sturdy plants, producing healthy flowers. 

Greenhouse 1 July 2013

Aubergine flower 1 July

With the peppers moved outside in July there was plenty of space for the tomatoes and aubergines to develop and we are now seeing the fruits of our labours.

Early Black Purple

The pale aubergines below are Rosa Bianca.  As well as looking very attractive on the plant, they cook well and are definitely a cultivar worth trying.

Rosa bianca 23 Aug

While there has been much talk of the wait for a man to follow in Fred Perry’s footsteps a slightly shorter wait has led to success in the allotment.  We planted up a strawberry bed in the autumn of 2011 and the young plants and the foul summer of 2012 meant a minimal harvest last year.

However, a decent summer and bit of love and care over the past 12 months (trimming off runners, clearing dead foliage and thinning out the bed where stray runners had started to root) has led to a bumper crop this year.  The photos below show how the bed has developed this year.

2 April 2013

27 May 2013

Strawberry jam is a household favourite, but fresh strawberries are even higher up our hit parade, so to have enough strawberries to be making a few pounds of jam means that we really do have a lot.

So, congratulations Andy Murray but for those who’d prefer to wait for 18 months or so, get your strawberries in this autumn.

It looked like it might never happen, but summer is really here.  After an idyllic early morning spell of working on the allotment yesterday, Mark suggested that we have breakfast down there this morning.  A flask of tea was prepared, some croissants warmed and wrapped up along with some home-made strawberry jam and we set off to enjoy the sunshine.

Breakfast on the allotment

A bit of harvesting followed breakfast with the strawberries and sweet peas both now in full flow.

A summer's harvest

Looking back, the post on the 17th of February looks horribly premature.

There has been the odd day that suggested spring might be on the way, but (ironically) it has not been until the bank holiday weekend that the weather has finally started to look genuinely promising.

We have spent some time down on the allotment and the overall plot is looking quite tidy now as the photo below shows.

Looking south 6 May 2012

The strawberry bed is coming on nicely and (given some decent weather) this should really come into its own this year.

Strawberries 6 May 2012

We experimented this year with sowing some early seed potatoes very early in containers inside the greenhouse.  This appears to have worked (so far) and the plants (Lady Christl) are definitely well ahead of their outdoor counterparts and have now been moved outside.  We are hoping that we might be able to start harvesting these around the time of the next bank holiday.

Potato planter 6 May 2012

The weather hasn’t been that encouraging for allotment holders so far this year.  When things haven’t been covered in snow, the ground has generally been too wet to do very much.

After putting the allotment to bed last November, all we’ve really been doing is the odd bit of harvesting (leeks and brassicas) and a bit of work to prepare the greenhouse for the new year.  We’ve gone for a new approach in the greenhouse this year, having covered the floor with weed supressant membrane and then covered this with white stone chippings.  We’re hoping that the extra reflected light will aid faster ripening, however the trade off is that more reflection means less absorption so things will warm up a bit more slowly.  We’ll keep you posted on whether or not this works.

The re-jigged greenhouse

A little bit of warmer and dryer weather has allowed us to prepare some of the empty beds (weeding, rough forking and raking) and we’ve given the stawberry bed a thorough tidying.  The strawberries will be enjoying their second summer and are now quite sturdy plants, so we’re very hopeful of a good harvest from them this summer.

Getting ready for Spring

 The picture above shows the strawberries in the distance and in the foreground is the bed that will have our peas and beans this year.  We will be growing Borlotti beans again, as drying them and storing them has worked very well and we still have 2 or 3 meals left in last summer’s harvest.

Last year’s new fruit bushes should start to give a modest harvest this year and we’re keenly awaiting the first Jostaberries to see what they taste like.

Gooseberry and Jostaberry

Doubtless there is more wet and cold weather to come, but for the last few days at least, there has been a hint of promise in the air.

As autumn has started to deepen, harvesting has slowed down to a trickle and the onus has shifted to tidying up and preparations for next year.

Looking North 3 November 2012

Looking South West 3 November 2012

This year we have tried to ensure that we have some continuity of cropping throughout the winter, by using a few follow-on crops.  We have got leeks, winter greens and spinach for winter harvesting, along with the very last of this year’s beetroot and onions and broad beans in the ground for next year.  We are however, not pushing all of the beds all year, allowing some to be rested over the winter.  For example, we are in the process of preparing a bed for an increased range of climbing beans and peas for next year and are using the first of our allotment-made compost to fill planting trenches.

It is noticeable that the larger size of the compost bins is making the rotting-down process much quicker than in the smaller bin that we have at home, so we should be able to keep a steady flow of well-rotted organic matter into the cultivated beds.  Our allotment soil is a light sandy loam and adding organic matter will allow better moisture and nutrient retention ensuring that we can continue the heavy cropping we have enjoyed as the plot first came into cultivation.