Su's Veggies

My mate Su moved house a couple of weeks ago - she couldn't start growing anything because of the pending house move so I said I'd start some veggies off here and bring them up to her to plant out after she'd moved - I'm a nice bloke, aren't I ??!!







So took them up there yesterday and got them all sorted and planted - was a lovely sunny day, good day out!

The ground was still mostly grassed over and was rock hard. There hasn't been time to dig it all over and properly prepare it, so we cheated a bit - weed sheeting straight over the old lawn and planted through.

Pea netting was pinned to the side of the shed - the peas have been started in cell trays but not quite big enough to plant out. The weed control sheeting can be folded back when the peas are big enough to be planted.

Sweetcorn has been planted in a block through the sheeting, iceberg lettuce is growing in between the sweetcorn - uses space more effectively. Climbing beans could be sown to grow up the sweetcorn - apparently it's called the "3 sisters" - but Su doesn't want the beans.


Other loose leaf lettuces, mizuna, rocket and chinese leaves were all planted in large sack things (no large pots left!) as a kind of patio salad container - pick what you want when you want it.



PSB, other broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage were also planted through the weed sheeting - took a lot of watering to soften the ground in the holes for planting out. The brassicas were netted before I left, but need netting properly later to keep the butterflies and pigeons off.

Tomato growbags were halved and put on end in the greenhouse - I definitely prefer pots over growbags. Su found some hanging things for trailing flowers - kinda like a strong bag with holes in, fill with compost, plant through the bag and hang on a fence - we used them for tumbling toms.

Spuds were left in large buckets at the bottom of the garden. Su sowed beetroot and carrots in large pots of compost.

And Su's mum dug up some rhubarb for me - I love rhubarb!


Was a really nice day out :)

2009 June - week 3

Still have the arthritis and still very stiff and painful, but feeling more mobile.

Went allotment Monday, first time in 3 weeks. Plot fairly overgrown. I planted 2 rows of peas about 3 weeks ago, only 6 sprouted. The broad beans were almost dead. Have lost half the sweetcorn. 4 rows of carrots and a row of beetroot have disappeared in the weeds.

Pulled up about 50 onions and dug up a row of new potatoes. Ripped out some of the long grass (5ft tall) growing through the raspberries and laid it flat along the "path". Took it fairly easy so I didn't make my knees worse.

Went allotment again Tuesday. Planted out courgettes and cucumbers where I'd dug up the spuds. Pulled out the broad beans and put some pumpkins in instead. Dug a small patch where the onions were, planted a feew cauliflowers. Finished ripping grass out of raspberries - looks much better. Dead-headed a lot of the weeds - thistles and dandelions etc - need to take it easy with the digging, so dead heading better than nothing. The cut the grass at home. Totally overdid it, spent the night in agony with the arthritis ......

2009 June - week 2

Steroids and painkillers have helped a lot with my arthritis- although I still have the pain and swellings in joints, I'm more mobile. My knees are the worst at the moment - very stiff. My wrist is painful if I turn my hand the wrong way. I can't straighten my arm. My toe is still twice normal size and dark red. Pain in my hip is bad but not causing mobility problems. Looks like it could last a while.

Have been able to spend a bit more time in the greenhouse, keeping things going. Have to sit down a lot. Went to garden centre and picked up more canes and a new sprinkler. Rigged up the drip feeder for the greenhouse. More potting on etc. Weeded one 8ftx8ft bed at home, had to keep stopping because of the pain. But at least I know I can do it and that I'm getting better gradually.

Had first home grown strawberry. Had loads of spinach for a beef and spinach curry. Had lots of lettuce for our salads.

Sowed 3 trays of peas for Su - should be enough to fill one row and they should be the right size to plant out when I take them up there in a couple of weeks.

2009 June - week 1

Still suffering with the arthritis. Was almost bedridden at times. Started on steroids for a week, helping but still a lot of stiffness and pain. Very difficult making it as far as the greenhouse. No chance of getting to the allotment.

Managed to pot on various veggies to keep them growing. They can be planted later when I'm not so crippled.

Su's veggies all growing nicely too but no chance of taking them to her. She's due to move about 12th June.

2009 May

First two weeks spent catching up in the veggie patch at home. Whole lot planted out. Picked first loose lettuce and spinach leaves for salads.

French beans had been started in toilet roll tubes indoors. Whole lot died off when planted out in the garden. More seeds sown next to bean poles.

Did some digging on allotment, planted out various sweetcorn, brassicas etc. Sheeted over about 1/3rd of the plot with weed control sheeting - I won't have time to prepare and use that ground for a few months so best to keep it covered for now.

Mid-May I came down with pains in back, elbow and hip, then followed by toe and both knees. Initial diagnosis from hospital was cellulitis, later changed to arthritis. Either way, I ended up in severe pain, real difficulty walking - barely able to get up and down the stairs - no chance of getting down greenhouse or to the allotment! Not good :(

2009 April

Recovered from the food poisoning, working hard to catch up with the veggies.

Finished digging the veggie patch at home to full size - three 8ft x 8ft beds with a long thin bed for onions and garlic. Only had 2 8ft x 8ft beds last year.

Loads of veggies sown and potted on, loads of weeding done.

A friend came round and helped break the pallets and build a fence to keep the dogs off the veggie patch. It looks pretty good. Dogs found it a bit strange at first, kept trying to get through it, under it and over it, but they soon accepted the veggie patch is out of bounds!

Total cost for the fence was about £30 for a bag of nails, couple of hinges, gate catches and a few bags of ready mixed post hole cement. There is only one gate at the moment - there is still a tree trunk and big bramble patch to remove at the other end - we'll deal with that later, not urgent. At least I have the materials needed to complete the fence when the time comes.

2009 March

Spent most of this month still suffering from food poisoning. Had some good days, some bad days. Managed to sow loads of seeds. Friend Su came down mid-March and helped plant spuds on my allotment. She's due to move house in June so can't grow veggies at the mo - I'm going to start her veggies off here and take them up to her when she's moved.

2009 February

First two weeks this month very busy preparing for skiing holiday, buying the last clothing, sorting passports and insurance and arranging kennels for the dogs etc. There were seeds I could have sown this month but no time before holiday - plenty of time to catch up after.

Went skiing at half term, great week away. Spent first day back unpacking and stuff, then came down with food poisoning. Was violently sick day and night. No chance of sowing anything. Great .........

Builders have started work on next doors extension - they are leaving pallets on my drive so I can make compost bins and fence etc when I get the time.

2009 January

Started off full of enthusiasm but serious lack of time. Greenhouse tidied and ready, tons of seeds, pots, everything else I needed. Should have planned my sowing and planting but very busy sorting out skiing holiday and work and stuff. Decided to catch up with the veggies later.

2008 The Allotment Plot

Suprise time - at the end of July I was offered a plot on Roundshaw Allotments, an 8 minute drive from home. The plot had been disused for a year or so, so was heavily overgrown.

It was too late in the year to sow much, so we concentrated on clearing and digging some ground to prepare for the following year. Weeds were up to 6ft tall at the time.

The plot is about 30ft x 34ft, with raspberry canes along one fence and 2 plum trees on the other fence. There is a large redcurrent bush and 2 large gooseberry bushes, and later found a 3rd smaller gooseberry bush hidden under weeds. There is a small pear tree (no fruit yet) and a small apple tree (heavily laden with apples). There is a small corrugated iron "shed" at the back of the plot, just full of junk from the previous tenant. Plenty of room for a proper shed and compost bins.

We picked up a couple of compost bins and trampled down and ripped out a lot of weeks. We dug over a small patch and eventually planted out some autumn-sown onion sets.

We got chatting to other plot-holders on the site. One lady swapped some of her strawberry plants for some of our raspberry canes.

We gradually dug over about half the plot without planting anything out before autumn and winter set in. The soil is lovely, easy to dig, has been well worked in previous years. Downside is lots of mares tail which has extremely long roots so almost impossible to get rid of.

Picked up a van-load of timber to build a new shed with. Half of it was measured and cut before winter and stacked up in my garden at home.

2008 part 1

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2007 part 2

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2007 - Part 1

2007 was a slightly better year. I got my greenhouse set up around April and managed to clear more of the garden.

Two 8ft x 8ft beds were dug over and planted with quite a lot of veg. The gooseberries that had been in pots for years, were transplanted to a fruit bed, along with some raspberry and loganberry canes.

Unfortunately I was still busy with the house and not very organised with the veggies. Did fairly well with a lot of basics but didn't know much about various veggies. I sowed things at the wrong time, they ran to seed or got overtaken by weeds. On the plus side, I learnt a lot from trial and error, from reading and from friends.

Croydon Council offered me a plot on my nearest allotments - had been on the waiting list for about a year. Turned out it was full of trees and brambles and had been used as a dumping ground for other people's rubbish and rubble. Other plot holders said it hadn't been used for at least 15-20 years. It would take a very long time to clear the rubble and trees and roots to make it usable. There was no way I could take on that much work so had to say no.

2006 - The First Year

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The First Post

This is a simple blog for me to record progress with growing fruit and veggies and winemaking and so on. I'm hoping the blog makes it easier to look back at what went well and what went badly so that I can learn from success and failure. If others learn from it too, then even better.

I have been growing fruit and veg at home since 2006. Back then I had a very overgrown garden, only managed to clear a couple of small patches approx 4ft x 2ft, and most of what I grew was soon lost in weeds - I was far too busy renovating the house to spend time in the garden.

2007 was a slightly better year. I managed to clear more of the garden and dig over 2 8ft x 8ft beds and plant quite a few things. Unfortunately I was still busy with the house and most veggies died off in the heatwave. But I did learn quite a lot.

2008 was better. I stopped decorating and spent more time in the garden. I set up a greenhouse and cleared other parts of the fruit and veg patches. Had a lot of success with beans, sweetcorn, cauliflower and onions, and with tomatoes in the greenhouse. Did a lot of trial and error, lots of failures, learnt a lot.

Summer 2008 I was offered a plot on Roundshaw Allotments. It was a bit overgrown, dug over parts of it and planted out autumn onion sets to overwinter.

2009 didn't get off to a good start. I came home from holiday in February and had food poisoning for 5 weeks, right through the most important sowing and digging time of the year! I had good days and bad, caught up in April. But then in May I was hit very suddenly with arthritis. Not good for a not-quite-40-year-old who is normally fit and active!!

Ho hum ......

I'll try and post to this blog a couple of times a week ........