At the beginning of the growing season, I bought myself a variety of pumpkin and squash plants from a local garden centre and threw them into the ground, and left them to look after themselves. Fast forward to September, I noticed some of the plants had started to die back, so I pulled the plants up and left the fruit to mature in the shed. This is the end result, not bad considering they had very little water during the summer months.
A bad tomato harvest
It’s that time of year where I clear out my tomato plants from the greenhouse. Normally I bring back bucket loads of toms that are either ripe or need ripening on the window sill at home. However, this year has been really poor. Throughout the summer, I’ve been picking a few toms here and there, but nothing compared to previous years. Most of the ones I have picked, split almost instantly so I ended up giving them to the chickens.
Tomatoes split when they are allowed to dry out and when watered, the fruit swell too quickly for the skin. Despite my best efforts to keep them watered throughout the summer, it seems the heat was a little too much for them.
Cleaning out the chickens
I forgot to post this at the beginning of the year. I uploaded a video to YouTube on what I feed my chickens and also how I clean them out. Check it out -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWbgjfwjblo
Steve’s Allotment – The Beast from the East
We’ve had some cold weather this last week and last night we had some snow and heavy winds….too cold to do anything down the allotment.
Steve’s Allotment – Some big changes [VIDEO]
It’s been over a year since my last video and I wanted to share with you what I’ve been up to and some changes I’ve made on the plot.
The arrival of chickens
It’s been a while since I last posted an update….to be honest, I’ve been really busy over the last 12 months, and I’ve found it difficult to find time to update many of my websites, including this one. Anyway, there’s been some big changes on the plot over the last couple of months. One of the biggest changes as been the arrival of chickens.
I’ve had the chickens for just over a month now. I’ve got three Rhode Rock hens and they are producing 2-3 eggs a day which means the plot could potentially be producing something every day of the year.
At the moment, they are housed in a decent size run where I normally grow my potatoes. The run consists of two parts; the coop and a smaller sized run and then a much larger run. When I’m down there during the days, I let them have the run of the plot.
Steve’s Allotment Episode 24 – August tour
A quick tour of the allotment in late August.
My tomatoes are doing really well, although the giant ones are a complete right off.
Only my main crop potatoes remain.
My sweetcorn are almost ready to harvest.
One of my giant marrows won a first.
Steve’s Allotment Episode 23 – Giant Tomatoes
It’s time for another update from the allotment. The giant marrows have started to fruit. Onions have been pulled up, not exactly an impressive harvest though. The 1st and 2nd early potatoes have been pulled, just the main crops left. And I’m growing some giant tomatoes.
Steve’s Allotment Episode 22 – June walkabout
A quick walkabout at the beginning of June.
The potatoes in the greenhouse are starting to flower and it won’t be long until they are ready to harvest.
Tomatoes are coming along nicely.
Rhubarb is going crazy.
And the pigeons are causing nothing but issues.
Giant marrows have been planted.
Steve’s Allotment Episode 21 – April walk around and pigeons
A quick look around the plot and something is eating my parsnips and strawberries.