Onions, shallots and broad beans

Today we planted the onion sets and shallots. The onions are the same as we planted last year, Red Baron and Stuttgarter Giant. They both did really well last year and stored well. They stored so well that we still have some of both left. We wanted to get Golden Gourmet shallots as they did well last year and like the onions stored well over winter, but we couldn't find any good quality bulbs so we bought a couple of varieties that we've never tried before. The ones above are Pikant and some French ones called Jermor.

As you can see our broad beans have survived the recent snow and cold weather and are looking healthy. There's a little bit of nibbling, but nothing to worry about.


We also have leeks and garlic growing well. We could do with some sunshine now to start warming the ground up and then we can get on with the other crops.

Chitting Potatoes

It's that time of year already, time to put the seed potatoes in the shed and let them sprout nice healthy shoots. We've gone with the same potatoes that we grew last year as they did so well. The earlies are Home Guard, Charlottes for the second earlies and our main crop is Desiree. We had such good crops last year that we are still eating last year's Desiree.

Harvest Festival!

After all the recent rain the weeds have been trying to take over so Lin spent several hours getting them under control. Then she dug potatoes, picked a huge amount of strawberries, the first broad beans of the year and a couple of armfuls of rhubarb.

Strawberries And Rain

I popped to the allotment this morning just to pick some strawberries. I got half way through the bed and the rain came, and didn't stop. I took shelter in the shed where I transplanted the basil into bigger pots. After what seemed like hours, but was probably about 40 minutes Lin came to my rescue.

Compost & Snails

We both spent the morning down the allotment. Lin transplanted some lettuce and cabbage plants, plus the usual weeding. I turned the compost from the medium bin to the smallest one and found hundreds of snails living there, all of which have been removed to a far away place! Then the rain came and called a halt to things, but at least it saved us from having to water.

Send In The Cavalry

A quick visit to the allotment this evening to do some emergency planting. We bought three new courgette plants and two new butternut squashes. They are a little bit bigger than the ones we lost so hopefully they will survive. We also added some organic slug pellets to keep the little slimy buggers away.


A new packet of White Lady runner bean seeds has filled in the gaps on the runner bean bed. I also planted another row of peas, and as you can see the previous rows are starting to come up nicely now.

A few of the haricot beans are starting to make an appearance too.

Digging My Potatoes

One of the best days of the year is the day you dig your first potatoes for the year. Today was that day, we dug up a couple of plants and although there wasn't a huge amount, they tasted good. Picked some more strawberries too.

I planted out the sweet corn plants, although they look a bit straggly now they will soon pick up. I also planted a row of seeds at the end of the bed to use for replacements if we should looses any of the plants.

The broad beans are forming nicely, but still suffering from black fly.

The runner beans that were started off at home are now starting to climb their canes, but the seeds that were planted directly into the ground are not doing very well so I'm going to buy a new packet and plant some more.

Beetroot are coming up nicely. The same can't be said for the butternut squashes and courgettes. Out of all the plants I put in, I have one courgette left, time to go in search of some more plants.