Allotment update

This is what I call my allotment, I have previously referred to it as the pub veg plot if you want to look back on previous year’s progress. I am still growing stuff for the pub although only for the pop-up shop and takeaway ready meals at the moment. I am also spending a bit of my own time there to grow things for me. My new, and favourite, project this year has been a cutting garden, which you can see here.

On the left hand side, I have six beds. Two are permanently planted with rhubarb and fruit trees (underplanted with wild garlic) and the others currently have squashes, potatoes, sweetcorn and brassicas, and my cut flowers. And lots of weeds!

Not sure how to caption now WordPress has changed but this is courgette and a giant pumpkin with lots of space to grow.

This is just another view, including the flowers. The nigella have finished but I am using the seedheads and the godetia is just coming out. The cornflowers have just gone on and on.

End of June bucket of flowers.

On the right hand side, another six beds, this time three with permanent planting. One with herbs, one with newly planted asparagus, established globe artichokes and gooseberry and blueberry bushes and one with strawberries. Considering how I neglected the strawberry bed, it is producing well, plants in their second year now.

In the other beds, I have given up on the broad beans, harvested a few and pulled up plants. The red flowered, spring sown ones never really thrived and covered in rust and black fly, it’s time to go. I have let last years leeks flower, just because I like them, and planted s new crop, sown earlier in the year.

Also on this side, some later sown salad leaves and spring onions. The peas have been picked and eaten, by us and the pigeons.

Salad seedlings.

Autumn planted onion sets are almost ready to harvest, not very big because of the dry spring, after the wet beginning of the year, and a bit of a lack of time on my part, hence my ongoing weed battle. I have more courgettes and squashes dotted about, first courgette harvested this week.

Weeds!

July tasks will include weeding and getting to grips with the blog. I also have dahlias to add to the cutting patch. I have learnt a lot about growing flowers so I will try to put it all together in another post. I also have some more beans to squeeze in somewhere.

June diary 2019

Lettuce

Broad beans

Lettuce and broad beans on the allotment

Sunday 2nd

Took Xand up to the allotment to water while I planted some very late potatoes and onions sets given to me by someone who had ordered too many. Harvested all the autumn sown peas, enough for a meal, and the first of the strawberries.

 

Tuesday 4th

No watering this afternoon as pouring with rain, good for planting out the lettuce seedlings. Also accomplished my mission of planting the brassicas and covering with netting.

Sunday 9th

Planted Cecil at the allotment.

Tuesday 11th

Warm and sticky but at least it has stopped raining. The rose borders are blooming abundantly and the peonies are magnificent too. Everything is growing  rapidly and there is a lot to do, I have to remind myself that I will get on top it and it will slow down.

Tuesday 18th

What a week, I’ve never worn my waterproofs so much! Finally got a proper sunny day yesterday and got tormented by horseflies and hayfever. Remembered the insect repellent today.

The garden is at it’s best, in the sunshine, with the sysirinchium out and the weeds mostly hidden. Still planting in the allotment, replacement pumpkins as Cecil turned out to be a courgette, and some celariac given to me by a friend. Not impressed with the seed company, they have not replied to my email, may have to tweet them.

Still lots to do, weeds growing like mad and a thunderstorm forecast for tonight. Picked broad beans and peas for tea.

June 20th

This isn’t gardening but I had to share this wonderful field of daisies.

June 25th

First courgettes and the second sowing of potatoes has survived. I still don’t know what ate the first lot but when I planted these, in May, I sprinkled the trenches with chives and blackcurrant leaves, to disguise the smell, and put netting on top.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are gettig bigger and, keeping it real, the allotment is fill of weeds.

June 30th

Planted Atlantic Giant pumpkin seeds again. My friend gave me 2 but one died so I am hoping 3rd time lucky. Monty said it wasn’t too late on Gardeners World on Friday so here’s hoping.

 

June – where did it go?

Wimpole Hall

 

I don’t know what happened to June, I think that I spent most of it waiting for summer to happen, and waiting and waiting! This was a family visit to Wimpole Hall, a National Trust property in Cambridgeshire which involved coats, boots and flasks of coffee in the car but the walled gardens were magnificant.

At the beginning of the month the Alliums were fading and the poppies took over providing a burst of colour in the borders. Through the rain and cold the garden always marches onward and the roses started to bloom.

The gardens all needed sustained weeding, lawn mowing when the weather permitted and neat edges to give some element of control. Bees were becoming more numerous and also the odd butterfly in the odd sunny moment!

I have just been looking through my June pictures for inspiration and of course there were the foxgloves, the peonies, the clematis and of course more roses and more poppies. Each one exciting as the last at it arrived.

I think that it rained at least some part of most days this June and slugs were a big feature but things grew well in the polytunnel and I started a little stall at the end of my drive to try and make enough money to cover some costs and get rid of my huge amount of rhubarb.

Sunshine and showers

Had a good day in the veg gardens despite the intermittent rain. In the first one I have managed to clear most of the greenhouse bench and get plants into the ground outside and in. The tomatoes, cucumbers and chillies are in the greenhouse bed and staked as necessary but this will need upgrading at a later stage. I don’t want the tomato chaos that I had last year!

In the cold frame I have planted out the melon plants which I started off on my windowsill what seems forever ago. I prepared the frame last autumn with lots of muck and have been waiting for the plants to be big enough. I really hope that I get some fruit!

Over winter in the other half of the cold frame there have been autumn sown broad beans which are now ready for picking. First beans!

The climbing french beans are climbing and I have taken a risk and planted my reserve beans out too. Hopefully in this warm and wet weather they will grow faster than the snails/slugs/pigeons/etc can eat them. I also had the joy of that first sweetpea sniff of the year ahh perfume worth waiting for.

Then later to the pub garden to see how it’s doing.  At the front the edible flower beds are filling up nicely, just enough room to squeeze in the last few hyssop and chive plants and some chopsuey greens.

In the vegetable garden the courgette and pumpkin beds are planted and the carrot, radish, beetroot and leek seeds are coming up well now.

The potato beds are looking great with the first flowers showing on Vivaldi.

The salad leaves are really taking off and the restaurant has been able to take it’s first harvest of Calvo Nero kale and lettuce. Chard is looking good and the saltwort tastes nice even though I weeded a bit thinking it was grass!

With the thunder getting louder and the sky blacker I had a quick weed of the strawberries and with wet sleeves headed for home before I could get caught in another downpour.