Up it comes...already!!

What we have here is the purple Peruvian garlic I bought from Waitrose. I can't believe it's popped up in less then two weeks! The other variety thermidrome is yet to show.

I just LOVE growveg.com !!

My growveg.com Allotment Plan

I was the the cat with the proverbial cream the day I found growveg.com web site. What fun I have had designing and re-designing my plot. It has a way of shading around the plants so you space them correctly, the shading also categorises the plants for crop rotation. To top it all off it lists the vegetables and fruit that you want to grow on a table, showing you when to sow etc. Now, I know that part of it may not work for all varieties and not every vegetable is listed in the first place but even with these discrepancies -  I just love it.

1st Carrot Crop Ever!

The pale carrots are rainbow variety, middle ones rothild and flakee on the right.

I had the help of my under-gardener today to pull some of our carrots. "Wow wee!" he said as they lifted easily from the ground. I shall have to remind him of this day when he's older, how he happily pulled his first carrot from the ground before he was two years old. 

I planted three late varieties - Flakee, Rothild and Rainbow and the all seem to have grown equally good. Inconclusively the longest carrot was one of the Rainbow variety, a pale coloured carrot which tasted very faintly of parsnip - unless it's colour was playing tricks on my senses? Generally they have grown straight which is testament to the hard work I put in removing stones at the beginning. Gotta love the carrot that looks like it's walking though !!

I felt good leaving the lottie under the rising full moon with our first crop of anything! Especially as I've been feeling so ill the last week; exhausted from work I've had a bad cold, an eye infection and then finally my larynx gave in and now I have no voice. It means no digging this week sadly! When am I going to get the raspberries in?

Butterfly with an Earring?

This is the Comma butterfly or Polygonia c-album. It get's its name from the 'c' or comma shaped silver mark on the underside of it's wing. After landing on my windscreen at Wisley it dived in the window, hitched a ride on my dashboard up the road and then fluttered off. I felt very lucky to have such a fleeting visit especially when I read it should be hibernation already! 

The First Garlic Planting

Traditionally with garlic ...

PLANT ON THE SHORTEST DAY, HARVEST ON THE LONGEST DAY... 

Well I have planted mine early - on Halloween, which may help rid the allotment of evil spirits? ... the evil spirits of slugs perhaps!!

With the help of Shannie I cleared another big area of weed roots and put together another bed. We burnt a lot of the weeds that weren't wet in the incinerator. This is a great way to save transporting all the roots to the dump. 

I planted three and a half rows of garlic, two of Thermidrome and one and a half of a purple Peruvian variety I got from Waitrose. I have half a row which I'll plant on the shortest day 21st December - if I remember! 

I made a measuring stick out of a piece of 3x1 which I had at home and used it to perfectly space out the garlic. I've planted the cloves 6'' apart and staggered the rows which are 9" apart.