Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments: November 2019

Wednesday, November 27

Monday, November 25

Last week we made one visit to the allotment which again was primarily to stock up on vegetables. It was rain free and, although it was very cold, the sun was shining. At this time of year the sun makes walking in certain directions rather difficult. There is a tall row of conifers along one side of the site which means that for much of the winter half of our plot is in shade but as we walk towards the shaded half the sun peeping over the top of the hedge is blinding. The shaded half of the plot is often colder and frost lingers longer there, often for the entire day.

Due to the conditions photography is challenging as you can see if you watch the videos that we took on Monday

As usual the first thing we do, on arriving at the allotment, is to have a wander around.

The contrast between two of our hazel bushes was startling. They are side by side and enjoy the same conditions, however the leaves of the one that we coppiced this year are only starting to lose the green colouring, whereas the one that wasn't touched this year is a glowing yellow.

One of the roses - Elmshorn- was still flowering. The flowers are produced in small clusters and seem to stand up to the poor weather well.

I also noticed that some of the fruit bushes had already produced buds. The ones below belong to a blackcurrant bush.

Rather than just gather some vegetables and leave, we tried to get one or two jobs done.

Martyn, decided to turn over part of the old strawberry bed - top left of the arrangement below. As it is still very wet, it wasn't going to break down but the hope is that in this state the weather may do a better job of breaking the clumps up so that we can plant potatoes in this area next year.

Whilst he did that, I cleared the dead French beans from the bed on the top right. As it was wet and I didn't want to step on the soil, I had to get into some rather strange positions and managed to strain my back in the process. Thankfully after a few days it is almost back to normal, but a lesson had been learned.

As I was incapacitated, Martyn was left to take down the second sweet pea frame and pull up the remains of the cosmos plants - bottom photo. I did give a little assistance cutting the string that bound the frame together as that was an upright job!

Before I 'injured' my back I had popped all the dahlia tubers into potato sacks. The temperatures were forecast to drop below freezing the next day and so we wanted to get the tubers home and into the garage for some extra protection.

It was just as well we managed to do this, the forecast proved to be correct as the temperatures dropped to -3.2C (26.2F).

We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon on Tuesday at RHS Harlow Carr and some of the ponds still had a covering of ice.

However, the ducks managed to find enough water to keep them happy.

It was a case of dodging tractors as the staff were busy setting up for the light show that is being staged for the next month or so.

Some of the lights were already lit, probably being testing. It will obviously be far more effective when it is dark so we will be back one day at a later time.

I mustn't forget to report on our harvest. Again it is typical for this time of year, although one addition to previous weeks is a bunch of beetroots. The ones sown in open ground had the tops munched away by slugs and so I sowed some in a crate. As these were sown much later the roots are quite small but some are an ideal size for pickling.

We cut another couple of cabbages, one being a Savoy. Once all the damaged leaves were removed they were both very small but the Savoy was big enough for a couple helpings each. The other cabbage went into a batch of coleslaw which we eat most days with lunch.

We dug some good sized, regularly shaped parsnips in contrast to the motley collection of carrots. The carrots just haven't done well in the conditions this year and many end up straight on the compost heap. Usually they keep us supplied over winter but this isn't going to be the case this year.

You just never know what each year will bring when you grow your own do you?

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.

You can view a video of our Novenber birds' eye view here

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

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You don't have to have your own blog in order to join in conversations. It may seem that everyone who comments knows one another but bloggers always welcome new commenters, after all that is how we all started.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Wednesday, November 20

Just hanging on

Monday, November 18

A plotless week

We didn't visit the allotment at all last week. As we can only do damage trying to work in soggy conditions, our main reason for visiting the plot is to harvest some vegetables. Last week we had plenty of fresh vegetables to get us through the week and so didn't need a harvesting visit.

The weather continues along the theme of cold and wet days with some occasional breaks, when rain and drizzle takes a rest to recharge the clouds and start again.

We were fed up of being stuck inside, so we decided to brave the weather and have an afternoon at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park.

As we headed there the weather didn't look very promising, but we thought that at least we could have lunch in the restaurant if it proved too wet to walk around.

There has been quite a bit of flooding in the park with the worst affected area being the tiger enclosures. The platform on the left is the walkway that divides the enclosures from a natural wetland area.

The water level in the wetland area had risen considerably spilling over into the enclosures. In the photo below the bridge that can be seen on the right will eventually link the existing park to a new area which will just about double the overall size.

The tigers would be quite happy in the water but the electric fencing wouldn't and so the tigers were temporarily moved to a smaller enclosure which is set aside as a nursery for when the big cats have cubs.

Some of the animals, like this okapi braved the conditions.

The lions were also out although, Maria seemed as fed up of the rain as we were.

Others had disappeared indoors whilst some like this family of baboons took shelter just as we were doing. We had a large umbrella whereas they made other arrangements. Can you spot the tiny baby between mum and youngster?

The meerkats watched from indoors thinking that we were crazy to be out in the rain.

One seemed to wave goodbye as we headed for the exit

With lots of the enclosures devoid of animals it wasn't a good day for the visiting schools but we had a walk and a tasty lunch so we were happy if a bit soggy.

The rain held off on Sunday so we managed a bit of steam engine filming but other than that it was a week indoors.

Let's hope the weather is set fine this week - well we can hope can't we?

Wednesday, November 13

Season's Palette

Monday, November 11

It's been relentless

The rain has just kept on coming causing the inevitable flooding. Fortunately we don't live in an area that is prone to flooding but there has been quite a lot of flooding fairly close by.

I think the rain gods like to play rather cruel games as the rain falling on our part of the world is very much needed in other parts.

We seemed to have been confined to the house much of last week as it has even been too wet to get out and about. It's been cold too.

We only managed one visit to the allotment which as usual was primarily to gather some more vegetables but whilst we were there we managed one or two non-digging related tasks. Not only is it now too wet to dig but we have to vary our route around the plot as our feet are in danger of turning the grass paths into a muddy mess.

I managed to prune the thornless blackberry - I bet it thought it had escaped its date with the loppers this year as normally this task would have been carried out some weeks ago.

I cut out all the canes that bore fruit this year and tied in the new canes. The area around the roots needs clearing but this is another job that will have to wait.

Whilst I was doing that, Martyn cut down all this year's growth from the cardoon that escaped being prematurely flattened by the winds earlier in the year.

You can see that it is already making some new growth but not as much as the other cardoon that was cut back by the winds.

I always find it incredible that each year the cardoons grow from nothing into monsters.

Before we headed home we also cleared away the hazel, sweet pea, support frame that had been situated between the two cardoons.

Surprisingly,despite the miserable weather, the spinach seeds that I sowed in a create in the plot greenhouse have started to germinate. Can you see them?

I intended to sow more seeds in the garden greenhouse but never got around to it - do you thinks it's too late? Maybe I should just go for it as there's really nothing to lose is there.

Finally, last weeks harvest is more or less a repeat of recent weeks.

The parsnips vary - some are as perfect as we can expect and others are deformed although usable.

The carrots suffer from pest damage - mainly from the slugs that are really in their element in these conditions. Careful preparation is required before cooking.

Another problem this year is that quite a few leeks have produced flower stems meaning that they have a hard central core which has to be discarded. This hasn't been an issue before until early in spring when the leeks are coming to an end of their growing season and are ready to set seed.

We cut a Kilaton and a Sabrosa, savoy cabbage both of which are fairly small once the slug attacked outer leaves are removed but they are really solid which makes up for their diminutive size.

That's it for last week let's hope we all get the type of weather that we need this week. Wouldn't that be nice?

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres