Need help identifying...

...this caterpillar. Its in the palm of my glove so only a couple of cm in length

A long over due update

It has been brought to my attention that my blog hasnt been updated since April. I have been posting photos on FB, but havent had a chance to really sit and write anything about the day to day happenings on the plot.

I've had a really good crop of tomatoes this year; sweetcorn has been great and the best red potatoes (though I could have sworn I've set white main crop); french beans; and the squashes are looking very impressive but not yet ready.

Unsuccessful this year were peas (damn pidgeons got them) onions (not enough water at the right time) and all of my brassicas (just dont think I'm meant to grow them)

I'm now setting about clearing the finished areas and digging over ready for the winter. I have some plans to move the strawberry beds and asparagus for next season but cant do that until the corn and tomatoes are completely finished.

Here's some photos of what I've been up to in the past week.

peas and more

The early onward peas I'd sown a few weeks ago were large enough to move to the allotment. The reason for sowing them at home in pots was because of the huge weevil problem there is. The broad beans which are planted in the same patch have been really badly affected and this hopefully will give the plants the best chance to get going even if they do get a little nibbled.

I dont get a huge chance to water frequently at the allotment and I am counting on some rain today, but I watered each hole well before dropping the plants in and then watered them in from the top thoroughly as well.

I've got another 3 or 4 varieties of peas to get going now, which I plan on doing later today.

Also planted on the allotment yesterday were beetroot detroit 2 and cylindra, and the carrot varieties I'm doing this year which are nandor F1, chantenay red core, amsterdam forcing 3, and early nantes 5. Also planted a row of lisbon spring onion.

In the greenhouse on Saturday I sowed some more butternut squash as I think it was too cold for the first lot to germinate (though it will probably prove me wrong now and I'll have masses), all year round cauliflower, red onion (north holland blood red redmate), pumpkin, french climbing bean (blue lake), cucumber (marketmore) courgette (Dundoo F1), sweetcorn (incredible F1) and rosemary as my first sowing of that got damping off.

Good weekend's work I think

Almost there!

Spent another couple of hours digging this morning and have just about completed all that needs doing. The ground was really hard going where the brassicas had been planted and the soil isnt in as great a shape as it is elsewhere on the plot, but hopefully the masses of worms I disturbed will get on with breaking down the soil a bit further, along with the elements, and by the time I come to plant up in that area it wont be quite so bad.

The seedlings that I transplanted are doing well in the greenhouse, and the seeds I planted with my daughter the other night are starting to germinate which is great.

Some of my horticulture books have arrived and I really need to continue with the 4th assignment for my course as I have neglected studying over the past few weeks. It will be much easier to get on with that now knowing that the allotment is in a state ready to be planted in, rather than having lots of work to do.

even more digging!!

Another hard mornings dig on the plot, just over 3 hours. There was so much bindweed root that I managed to dig out so it was well worth doing.

This afternoon I have planted into modules (a la Monty Don on Gardeners World) beetroot into large plugs to give them a head start in the greenhouse before I would be able to sow out on the plot. Also moved on from their small pots that they were started in, the tall mixed cornflower and the red drumhead cabbage.