Mostly we have been harvesting. Loads of beans, some really nice broccoli, chard, couregttes/marrows, red cabbage, and latterly sweetcorn, as well as the usual potatoes, turnips, beetroot.
 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
Sowed in pots for windowsill:
Also pricked out two broccoli seedlings sown 14 Apr, where 3 had germinated in a pot, into new pot. The beans sown on 14 Apr are now up in the loft for more light and hardening; the leeks sown on 7 Apr went up earlier this week. A depressing trip, really. The courgette, squash and sunflowers are gone, some of the (anya) potatoes have what looks like black leg, the black and red-currants have been eaten by birds, the weeds are rampant. On the plus side we should finally get some broad beans in a week or so. Planted some carrots in a raised bin (away from carrot fly) and some perpetual spinnach. Dug up some new potatoes, got a few strawberries and raspberries. No, not the first time back since the ‘reset’ post a month ago, but sadly not far off. The weather’s been ‘orrible. Anyway, the plot was massively over grown, so did a lot of weed-pulling and grass chopping. The sweetcorn in bed B has pretty much all failed and no sign of any drawf beans in bed E. The climbing and runner beans are OK but not great. Broad beans are just flowering but not too impressive. A smattering of beetroot and parsnips in bed D, no perp. spinach. Leeks are holding on, potatoes are OK. Some donated cabbage plants we put in bed A are looking good. Harvested some mouse-nibbled radish from between bean rows, and some really good looking rhubarb. Planted sunflowers by the shed which have been struggling in pots at home. Planted squash and courgette plants in Bed B, a mix of bought from Henri’s and grown from seed in pots. Sowed more beetroot and a couple of rows of turnips in bed D. Sowed loads of lettuce and rocket between beans.
 What was where in 2009 Bed A & B : potatoes Bed C: Onions & garlick, plus odds and ends like parsnip and salad later Bed D: Sweetcorn and courgette at one end, leeks at the other Bed E: peas and beans, with some lettuce and salad in between Bed F: comfry (permanent) Bed G & H: planted various squash, but they failed. Had load of compost buried and was kept covered w/ black plastic. Bed I: Brassica, incl. purple sprouting broccoli which overwintered to 2010. Bed J: Globe artichoke + sorrel (permanent), planted black currant off-shoot from Donald in summer . Fruit: Rhubarb x 2 (one near fence ~1yr old, not cropped) Red currant and Black currant had been over pruned so didn’t bother cropping, Strawberries in containers by currants, Blackberries and raspberries. In November planted: Bed A: onion sets (failed, frost) and garlic Bed B: broad beans (only two survived) peas (failed) and lettuce (did surprisingly well) under fleece. |
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