Harvested beans (pulled up the runner beans), potatoes (about half now up), leeks (the first mature ones) a few carrots, broccoli, some sweetcorn, turnips, courgette & marrows.
Grass needs strimming, otherwise looking good.
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Harvested french and runner beans, one courgette, two lettuce, a carrier bag of chard and a couple of plants worth of both types of potatoes and a few more carrots. Second and third sowing of carrots are coming up (nantes 2 and berlicum, from late June) Don’t know if there will be time for them to mature, though they are only a couple of weeks behind last year’s. Summer rasps and strawberries are over, as are broad beans. Grubbed up second row of broad beans. Sowed 2 rows Spring Hero cabbage where broad beans were (bed C) and a second row of chard next to the other two rows of radish (one of rudi one of french breakfast) and a row of valor lettuce where garlick was (all bed D) Watered sweetcorn and squash especially, put cardboard tubes on musselburgh leeks to blanch the stems. Strimmed all grass.  The day’s harvest, 4 Aug 2013 Todays harvest was lettuce, pak choi (from our neighbour), french beans, broad beans, chard, spinnach, red currants (4lb), black currants, garlic, carrots, baby leeks (thinnings), turnips, courgettes. (Not shown: some wonderful raspberries and strawberries that didn’t make it home.) Also cut the grass, did a fair amount of weeding. The garlic s now all up, as are the over-wintered broad beans and the spinach (which went to seed before we got much from it).  Bed I, courgette, squash and sweetcorn Quite happy with how things are going this year. The courgette squash and sweetcorn in all look good, and the french beans are now beginning, though the dwarf beans are a little too little.  Bed C, French beans
First visit after about 3 weeks due to holiday, during which time there has been lots of sun and not much rain. We weren’t expecting good things, but were very pleasantly surprised. For one thing, looks like a friendly neighbour had been doing some watering for us. Thanks! We did lots more today. Pretty much everything looks good. Potatoes are healthy and flowering. Most of the beans are looking OK (though the dwarf beans haven’t really got going), and the lettuce is ready. The garlick is ready, the leeks OK (thinned out the musselburgh that we started on windowsill, the last lot sowed direct into the ground failed), radishes were ready a week or two back, but still (just) OK, the spinach is heading to seed but still (just) OK, chard, turnips and beetroot looking good. The brassica and parsnips are looking good, but needed weeding. Berries and currants looking good, though we should have tied up the raspberries as some of them have keeled over. Sweetcorn, squashes and first lot of carrots all good (but later sowing of carrot have failed) Brought home loads of lovely red currants (4.5lb!), strawberries and raspberries. Lots of broadbeans, a courgette on its way to being a marrow, baby leeks and small carrots (thinnings), and giant radishes, some garlick, and a couple of lettuces. Big difference to last year.
 Leave a comment nbsp;  Beetroot, Black currant, Blackberry, Brassicas, Broad Beans, Cabbage, Carrots, Chard, Climbing beans, Courgettes, French beans, Garlick, Leeks, Lettuce, Parsnip, Potatoes, Purple Spr broc, Radish, Rasppberries, Red cabbage, Red currant, Runner beans, Spinnach, Squash, Strawberries, Sweetcorn, Turnips, Weather Planted out all the brassica we had sown indoors, in bed E. Also planted out courgettes, squashes and sweetcorn in bed I. Were given sprout plants which we also planted. Of all the brassicas the red cabbage which were planted direct in April are looking the strongest Were given some lettuce plants which we planted under bean wigwams. Sowed Musselburgh leeks direct into ground next to other leeks in bed D. Also sowed radishes, spinach, chard, beetroot and turnips to fill bed. Caged the fruit. Which are looking rather good. Thinned out the carrots and sowed a second tub of Nantes 2. These are planted in some sandy soil I got from the excavations to bury a power line through the car park, with some leaf mould at the bottom, and mixed with ashes. Earthed up potatoes and weeded. Bought a strimmer, so now (after a few frustrating false starts) the allotment is a bit more photogenic.  Currants coming along nicely  The fruit side  The veg side
 Erik the Gnome has been on our allotment for about 10 years now, keeping an eye on it while we are not there. In the summer he hides in the brambles so this is the last month that he is easily spotted. 5 May, planted Nicola Potatoes in bed A. Sowed sweetcorn in modules on windowsill. 19 May, in bed C: planted out beans that had been grown in pots. 1 row dwarf french (snap bush), 1 row climbing french (neckar queen); on other side of each wigwam sowed seeds; sowed double row of runners (scarlet emperor on left from shed, best of all on right). 22 May, only one courgette is showing so sowed a few more in each pot. 26 May planted out pandora leeks that had been sown in modules in bed D. Other row of pandora leeks sown direct are coming through and looking good. In bed E, have two rows of about 8 parsnips come through, and six red cabbage from earlier sowings. Sowed a few more parsnips and cabbages to fill gaps and covered cabbages with net to keep birds off. Beans planted previous week look frost damaged but alive. Carrots are showing. Sowed third row of broad bean (Bunyards Exhibition, should come on later than those sown earlier). First row look OK, one or two of second row just beginning to show. Sowed row of Leeks (Pandora, same as sown in modules, should be read in late summer / Autumn) next to garlic in bed D
Sowed carrots (Nantes 2) in raised container to be clear of root fly.
Has been very cold, some snow in last fortnight, but over all very little rain/snow. Allotment looks like it is early March. Broad beans that over-wintered are OK, no sign of those sowed early March. Garlic looks OK. Yesterday we sowed leeks in modules on kitchen windowsill. Today we moved summer raspberries from by blackberry to along side strawberries (bed H). Mulched with cardboard and leaf. Also sowed parsnips at end of bed E–which will be for brassica and roots this year. Half of over-wintered broad beans are gone, only two left in one row and some slug slime. Moved those two to fill gaps in other row and sowed a new row. Put up glass on either side of double row to act as wind-break. Dug over last metre or so of bed D, raised it slightly and planted ca. 14 garlic cloves. The cloves have been in the shed since Oct or Nov, mostly look ok bit kind of optimistic to think that they will grow well. Put netting over to keep bird off. Harvested last of leeks and parsnip. started new compost bin (one nearest shed) with top off bin next to it, some kitchen waste and leaves+comfrey juice. Cold winter, some snow, car access to plot blocked by works. Didn’t get down very often so no major work done. Harvested carrots, turnips, beetroot, parsnip and leeks through first weekend of Mar. all of which did quite well. Carrots especially worked well, and the parsnips. Planted two rows of broad beans (super aquadulce) in early Nov (bed C), which germinated OK and about half of them survived. |
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