AREA 57A COVERED FOR WINTER

Halls Farm Nov 2013

Autumn colours up the lottie

Pumpkin Patch Cleared

Pumpkin patch cleared and double dug, got as many weed roots out as possible.

Going to let it settle and get a couple of frosts onto the soil then cover with horse doo until next spring when it will then become home to sweet corn.

Plot 63a

Just took charge of plot 63a,a very overgrown plot with lots of hard work ahead but I'm sure we will enjoy the fruits of our labour.

                    KEEP CALM

                     AND WEED

Pumpkin Time

Just a sample of some pumpkins that were grown on Area 57a.

The green ones are for eating and the traditional orange will be used for making a scary face for Halloween.

Ripened Toms

Just a small collection of some tomatoes that we have ripened off at home .

San Manzarno, Harbinger and Italian all looking rosy red.

Hot Sauce Heaven

 We have let the hot sauce settle for two weeks in the fridge, now the waiting is over I have just opened the first bottle of Vesuvius and I can tell y'all folks it's a mighty fine potion.

Yes Siree.

Kidney Beans

Planted a small quantity of kidney bean seeds just to see what the yield would be like and as this is our first attempt we are pleased with the results.

Now for some chilli con carne.

A View From The Top

A view from the top gate of Halls Farm Allotments 

Winter Spinach

First week of October 22 degrees and sunny.

Harvested the first crop of winter spinach.

Hot Sauce Label

Made the label for the Jalapeño sauce 

Jalapeño Hot Sauce

Just made some Jalapeño hot sauce with some of the Chilli's from Area 57a .

They have to rest for two weeks then we can see if its going to kick ass.

San Manzarno Tomatoes

The San Manzarno tomatoes have not been affected by the blight and only one or two Italian tomatoes have been disposed of.

As for the Paul Robeson and Harbinger's well they have really been badly affected .

Bloody Blight

Bloody bleeding blight hit Bromley in Blighty.

Hoisted the flag of blight tonight and tried to salvage what I could of the tomatoes.

I have had a good crop already, a little disappointed but not the end of the world.

Inside of a Paul Robeson

Juicy and sweet Paul Robeson.

What a great tomato.

Paul Robeson Ripened

Ripened the Robeson's off at home 

Banana Chillies

Ripening off some Banana Chilli's at home . 

Boy they are fierce little buggers.

Halloween Head

New head for Commander Scatter as Halloween approaches.

More Goodies

Some more goodies harvested today.

Can't wait for the kidney beans to dry out .

No Blight in Blighty

Not only are we having a war with the slugs over the peppers and chilli's we are also battling over the tomatoes with slugs and wasps. So no blight this year which is great but have to ripen the tomatoes off at home.

Our Tomatoes are:

Italian

San Manzarno

Harbinger

Paul Robeson

Peppers Picked

Had to pick Jimmy Nardello and Romano peppers before they got ripe because the last few days of rain have made the slugs go into a mad feeding frenzy even though the plants are surrounded by loads of organic slug pellets.

I have lost a great quantity of large peppers at base of the plants due to those pesky varmint.

slug war begins.

Rraaadddiicccchhhiiio

2nd Radicchio picked this morning along with the first Cauliflower .

Cauli wobbles

First Cauliflower picked today .

Not a bad specimen .

Wouldn't even mind but I hate the stinky stuff.

Jalapeño Heaven

Just been up the Lottie to water the Winter Spinach and the Jalapeños are looking great . Looks like summer ended last Thursday evening. 

The daytime temp has dropped by 10 Degrees overnight and the Autumn rains have started .

More Goodies

More goodies harvested today .

Only 9 Degrees this morning at 6 Am and rain early pm

TOXIC

Just made a sign for Area 57a 

Six Months On

Six months since we took charge of 57a and it has flown by and we have met some really nice people. Still some work to do on the shed and around the plot but Rome wasn't built in a day. Nothing like eating your own organic veg.

The Glover Cup

Very pleased and a little embarrassed to win the Glover Cup for the best newcomer to Halls Farm Allotments .

Great Place Great People Great Food.

Flying High

Forza Napoli flag flying 

Sunny Sunday

24 Degrees and a good harvest

Sunflower

The Sunflower giving the Bees some last of its pollen before it sets to seed 

Down 57 Way

Starting to cover over soil for winter .

Patty Pan

Baby Patty Pan 

Harvesting

Harvesting some produce from Area 57a.

What a wonderful  day it was on Saturday a whole 24 hours of rain .

Lovely Jubbly.

Kidney Beans

Red Kidney Beans doing well just need some more sun and then wait for the pods to dry out.

San Manzarno Tomatoes

San Manzarno Tomatoes are looking good . They are the Tomatoes that should be put on a Pizza for that classic Neapolitan  taste .

Only San Manzarno toms used in Napoli.

Radicchio Lettuce

Lettuce doing well must be all the good weather we are having.

Italian Tomatoes

Italian Toms looking good at the moment, just praying the blight stays away.

Jalapeño Pepper

First Jalapeño picked today .

7.5cm long and 2.5cm diameter at top.

Plenty more to come .

Ready To Sow

Ready to sow winter Spinach 

Old Windows

Old windows that I found in skips have come in handy for the chillies in this hot weather .

High 20s to 34 degrees last week 

Allotment By The Sea

Went to Beer in Devon and found this Allotment right by the sea ,

Not a bad view in summer but I bet the days when its stormy are not so great .

Cheery Harvest

Nice small Cherries ready to make into liqueur 

Onion Harvest

Looking Southbound

Looking Southbound early Sunday morning . Peace and quiet.

27.5 Degrees

The Kale is looking great .

And what a hot day it is , weeding and watering and sorting out path to right hand side. 

32 Celsius and Damm Hot

Another hot day and another Flag up at Area 57a

Pumpkin patch

Pumpkin and sweet corn looking good 

Allotment Work Day

Helping out with allotment work day .

Good turnout met some really nice plot holders and great to see a lot of newbies like us there. 

3 Hours Mowing and  damm hot 26 Degrees and sunny.

Purple Onions

Purple Onions are down .

Grown from seed