Potato Competition!

Before I get to the Potato Competition, here are pictures (not very exciting) of the Cucino seed that I sowed at the greenhouse the other day

However I have brought them home as they need a more constant temperature to germinate

Oh yes, there is also a pot of Basil (brown pot) at the back.

Now for the Potato Competition

How very exciting and all for only  a £1 entry fee

So I got my pot & seed potato

Popped in some compost and then the potato

I labelled and watered it

& 

my fingers are now crossed

There are two Prizes

One is for the biggest crop

& 

One is for the biggest potato!!

When I went to the Trading Hut today to pay my £1, I found out that there were already 8 entrants, so that's good.

Potatoes & Peas!

As I had some Pentland Javelin "chitting" in my utility room and these are 1st Earlies, so as they can be dug up in July I decided to pop them in!

Here are my tools of the trade

I put in my line so I would put them in straight

And here's my bulb planter

In it goes and fingers crossed for July

I did put in a row of peas alongside too but I forgot to take photo's!

Potatoes!

It's goodbye to plot 121 - I have now ended my "tenancy" there as I no longer have the need or the time to work this extra half plot!

One lot of Cara Potatoes going from 121 to 144 by trailer!

Desiree potatoes drying off in the greenhouse

Another tray of Cara

This is the tray that was in the trailer

So all in all a good potato harvest

Earthing up!

Yes I spent the morning earthing up all 8 rows of my main crop potatoes on plot 121.  As I earthed up, I also weeded as this was a big downfall for me last year - I just left all the weeds in and they pretty much took over, so by the time I came to digging up my little golden globes of loveliness, I had a war with weeds too - so this year I am NOT making that mistake!

Progress has been made!

As you can see I harvested a dinner from my plot today - Parsnips, Savoy Cabbages, Leeks and some potatoes that I must have missed last year!

This is a picture of the finished "tidy up" that the lovely Brian has been helping with, well I say helping with, I mean helping Derek with!! Derek got rid of all the brambles and  Brian leveled it all off and used the surplus soil for his plot and then woodchipped it for me!!

It's looking rather FAB don't you think?

OK so I do have my own claim to brag about today - I was on plot 121 and I dug it over and weeded with the help (if you can call it that) from Junior who wanted to dig but once he got to it, he said it was "hard work" and kept on wanting to take a break!!!    These youngsters have NO staying power do they?

After a cup of tea (for me) and an apple juice for my little helper, we made sute the greenhouse plants and seedlings were watered and we came home!

More potatoes.....

....I went to the allotment today to pick up some seed trays so that I could get some more seedlings started off in the utility room.  I went down to the trading hut to say hello when Nigel asked me what potatoes I picked up yesterday, so I told him 3kg of Cara and 1kg of Pentland Javelins.

He then informs me that I have 3kg of Disiree!!  Oh do I?? I can't remembered what I ordered way back then.

So they are now home and they have joined the chitting area in the corner of my room.

3kg Desiree


Desiree is the most popular red potato – it’s a main crop, dependable and a good all rounder. This red skinned, yellow-fleshed potato produces heavy crops, even in dry seasons. These have a waxy texture, excellent flavour and are great for baking and lovely mashed, it also stores well too.

Main Crop potatoes such as these can be planted in the south ( UK) during the first half of April; further north by late April - the actual time will depend on weather conditions. These potatoes should be planted in rows allowing about 30cm between tubers, and 75cm between rows.These potatoes can also be grown in a potato barrel or a patio potato planter. Remember, these give a heavier crop than the Earlies.

Chit & Shed

Yes that was Chit as a title and not any other word!!

YESTERDAY: Firstly let me mention my shed - basically, due to the roof felt not having been pinned back properly when it was first put up in March 2009, my fault entirely, the rain fell off the roof felt, went against the wood and rotted the floor. My very kind friend from the plot next door - Brian 144a - offered to change it for me and that he did!! I supplied the chipboard and he did the work! When I went down there yesterday it had all been done, so whilst I spent a few hours giving the contents of the shed a good sort out, Junior weeded his broad beans and we spent 2 hours happily doing what needed to be done!

TODAY: I braved the rain and made it to the allotment shop with my son in toe. I needed to get down there for my potatoes but he didn't have a choice. Then again neither did I when I was 8 - where my parents went so did I and I can tell you, I never went to anywhere as exciting as an allotment - I think the most exciting place I ever got to go was the church or something to do with it!! Anyway I whiter on .....

It was a slippy road once we went through the allotment gates - but we made it in the lashing rain to the shop and I bought some Cucino seeds (little cucumbers) Runner Bean seeds (Lady Di - Junior says he doesn't like runner beans but he's never tasted allotment ones) and some compost which will be very kindly delivered to my allotment greenhouse!

Then I picked up my Potatoes:

1kg of Pentland Javelin


These first early Pentland Javelin seed potatoes have white, waxy flesh and a creamy texture making them an ideal potato for boiling or in salads. These are slightly later than other first earlies, but grow well in all soil types and have good all-round disease resistance, especially golden eelworm.

Earlies are less likely to encounter pest problems as they are lifted so much earlier in the year. These can be planted in the south ( UK) mid March; further north by late March / early April.The actual time will depend on weather conditions. First early potatoes should be planted in rows allowing about 30cm between tubers, and 60cm between rows.

3kg Cara


Late Maincrop.

Round/oval pinkish-red eyed tubers with soft moist flesh. Particularly good baker. Withstands drought. Very disease resistant, including golden eelworm and blight. The allotment favourite.

I haven't gone as mad this year as I did last year - see http://alithefrog.blogspot.com/2010/02/potatoes-spuds-tatties-are-chitting-in.html as I really don't know what time scales I have on my hands this year with an 8 year old to entertain during the school holidays, so I am downsizing everything including the potatoes, although I may pick up a kilo of Roosters as they are good roasters.

My one dilemma this year is where to chit! Yes, last year, I chitted in the bathroom but this year Junior uses this bathroom including the bath on a daily basis, so I have to find another room. The guest bedroom will be too cold as the heating is off in there, so the only other place is here in my hobbies room, yes I have potatoes all over the floor!!!

Potatoes and Piccalilli

 I am on plot 121 here and as you can see my potatoes are REALLY full of overgrowth which includes weeds, brambles & bindweeds from the plot next door.  You can see just behind my bike trailer that there is a mound. Well that mound is actually a compost bin from the next plot that is covered in brambles and bind weed, so that's where it's all come from!

I managed, on my first day back from sickness, to dig out 2 rows of Cara Potatoes.

This is them coming out of the ground. Thats the most exciting bit - digging them out!!

I then put them into a large tray and into the greenhouse to dry out as it's still damp out there!

These are my 2 marrows which I am entering into the Twitter Marrow Competition

As I was digging up potatoes, I dug up a couple of parsnips too, as we were having roast chicken - Mmmm - they were delicious!

This is my harvest (mid illness) which I decided looked like a good Piccalilli crop!

 So I chopped it all up

Add some Celery from the fridge

 And hey presto - Piccalilli will be ready in December

Wind Damage and other goings on

This was a very sad sight to behold when I arrived at the plot this morning. I very nearly cried, however I quickly pulled myself together, got some cable ties and duck tape from the shed and repaired my Sweet Potato Suite as best I could.  Fortunately the sweet potatoes don't seem to be any worse off for it.

The next damage was to the Gherkin Wigwam - it had completely fallen over, so Brian from the next plot down (144a) helped me to untangle the string that the gherkins were growing up and advised to leave the bamboo canes out for now until the winds died down.  In the meantime Mr Chilli Head the wind sock is now in the shed for fear of him flying half way across the county!

More damage was to the tomato support canes both here in raised bed#1 and to the canes supporting the tomatoes mid plot.  Again it was the cable ties to the rescue and some more canes for extra support as the winds are still high today.  Fortunately I didn't have any "snapped" tomato plants - phew!

I then made a cuppa and after a chat with Brian whilst we drank our tea, I got to work on lifting the last of the Earlies.  Due to the small, quick but heavy downpours we were having off and on, I put the spuds on the floor of the shed to dry out.

Not as many as I was hoping for but without the rain this year, this is better than nothing and they haven't suffered with rust either.

In thier place, I planted 2 rows of leeks - a little late in the year, but it worked well for me last year.

So I got my dibber out and got dibbing and dropped the leeks in, and then watered them in afterwards, as the ground is still dry once you getting digging, despite the amount of rain we have had in recent days.

 And finally, I put 14 cabbage plants in the remaining potato space - 7 Greyhounds and 7 Savoys, covered them with netting and watered them in.

A few hours well spent today.

Frost has struck - oh no!

Yes, despite the milder forecast, we got a frost this week, which I was not aware of until today.  Unfortunately this effected some of my potatoes.  Can you see the yellow foillage? This is frost bite, which is very sad as these main crops went in late, about 2 weeks late in fact.

This will mean a smaller crop and smaller potaotes.  Luckily help aka Derek was at hand with his ridger and after a few "pulls" .....

....we soon had them earthed up - it was Derek on the ridger and me on the spade!

We also did the same to the other potatoes on my main plot + covered over the 1st Earlies that were earthed up the other day, just in case!

Non Potato News ......

One good piece of news is my broad beans.  I thought that this was a frost bitten example when I first inspected the black bits, but I soon realised they were the flowers dying to give way to the beans that are popping out! oh, I can't wait!

And to end, this is me, in my lovely hat, inside my greenhouse which incidently, I decided to heat due to it only being 10 degrees inside.  I had to go to the Trading Hut to buy some more paraffin, but I think it will be worth it, as the plants, although coming along nicely will obviously benefit from a little warmth.

More little bits here and there!

I had arranged to meet Derek on site at 10am as he insisted on earthing up my 1st earlies for me, so here we are, forking over the rows in between the little tufts of green, and yes I did help!

There are only 2 rows of 1st's so it didn't take us long.

He then got to work with his Ridger, and "Voila" a hard job made easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I then got stuck in with raking the last of plot 144 - it took me about 2 hours of hard labour to remove as many of the stones as possible - I think it must rain stones on our site, as the more you rake and remove the more turn up the next day!!

Isn't this the cutest picture?  It's Laddie, Derek's dog.  I have promised him that I will get it printed off for him so that he can treasure it forever.