Well, that little lie-down lasted a bit longer than planned! Although I fell off the blog wagon for 6 months, I’m back on with a commitment to post at least once per month.
Things are happening at the plot and none of it is good. The Duke of Northumberland owns the land and guess what? yep, wants to build flats on it. I’ll devote a whole post to the saga soon, but for now here’s a quick hop and skip through summer, autumn and winter on Plot 34.
Sad tale of two green bottles
My spring sown broad beans were the target for every black fly in west London this year and so I reached into the shed for the green bottle of soap spray and as you can see in the before and after shots, it worked a treat. Totally clear in 5 days, best ever treatment. Go liquid soap!
So what’s to be sad about? Well, the problem was that there are two green bottles on the shelf in the shed. One is liquid soap and the other is the evil glyphosate to manage the really evil bindweed. Guess which one I applied to the broad beans? Guess who didn’t have any broad beans to harvest this year? Yep, just brown twigs in the ground. The bottles are now on different shelves…
Roses – A success story
This story has a happy ending. I know I’ve been going on about my roses but the harvest this year was truly magnificent. The house was awash with musky scent all summer.
A round swede
Just the one from a 10 foot row, but it’s progress. I think more attention to thinning out and watering, as well as rich soil and I’ll be in swede heaven! in the meantime, there’s always Tescos. There must be allotmenteers out there who grow swedes successfully – what’s your recipe for success?
Happy harvests
Although my motivation wanned during the summer and autumn (a planned eviction, and discovering your new landlord is Stalin’s cousin can do that) it didn’t affect the crops who kept on growing, just waiting for me to come and harvest them. I think a failed harvest might have been the last straw. The allotment gods have been smiling on me and it was a delight to visit the plot once a week to find that there were always several things to take home.
Sunflower hedge and other flowers
Remember the planned hedge? The sunflower seedlings looked a bit sorry for themselves when I planted them out mid June but what a difference 6 weeks makes.
That was 2015. The allotment carried on in spite of the threat to its future; I suppose there is a life lesson in there. Something along the lines of living for now rather than worrying about what might be in the future. On that note, my best wishes to fellow bloggers, followers and readers for a fabulous 2016.
Allotment Life 
Keep up with the blogging. Have a great 2016😉
Thanks and HNY to you and yours.
Your Chandos Beauty roses look spectacular, well done you!
Thanks, I was pleased with them.
Good post and lovely pictures. I had to pull up and compost my blackfly infested broad beans. Good looking carrots, I wish that I could grow some like that.
I like the sunflowers, and pot marigolds are my favourite flowers.
Thanks, and to you too. xx
Thanks Flighty. I grow the carrots in a deep raised bed. I’m about the start this years battle of the black fly. I might get a broad bean or two…
WOW what beautiful roses! Incredible.
I know this is one of your older posts, but I love to see how much you have managed to grow on your allotment. The allotments near to me have an extensive waiting list so I have given up hope of it for now. Instead I have a little part of my modest garden dedicated to abit of growing my own. I hope it will prove to be as beaitifully bountiful as yours!
Thank you, that’s very kind. Those roses have been transplanted to the new plot, so it will be a year or two before that are back to that level of fabulousness. TBH honest, I grow far more than 3 of us can eat. Neighbours and work colleagues also enjoy the harvest (whether they like it or not!)