Some Produce at last

We managed to get up to the allotment Sunday and dig some new potatoes, pick ourfirst a 'Nero' courgette, the first few have not been pollinated I suspect as they have not grown but withered not rotted. Also some broad beans, the plants are still struggling with blackfly, one plant has died. We picked a couple of punnets of raspberries as well as a large bunch of beetroot and a few carrots.

There are a lot of a gold/yellow pupae with black spots and a few slightly darker, I need to research them to find out if they are good or bad they are on the parsnips and everywhere.

Where has June gone?

This is a long overdue update. Since I last wrote we have been doing a lot of weeding, some planting and some watering. R has kept his onions looking great and I have found a pretty good row of parsnips, my carrots and beetroot are also making good progress. Mark's plot suffered from some animal nibbling his carrots and of the 6 pumpkin plants planted only one has survived. I forgot to put out food for the slugs! The same fate got about half of my squash plants which I planted nearby. I had two pumpkin at home so I have planted them up there too. I also planted the cabbage [Vertus], about 8 plants but I only had enough netting to surround them on 2 sides. The beans are beginning to shoot they seem to have been slow to start and the first earlies are not yet ready. The strawberry plants have been weeded but the birds are picking the unripe fruit and just leaving it. I sowed some more carrots,beetroot and radishes in Mark's bare patch.

I am very pleased with how the allotment is looking, it is hard to fit time to go and visit it. At home I have two tomato plants which self-seeded from my compost and a probable pumpkin. The potatoes in pots are doing well, the carrots look well but don't have much root compared to those at the allotment We must make sure we get some good manure for this winter.

Where has June gone

Planting Courgettes and Weeding

After so much rain I finally managed to get up to the allotment and plant my baby plants, Courgettes [Green Bush and Nero di Milan]. I had two stabs at weeding the parsnips. It is no wonder I normally don't find them as one weed looks abit like them and grows over them, leading to accidental removal. This year I was much more careful.

Too busy to blog

An update after numerous trips to the allotment. The onions are coming up well, only one missing when I last looked. I have weeded the carrots,parsnips and beetroot - 2 original rows and eaten the mixed radishes. They were delicious, I must plant some more.

I planted the Butternut Squash, 5 plants in total, the seeds from shop-bought squash. They probably haven't got enough space. I was listening to Woman's Hour and they suggested 1 plant every 2 metres and use a special variety selected for this country. The seeds I bought have only just germinated - I had given up on them.

I also planted some broad bean plants that I bought from the market. The runner beans are coming up, the ones that I planted after germinating at home are OK but somewhat weedy, 1 died. Mark sowed some carrots which are coming up better than my own. The seeds planted at home are in desperate need of planting, all looking very healthy.

The redcurrant bushes that Margot gave me are looking healthy but no fruit, maybe next year. The strawberry plants are looking OK, not sure we will get much fruit. We are looking forward to the raspberries as they look good.

The gooseberry bush suffered another attack from some little green caterpillars that eat the leaves from the top down. I pinched off every last one and the bush is looking a little happier. The ants and I have called a cease fire, but the blackcurrant bush is not entirely happy. I planted four seed potatoes [Cara] in a plastic 2 ft tub, they were some of Steve's left overs and needed to go in somewhere.

More Seeds

This week I planted some more seeds; 2 pots(4 seeds) Yellow Patty pan -I hope- [Scallopini Squash], 2 pots (4) courgettes [All Green Bush]; 1 pot Courgette (2) [Nero di Milan]; 1 pot(3) Butternut Squash[Avalon F1 hybrid]. M planted 4 pumpkin seeds for the HT Pumpkin Challenge.

This weekend I planted more seeds:- Runnerbeans, dwarf [Hestia] and other[Kelvedon Marvel]; more pumpkins;Rudbeckia; Butterfly flowers[??!]. Also I have sown some carrots [Autumn King], butterfly flower and wild flower seeds in the trough by the front door.

Onions (heat treated) finally in

We ordered the onions [White Prince] from a different supplier, they are heat treated. Apparently this means they are delivered later and need to be planted quickly after delivery. Since the day they arrived it has been wet or we have been busy. We finally got up to the allotment on Monday, by this time several of the baby onions had gone mouldy, perhaps I should have taken them out of the jiffy bag they arrived in. Anyway, they are now planted, I think there were 7.5 rows of 13. I gently placed them in a light groove and then covered them with the fine tilth around to cover their prospective new shoots from the birds. R spent some time clearing around the raspberry canes and rescued a dozen strawberry plants. I planted them next to the redcurrant plants which I was given by Margot, I am not expecting many strawberries this year but maybe next year.

We went up again today and I put in the six strawberry plants I had in pots at home. I also erected the bean supports and planted the four plants that I started in the window at home. I hardened them off by putting them out during the day in the last few days. I also planted some seeds directly into the soil. I scattered a few slug pellets which are not organic but I hate the darn things when they eat my little babies.

The radishes we planted are coming and the beetroot. The weeds that are also coming are hard to distiguish from carrots at this early stage so I will wait to thin the two rows. No sign of the potatoes.

At home the gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes are both healthy but I am waging war with the ants which are busy stocking the tips with blackfly. It is Nippon for the ants and squishing for the blackfly.

Main Crop Potaoes In

We planted two rows of Cara Potatoes (23) . Mounded them up along the rows.

At home I put 5 peas [Sugar Rae] in special peat circles contained in netting. My hope is that this will allow me to plant them out without damaging the roots but protecting them from slugs until they are established. I have had no success before. As to the other seeds at home, the cabbage has come up, the runner beans also but they are a bit leggy. One butternut squash has just made an appearance. I have just moved them to a south facing window, very bright.

We picked our first Rhubarb, but we could have picked some before but we haven't been to the allotment for two weeks and it was just about ready then.

Parsnips and Carrots

Two weeks ago we prepared a patch just below where we plan to plant the main crop potatoes. We added chicken manure pellets and removed as many stones as we could. It was raked to a beautiful flat area, never done before, I have always been too rushed(lazy?). One row of parsnips [White Gem], interspersed with mixed radish. The next row was half carrots [Resistafly o?] and Beetroot [Boltardy o?]. Another extra was the two lines of orange string above each row to protect the seedlings from the birds. Today the radishes are showing through and we gave the rows a gentle watering. There are seedlings in the second row but I am not sure they aren't weeds.

Prepared another patch for Mk. We planted five old onions, three rows of carrots [Resistafly o] and a scattering of chives [own seed]. The smell of the onions and possibly the chives will hopefully deter carrot fly.

Sowing Seeds

This week I have sown Leeks (Edison) in a seed tray in the sun outside. On the windowsill I have planted Butternut Squash (from a supermarket vegetable), Runner Beans (my own seed), Nasturtium (Tom Thumb), Sweet Basil (out of date seed packet), Cabbage (Vertus, Savoy), Squash(Sweet Lightning), Chives (own seed, which I inadvertently mixed with the cabbage).

Today I spent an hour weeding our Asparagus bed. I planted 6 crowns 2 or 3 years ago, they have not been a great success as the weeds keep encroaching. A particular problem are Couch grass and Dandelions, both very invasive underground. Last year my mum put in some hard work and found four of the crowns but I am not optimistic that we will seeing any this year and certainly nothing to eat.

An unusual blog is to be found at Martian Views, very varied postings!

Clearing the allotment

For the first time in the 8 years we have had the allotment, we cleared the area near the shed. This required clearing a lot of plastic from the plot -- and some glass.

The area is good enough we believe to plant some spuds.

Early potatoes planted

Taking advantage of the good weather, we managed to plant two rows of early potatoes. This year we have selected "International Kidney" variety, which are supposed to be like Jersey Royals.

Come harvesting time - June - we will see (and post the results here)

Getting Started

We've had the allotment for a few years now. This year we thought we would start a blog to record some of the events in the allotment year.