Aug/Sep

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.

 

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Sun. 11 Aug

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.

Sun 4 Aug

lettuce, pak choi, french beans, broad beans,  chard, spinnach, red currants, black currants, garlic, carrots, baby leeks, turnips, courgettes.

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).

Courgette, squash and sweetcorn

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.

Beans

Bed C, French beans

 

Sun 21 July.

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.

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June 2013

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

Currants coming along nicely

The fruit side

The fruit side

The veg side

The veg side

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