Allotment update (last one of 2012) ...

Yes this will most likely be the last allotment update for this year, things have started to slow right down on the plot, there are some things that have been missed by the slugs, some cabbages and other such things, fingers crossed they will make it through the winter.

This is how the plot looked last month after we'd been there for a spot of weeding and other related jobs, like adding a small divide between our half and the other half, and planting some stuff to grow over winter, like cabbages.


The small divide -

It's just a few bits of pallet.

Cabbages,kale and spinach for over winter -

I've since added a load of netting, damn pigeons.

As I mentioned due to the never ending onslaught of slugs we've lost a lot of the stuff that we'd intended to grow over the winter, but some of it survived, so there's hope yet, we did how ever get a good haul of beans of various sorts, as well as about 1.5kg of broad beans (shelled that is)


Beans, beans are good for your heart the more you eat ...

They weighed 4.5kg with the pods.

More beans - 

Is it me or is it getting windy in here ?

The coloured beans got eaten very quickly, the kids were a little annoyed the purple ones didn't stay purple when they were cooked, still tasted good, we have a load of small bags of beans in the freezer for using in stews and such like when the weather gets cold, apparently the purple beans taste good raw.


This is the haul we got from our latest (and most likely last) visit this year -

Pumpkins for Halloween sorted.

 Three pumpkins for Halloween this year, the yellow one could have done with being left on the vine for a bit longer, but the weather is getting colder and I didn't want to leave it in case it got damaged by the cold, so now I'm putting it out in the sun at home to harden up, the other two pumpkins are fine though, not bad considering these are all grown from seeds I saved from last years pumpkins, the yellow one is the largest pumpkin I've grown to date.

We've got quite a bit of corn, I planted 24 plants and we have 24 cobs, although some are smaller than I'd have liked, the kids have already eaten some of it, they had a cob between them for dinner, they said it tasted great.

Even though some of the corn cobs are small they still have corn on them, so I'm planning on using these ones as next years seeds, but they'll need to be dried out over the winter so I can get the kernels out with out damaging them.

Still has some viable seed material - 

Just needs drying out.

I do have some jobs to do to get the plot ready for next year, but those I'll either do before Christmas or sometime after just before spring, things like the poly-tunnel I've been threatening to build for, well for ever, but all in all it's been a good year, better than last year, we've still got a way to go though, but things are in a much better state now than they were last year at this time.

There are a few things left on the plot, the butternut squashes are still there, they are very small, so I figured I'd leave them for another week or so, and there are still some small pumpkins on the various vines that are left, so I thought I'd see if they grow larger before digging things over, and there's a few beetroots and some turnips and parsnips, so we shall see what comes of them.

The baby pumpkin - 

It's about the size of a tennis ball.

And that's that for this year, fingers crossed for some better weather next year, enjoy autumn.

This is how we've left things for now - 

Shouldn't take much to get it ready for spring.

Thanks for reading.

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”  Henry David Thoreau.