Progress and Events 2008
2008 was unfortunately not the best year for us on our allotment, blighted by pests, diseases and then pounded by the atrocious weather. Just the type of year to make you consider giving up vegetable growing all together. Downhearted but never disuaded, we trudged through what remained of the year in hope of a better 2009 and reaped the best of what was left untouched on the plot.
January
Unfortunately not too much time was dedicated to the lottie in January 08 due to the very cold weather and the excitement/time consuming process of getting wed. However, during our few visits we were able to do some work on the fruit patch, create a new herb bed and divide our summer flowering bulbs to ensure a fine display come the warm weather. Genral tidying and maintenance is always essential at this time of year to prepare for the busy months ahead, as such the shed had a clearout and our resources were collated in case there was anything we needed to buy.
February
The first flowers of spring poked thier heads through this month and we were also most glad to see the first shoots of our old friends rhubarb and garlic, who harboued the earliest signs of productivity on the plot. We also had harvests of parsnips and purple sprouting broccoli to feast on. This was followed by the decision to set ourselves a challenge regarding the weight and monetary value we would get from our fruit patch over the coming year. This is something we attended to avidly over the subsequent months.
March
March was a windy month and heralded the end for some of our older garden structures such as the monolith. Nevertheless we busied ourselves with soil preparations and rotorvation, as well as the installation of our fruit cage. We invested in a few sapling fruit trees for the right hand side of the plot and tended to our cabbages and broad bean seedlings which needed relocation and protection from pests. Our harvests this month were maily of leeks and swede, excellent for hearty winter fayre. This is always an ideal time to begin sowing items which will need to germinate indoors and is something we always aim to live by at Lottieblogs. As such, tomatoes, courgettes, brassicas, beans and sweetcorn were all potted up by the end of the month. This is also the time of year to get your spuds in the ground, which we did with vigour and experimentational excitement awating the harvest to come.
April
This month really signals the beggining of the planting and sowing season, so in line wth this our onion and shallot sets went into well prepared beds as soon as we could manage it. We also utilised weed suppressant fabrics to cover the open ground on areas like the pumpkin patch which needed setting aside for the seedlings bursting into life at home, before they became covered in unwanted plants. Our floral beds were at this point, doing thier best to firmly state that spring had arrived and suceeded in making the allotment a cheerly place into the bargain. Whereas the first arrival of fammiliar insects and wildlife prompted us to consider creating a wildlife gallery on the website.
May
May unfortunately was the beggining of our woes in 2008. Despite being the most beautiful of months and having some trulty glorious days of sunshine, bunny attacks and wind got the better of us. Earlier in the month we had decided to erect a small plastic greenhouse at the rear of the plot to replace the monolith, securing it as much as we could into the ground. One night of wind and it was all gone, with a bitter chaser of rabbit vandalism despite the small temporary fence around the plot which had seemed to disuade them from besiegeing us last year. However, once again the seasonal flowers and completion of the brassica cages gave us hope for better things to come.
June
The sixth month of the year sadly faired no better for us here at Lottieblogs, continued pest attacks decimated out runner beans, cabbages and onions. Somehow, we found the motivation to plant up our pumpkin patch and the area we hoped to grow our tomatoes in under cover. Apart from the garlic harvest, one thing which managaed to raise our spirits and fill out stomachs was the fruit patch. By the end of june this was literally groaning with fruit of all varieties. 4kilo's of raspberrys were harvested during this period and several shifts had to be employed to gather as many as possible, good job they are our favourite fruit.
July
July is the ideal time to be collecting flower seed for storage and use in the next season and we went about this exercise enthusiatically. Our rhubarb had been continually supplying wonderful sticks of tasty fruit for our use up to this point and july was certainly not the exception to this. With an apparent halt to the pest attacks and excellent harvests of broad beand and potatoes (especially our esperimental variety called Anya), our fortunes seemed to have turned and we began to recover slightly. The onions and shallots were disspointingly small, but the abundance of beans, beets and courgettes more than compensated.
August
Rain rain go away, come again another day - preferrably in the winter when the sun isnt meant to be shining!!! Washout wasnt the word, which is wonderful for moisture loving crops such as pumpkins, courgettes and sweetcorn that thrived. But definately less lovable in terms of one of its side effects - blight! This disease utterly destroyed our tomato and chille crop, leaving us with no option but to strip the whole area bare. We did however manage to process our garlic bulbs which had been drying for several weeks in a family members shed, creating 6 wonderful ropes for dissemination to friends and loved ones. This month also saw the conclusion of the fruit challenge which resulted in £121 worth of fruit being harvested from the lottie, clearly demonstrating the benefits of investing in some fruits for your plot or garden if at all possible.
September
September brings with it the pumpkin harvest, an event which always gladdens our hearts and yeilds the biggest crop of the year. 2008 resulted in 45 pumpkins and squashes of various sizes, shapes, varieties and colours as well as the first cabbages, leeks and even a few apples from our newly planted fruit trees. A pretty good start to autumn all in all, but as the nights drew in and the coldness crept under the door it seemed small concilation for a mainly failed summertime.
October, November and December
Due to the year we had and some slight motivational issues from the problems encountered earlier in the season - we sort of decided to give ourselves the winter off. Apologies lottiebloggers for the lack of updates in this period, but rest assured you didn't miss anything exciting. The mainstay of our visits were to check that everything was ok, do a modest ammount of rotorvating and general tidying in preparation for the new year. Our pumpkins, potatoes, leeks and swede saw us through the long darker months in soups, stews and fortifying warming fodder. Apart frm that, nothing to report except a furvent wish for ROLL ON 2009!!!!