Nearly Halloween....

And my pumpkins are ready!!!!

Once I took down my dodgy broccoli cage and the sun could get to them they turned orange in a couple of days!  If I make anything yummy with them or the kids carve them I'll take some more piccies to show you.....

The bean structure has finally come down now... Look at all the weeds it hid! Still got to take down my pea wigwams....

My potato patch is starting to grow weeds again already! Eek! What to do? Any suggestions what to do with it over the winter????

I've throughly weeded and dug over my broccoli and pumpkin patch and added a load of compost.  Not sure whether this is any good as far as crop rotation goes but this is where I've planted my onion sets for over-wintering..... one set of normal brown onions - these ones are called Troy.... and one set of red onions - Electric. I've got no idea about the varieties at all but they are what they had in the garden centre so we'll see what happens!

Apparently they have a habit of popping back out of the soil so I'll check them every few days to make sure they're staying put!

I've also sown some all year round cauliflower seeds in trays at home.... apparently they like to keep warm at first but can go out in the allotment after they've grown a bit. I'll try to keep you updated on their progress!

Love 'n' hugs,

Erm... more beans and more potatoes.....

Hiya!

Before we get to the beans and potatoes, I've got a pumpkin update from a couple of weeks ago.... Slowly turning more orange :-) The kids are getting excited!

Paul tried to dig a bit more for me (left piccie) but it was really hard going.... I meanwhile dug up some more spuds as you can see on the right....

I planted the rest of my leeks and earthed up the ones I'd planted before.  You can see the difference in size....

I carefully sorted through all my potatoes.... Seconds go in the cardboard box, the perfect ones go in the M&S carrier bag (not just any potatoes....)

And my little tiddlers went into the bucket for roasting whole - nom, nom, nom!

And yet more runner beans.... getting fed up of preparing them now! This must be the last of them, surely?

My tomato plants are still going strong. Between the two of them they give us enough tomatoes to keep us going every week! I can't believe how much better they taste than the supermarket ones....

I've got to start thinking about what to do with my bare ground..... I've had all year round cauliflowers recommended and onion sets for over-wintering.  Any other suggestions? I must get to the garden centre.... :-)

Love 'n' hugs,

A well overdue update....

Hiya!

Sorry I've not been around much - busy, busy, busy! I just wanted to share some piccies with you of the stuff I've been bringing back from the allotment....  I'm afraid these piccies are now about a month old!

A mountain of runner beans, half way though their preparation for the freezer.....

I cut them up and froze them in family dinner sized portions......

My bean structure on the right, my dodgy (but effective!) broccoli cage at the back on the left, a patch of bare earth where I'd dug up some potatoes and the dying tops of my potato plants still to be dug up....

My biggest onion - I was sooo proud! I grew my onions from seed this time, but I'm thinking I'll try sets next.....

My pumpkins... the one in a little more sunlight starting to turn orange and the larger, greener one that gets hidden by the broccoli cage....

Some of the millions of potatoes my kids helped me to dig up..... These are King Edwards - yummy! Might try some other varieties though next year. Just to compare....

And even more runner beans I picked a few days later! I've given loads away and still have loads in the freezer :-) Definitely doing these again next year....

Right, I'm off - busy cooking Sunday dinner..... Roasted King Edwards and runner beans with our roast chicken today - what else!?! :-)

Love 'n' hugs,