Roeshot Hill Allotment Association
  • Home
    • Want an allotment?
    • Welcome
    • Late News >
      • Green Flag 2016
      • 2014 show prizewinners
      • Working Parties
      • Woodchip
      • 'Manure' heap covering
  • Members
    • Your Committee etc >
      • Committee's duties list
      • Constitution (2003)
    • Report a Problem
    • Members' Notices >
      • Suppliers giving Discounts
      • Data Protection Policy
      • Notice of 2017 AGM
    • Covid Trading Hut
    • Hints & Tips >
      • Blight warnings
      • July Hint #3 - Potato Blight
      • July Hint #4 - Green manures
      • July Hint #2 - After welcome rain.... Mk2
      • July Hint #1 - After welcome rain......
      • June Hint #4 - yellowing cabbage leaves
      • June Hint #3 - Clubroot
      • June Hint #2 - sowing dates
      • Hint 31st May - Protecting Cabbages etc.
      • Hint 25th May - extra crops
      • Hint 10th May - Weeds
      • Hint w/e 4th May - Sowing tender veg.
      • Hint w/e 24th April - Planting cabbages for summer
      • Hint w/e 20th April - carrots
      • Hint w/e 20th April - Still planting potatoes?
      • Hint No.1-13th April-digging & sowing
      • Hint w/e 6th April - Onion sets & shallots
      • 30th March-planting potatoes
    • Photos >
      • Mince pies and Mulled wine at the Cafe 15th Dec 2013
      • Summer Show 2010
      • Summer Show 2012
      • Summer Show 2013
      • Steve Burgess Pics
    • The Cabin
    • Plot 40 - Special needs plot
    • Growing Tips >
      • Water Conservation, Tips from Hugh
      • Growing Potatoes
      • Grow2eat tips
      • Hint - thinning carrots
      • Preparing for the show
    • Recipes >
      • Courgette and Raspberry recipes
      • Christmas or Fruity Flapjacks
      • Toffee Apple Pudding
    • wildlife >
      • Birds
      • Wildlife 2018
  • Contact Us
  • Steve's Blog
  • Save our Allotments!
    • EIP Update - 9th Jan 2014
    • Letter to the Echo - 6th Jan 2014
    • Members Update Sept 2013
    • Community Asset Application - 20 Sept 2013
    • Update on EIP - 19th Sept
    • Summary of the situation - Sept 2013
    • RHAA Chairman's comment in Bournemouth Echo - Feb 2013
  • 2018 Green Flag
  • Caring for Wildlife
  • Corona Virus
  • NASLG Covid advice

Back after a long break!

28/2/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Looking back its nearly a year since my last post!
First my computer was getting very slow making every post a trial but also I was struggling keeping up with my 10 rod plot. Now the laptop has had an upgrade and is now almost like new and my son has joined me in working on the plot.
 - So now I hope to have time to maintain the blog!
Last year was a very mixed bag. All my onions, some of the shallots, and even some of my leeks, ran to seed. Potatoes were also less productive: the bags of perfect spuds were quite small but we've survived so far and we are still eating home grown. The Brussels Sprouts we are harvesting at the moment are just big enough to use and neither have my cauliflowers grown this year.
Fortunately, I'm happy to be harvesting my first ever Black Kale together with the usual parsnips and leeks. And we are still using up the shallots from 2018, which is a good thing as the 2019 crop is not very large.
While I dwell on the problems of last year, it cannot be that bad as I came across last year's prize tickets from the show in August and there were a few! And the lettuce I planted in the old tomato grobags in the greenhouse. This is despite losing two of the plastic roof panels in the recent gales. A costly repair.
Having spent a month over Christmas and New Year visiting my son in Milwaukee, USA, I didn't get started until nearly the end of January. Since then I've started digging out my compost bin, mulching the asparagus bed, and


I've moved one of my brassica tunnels to its new site what spring cauliflower and cabbage are already growing. A mulch of partially decomposed leaf mould will keep them cosy and moist even if it stops raining.






​I've also started clearing the rubbish from behind the greenhouse and round my Loganberry. Perhaps I'll get a better crop this year now I've dug out the huge spiky bramble from beside the greenhouse!

Picture
I have also started digging out the Jerusalem Artichokes that shaded the end of the greenhouse. The wind just blew them over so they weren't very effective. I have some willow wands from pollarding my tree at home so I am thinking of growing a clipped willow screen there instead.
At home, despite my consummate lack of skill, I have started sowing in the insulated frost-proof section of my greenhouse using my heated propagators. Tomatoes, cabbages, peas and beans and several other seedlings are already on the go! I guess I'll still have to buy plants from the Trading Hut when mine shrivel up and die - but I keep trying!
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Your Comment!

    To add your thoughts to any of my posts, click on the title and then go to the 'Reply' box that should appear at the bottom of the post.
    Otherwise go to the 'Contact Us' page.

    Author

    Hi! As "Webmaster" for this site I feel a bit of a fraud. 
    I am neither an expert at IT nor at growing vegetables. I do enjoy playing at both, however.
    I have a 10 rod plot in the middle of the site, having transferred in 2012 from a 5 rod plot I had been cultivating for about 5 years. I needed to give myself space to grow a wider range of crops.
    I will be recording my thoughts and activities on the allotment as well as sharing any knowledge and information I gain in my 'travels'.
    I constantly seek hints and advice from my neighbouring, and usually more knowledgeable, plot holders and will pass on anything I think is of general use via this blog.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.