The Gooden Life

Keith and Freya are ruminating on this growing season and putting the plot to bed for the winter. Digging and covering some beds, but also keeping an eye and the greens and other crops they'll be earing over this winter. But now it's time to start planning for next spring and remembering of course, to get your chilli seeds in on January 1st! We'll be back in February!

Keith & Freya are popping in their 2027 crop of garlic cloves, so they can harvest a crop in July next year! We are planting the normal cooking variety and also some elephant garlic, the giant ones which are mild and very good if you're rustling up a stir fry! The spuds ae nearly all up and the greens are catching up after the summer heatwaves but still shorter than we'd expect at th...

Keith & Freya are cracking on and digging more of the main crop potatoes this week with mixed results.  There's an invasion of Tomatoes! With cropping underway and pounds and pounds coming from 15 or 20 plants in total. And what effect is the changing climate having on our plot? Well, the Jerusalem artichokes are flowering in October, the lettuce and salad seeds we planted six months ago...

Keith & Freya are digging just a few main crop potato plants to see what level of crop they can expect this year.  The bugs are still trying to eat our green veg and it's planting time for Italian white endive and spring greens. If you haven't taken on a plot we've got some tips for you just in case the waiting lists are years long or you've got your eyes on that nice littl...

Keith & Freya are back up the 'lotty this week sowing the salad leaves which will fill our plates this autumn and winter... An update on the mellow yellow courgette harvest and how have we been doing in the battle against he brassica white fly and plate beetles? All that and an update on how the plants and crops are reviving after five heatwaves this summer!

Keith and Freya are in the strawberry beds making the most of the free plants nature provides, by planting the runners still attached to their umbilical cords. That's next year's and the year after's delicious strawberries and you've just got to take the trouble to root them.  We are still cropping our runner beans too, and putting the wigwam they're trained up in partial...

Keith &Freya are in the August lull, the pause, that gap between the hard work of planting into the start of the harvest. This year that harvest has started early , with the heatwaves we've been having in the Cotswolds . So it's time to turn our heads and hands to plot-keeping, the little jobs (and not so little), that need doing. Painting, fence mending, general maintenance. It&apos...

Keith & Freya are on the plot this week harvesting blackberries, which are ripe now, very early! Perfect for a summer pudding if they can agree between them on a recipe..... We update you on our green spray to ward off flea beetles and brassica whitefly, both a huge pest this very hot, dry year. And what about water? The butts are dry (fnaar fnaar) , the bath is empty and having more water con...

Keith & Freya are back on the plot in Marshfield this week, surveying the desert like conditions this UK summer has delivered this year. Sunshine and drought conditions mean plenty of watering from cans, but it also means seeds are germinating in just a few days in the warm conditions.  It's time to start fussing over your tomato crop if you're growing them. Water, but not too much....

Keith & Freya are cropping their French beans as they continue to be abundant, but the pests are gathering around the chilli plants and the brassicas with swarms of white flies that need dealing with if they are not to kill the plants. Spring greens have to go in about now so we have that vital link between the main crop greens in the Autumn (Fall) and Winter and that fairly crop free early Sp...

Keith & Freya are on the plot this week digging Charlotte spuds and getting a very pleasant surprise, managing the water (it's been very hot in England this year) and cropping French beans and Courgette (Zuchini). The pumpkins and squah need lots of water , the potatoes, less so. But, how come more plots don't have access to hosepipes? The fact is, it can be a waste of water and cans...

When a major Royal Horticultural Society comes to your doorstep it'd be rude not to go, wouldn't it? Keith & Freya have lost the plot and are at the Badminton estate in southern Gloucestershire for RHS Badminton 2026, the first time a major show on the calendar has come to the area. The weather is great for the show and we are talking with some of the exhibitors who have a stake (ged...

Keith & Freya are planting something Italian and delicious for winter cropping, endive you eat with white beans. You get it in now and pick to enjoy in the colder months.  Some of our French beans need infilling but you have to be quick this time of year as those lovely legumes want to flower and set the bean pods all at once.  It's also time to feed your courgette (zuchini) plants to kee...

There's been a heatwave in England this week and it's brought on the garlic crop (38 degrees Celsius for three days). So it comes and without giving too much away, it's looking great!  What to do with the gaps in the raised beds it has come from? Well how about two P's? Pak Choi and Mange Tout peas? It may seem a little late, but in the Pak Choi's case, it loves being sown...

The spring planting rush is over and it's time to take stock on the plot this week. What's growing well? What needs some help? What pests are eating your produce before you can and what have you forgotten? There's nothing wrong with sitting on your plot in the sun and just enjoying nature and the insects and animals we share the allotment or garden with. Saying that, the black fly a...

Keith & Freya are sheltering from the wind and rain and are going to scurry out between the showers to plant this year's Leek crop.... A highly unusual planting method compared to most veg. Freya's has also been harvesting wild Elderflower and making this year@s cordial. A top drink with Cava or Prosecco in the depths of winter..... We are also tending the chilli plants and the tomat...

This week it's all about those jobs to make sure your harvest is as good as it possibly can be. Are your potatoes looking healthy? Green, not yellow? Well now it's time to cover them up with soil to cut out the light and persuade them to form some more tubers for your harvest come September or October. It's hard work so choose your day to do it carefully. Not too hot. It's also...

It's time to net our strawberry crop for this year. Keith & Freya have allowed the plants to flower and the pollinators to visit to set the fruit. Now it's time to make sure the birds don't get your delicious crop. The purple sprouting broccoli we will be cropping next February and March are going in too and again, if you don't net your crop as you transplant it, the wildli...

Keith & Freya are at the biggest(and poshest) horticultural show in the UK, The RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Amongst the famous faces and expensive items there's also huge inspiration for allotmenters and plotters. What to grow and how you can mix your veg and decorative flower gardens to feed your tummy as well as your eyes and nose. In today's episode we give a nod to heritage seed ret...

Keith & Freya are on the plot this week hoping you didn't lose much when that annual May frost hit earlier this week. But don't despair if you've lost tomato plants or courgettes. There's still plenty of time to grow more plants from seed and some of them can be directly sowed, as the ground has warmed over the past few months. We are netting our freshly planted Collard gre...

The big Spring planting season is with us on the plot and the garden, working hard to get your crops in for this year! Keith & Freya are planting their courgette (Zuchini) into their final growing positions. Ditto the parsnips with some handy tips on how to grow these , sometimes difficult to raise, root veg.  We investigate why it was an overfed carrot on Sigourney Weaver's face in Alien...

Keith & Freya are on the plot this week direct sowing the runner and climbing French beans.  Also trimming the scapes from shallots and garlic plants, and giving some advice about grape vines. You can eat the leaves you know..... We also learn some Klingon and get ready for planting out our carefully nurtured baby plants into their final positions. 

Keith & Freya are on their sunny plot today bending their backs and still getting the main crop potatoes in for 2026. It's hot work as the English climate has taken a turn for the better, but it's very dry. That means, making sure young plants don't dry out. Have you planted some flower seed this year? Or checked your flowering perennials for the pollinators? You need the bees a...

Back on the plot with Keith & Freya this week as they get their main crop spuds in, finally get that dang strawberry bed cleared of Couch grass and feed the wild mice to keep the little critters off our crops.... There's the new carrot crop and a reminder of how to keep the dreaded carrot fly off the  plants, and tis on what to plant now, to overwinter and feed you in the depths of the da...