Author: james

  • Mr Bean

    Mr Bean

    Beans are easy to grow, but if you don’t plant them in the correct place, they can be a bit hard to harvest.

    I did put up a nice bamboo frame, but then got mixed up with what beans I’d sown and by the time I noticed, the runner beans had turned into a creeping mass.

    Still, it out competed the bindweed. Next year, if there’s bare ground, it’s getting a bean plant in it.

  • An a-maize-ing cornucopia of corn

    An a-maize-ing cornucopia of corn

    Despite the hot, dry weather the corn has done remarkably well. It started off pretty straggly and limp, but over the past month it’s really shot up.

    It’s also produced decent cobs. Previously the cobs I’ve managed to grow have been malformed and inedible.

    I might have picked these a bit early, I’ve left the rest to continue developing. The birds and creatures haven’t noticed yet.

  • The Flora and Fauna

    The Flora and Fauna

    There’s all sorts of creatures living amongst the plants.

    Everything from wasps and flies to frogs, slugs and centipedes.

    Also saw this growing amongst the chillies at home…

  • Weeding and tidying

    Now we’re harvesting the various crops that have been growing, it’s a good time to do some tidying.

    After harvesting all the potatoes, I’ve dug the bed over ready for next year. At some point I’ll throw some fertiliser on it, and let the weather have a go at it too.

    It’s also been a chance to tidy up the piles of plant pots and boxes allotments seem to accumulate.

    And then finally some weeding to help the corn and beans keep growing.

  • Mega potato harvest

    Mega potato harvest

    Potatoes are the easiest thing to grow on an allotment. There’s all sorts of fussing and tales people have about how you’re supposed to do it.

    Dig a trench, fill it with well rotted manure, chit your potatoes, don’t chit them, mound them up, don’t mound them up. The advice is endless and contradictory.

    All I did was bury them and ignore the plants until the tops died off.

    I think we’ve easily got 20 kilos here. To grow this I used three bags of seed potatoes from B&Q.