Tales from Area 52

Tales from Area 52 We are a leading supplier of hanging baskets to domestic and business customers in the Bradford area

Ey up everyone, every beekeeper, over the years spends endless hours making up frames of foundation for their hives and ...
14/06/2026

Ey up everyone, every beekeeper, over the years spends endless hours making up frames of foundation for their hives and this evening I’ve been assembling frames for a super that will be added to one of our hives tomorrow.
All of the materials we need come in flat pack form, so it’s a bit like a trip to Ikea, but on a smaller scale.
Once this super is on the hive the bees will get busy drawing out the honeycomb structure that they will use to store honey.

Ey up everyone, after this morning’s park run it was back home for a weeding session in the borders. However, once compl...
13/06/2026

Ey up everyone, after this morning’s park run it was back home for a weeding session in the borders. However, once completed it was in the greenhouse to plant up the final raised bed once the soil in it had been enriched with farmyard manure.
Two varieties of Tomato have gone in this bed, a plum variety called Roma and a beefsteak variety called Super Marmande which is a French bred Tomato.
With all the beds now filled it’s just a case of regular watering (once a week) and feeding.

Ey up everyone, I popped over to Area 52 today to sow seeds in the remaining empty raised bed. We generally grow our Car...
12/06/2026

Ey up everyone, I popped over to Area 52 today to sow seeds in the remaining empty raised bed. We generally grow our Carrots in large tubs rather than in the ground due to Carrot Fly, which can become a problem when you start to harvest. The pest can’t fly higher than 18 inches above the ground (45.72 cms)
so we lift the tubs up higher than that prior to picking.
The raised bed at Area 52 is much lower, so to combat the problem of Carrot Fly I’ve also sown some Spring Onion with them in the same bed as the scent from the Onions will mask that of the Carrots.
The variety of Carrot was Autumn King and the Onion was Ishikura.
I’ve also sown a tub with both vegetables here at home and this should supply us with a late crop. The other tubs of Carrots we have are all growing very well and an inspection of the Garlic that we planted in the autumn is looking fantastic.

Ey up everyone, many of the Clematis in the garden at home are late flowering, which means we have their display to look...
09/06/2026

Ey up everyone, many of the Clematis in the garden at home are late flowering, which means we have their display to look forward to. However, the early flowering varieties that have been planted over the last couple of years have really excelled this spring. Every now and again there does seem to be a vintage year for certain species of plant and I can remember that 2013 was a really good year for Clematis. It looks like 2026 could be just as good.

Ey up everyone, I made a brief visit to Area 52 today, just to check on things and talk to the plants. The Potatoes I pl...
09/06/2026

Ey up everyone, I made a brief visit to Area 52 today, just to check on things and talk to the plants. The Potatoes I planted, particularly the 1st Earlies are looking unbelievably healthy and are now starting to flower, which means it won’t be that long before they are ready to harvest. The recent rain has certainly been a real bonus as they do require a great deal of water.

Ey up everyone, this afternoon I spent a few hours in the greenhouse, both tidying up and planting. The permanent beds i...
09/06/2026

Ey up everyone, this afternoon I spent a few hours in the greenhouse, both tidying up and planting. The permanent beds in here have been covered with trays of vegetable plants for some time now, but they have gradually been whittled down by transporting them to Area 52 and I’m now at the stage where I can finally get these beds planted up with the stuff we’re growing at home.
The beds have already been replenished with compost and manure which will feed the two Cucumber varieties I’ve put in as well as two full beds of Tomatoes.
I have one bed still left to plant up but at the moment the jury is out with regards to what I’m going to grow there.
Either way I’m very happy with today’s progress.

Ey up everyone, we have a stone trough at the back of the house that contains a mix of Marsh, Bee and Common Spotted Orc...
08/06/2026

Ey up everyone, we have a stone trough at the back of the house that contains a mix of Marsh, Bee and Common Spotted Orchids, all of which I am pleased to say are now in flower.
The hope is that over time they will spread their seed to other pots in the garden, which they are likely to have done. I have spotted one Orchid in a neighbouring trough that is about to flower, which indicates that the individual seed landed there seven years ago.

Ey up everyone, earlier today I made a brief visit to Area 52 to do some planting. Earlier in the week I cleared three o...
05/06/2026

Ey up everyone, earlier today I made a brief visit to Area 52 to do some planting.
Earlier in the week I cleared three of the remaining vacant raised beds and then dug in copious amounts of farmyard manure, primarily because the plants I put in, Butternut Squash, Turks Turban Squash and Cucumber Crystal Lemon are very greedy, and require lots of food and water.
There was also room to stick in a few Courgettes and hopefully we’ll get a decent crop across the board,

Ey up everyone, it’s been a very productive session at the glasshouse today after rain stopped play at Area 52. In the g...
04/06/2026

Ey up everyone, it’s been a very productive session at the glasshouse today after rain stopped play at Area 52.
In the glasshouse there is a large raised bed that we often use for growing salad vegetables, and ably assisted by my nephew Mczkenzie, of Bradford Park Avenue fame, we planted two varieties of Cucumber.
Burpless Tasty Green and Crystal Lemon, the latter being my favourite Cucumber were sown in the greenhouse at home, but I’ll always find somewhere to grow extra plants.
The glasshouse does get warm and by nature the raised bed will dry out quicker, so to compensate for this we dug a trench across either end of the bed and filled it with farmyard manure. We then tied string to the rafters and tightened it up by placing each plant on top the loose end of the string. As these plants grow they will climb up the string and it’ll be easier than using canes for support.
There was even room in the bed to add Tomatoes and Courgettes.
The manure in the trench will act as a sponge and also a slow release fertiliser, so we should get away with just watering these once a week.

Ey up everyone, the deluge of rain that was forecast never materialised and it turned out to be a pleasantly warm sessio...
02/06/2026

Ey up everyone, the deluge of rain that was forecast never materialised and it turned out to be a pleasantly warm session at Area 52 today. At the moment all of the vegetables are doing well, especially the Potatoes and Cauliflowers, the latter being covered with netting. The Garlic that was planted last Autumn is looking very good and after two disappointing years it looks like we’re going to get a good crop.
The main task this morning was to clear and prepare three raised beds that have lain vacant for the last year or so. These were actually the first raised beds I constructed at Area 52 using flagstones from an old patio and the beds were filled with the turf when I took the lawn up.
Weeded and replenished with manure they are ready for their next crops, which will be a mix of Squashes such as Butternut and Turks Turban.
At the same time I harvested a lot of Rhubard, the variety being Timperley Early which grows extremely well in the rich loamy soil of Area 52.

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Waggon House Farm, Shetcliffe Lane
Bierley
BD46QJ

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