Funny weather

at the moment but the plot loves it, humid, sunny but also good downpours helping things along.

In the last week since the last post i had a good day down the plot and planted out the trays of seedlings. I have now 2 rows of pak choi which pleased one of my Philippine friends, 1 1/2 rows of little gem lettuce and another row of beetroot. The lettuce has really come on in the last couple of days, the 'webbs wonderful' is looking great. With the help of my son i sowed another tray of 'lollo rosso' lettuce, and another of mixed red and green lettuce. We also sowed another tray of basil as the current crop is going over, i've rather wasted it really but never mind.

When i was at the plot the other day i also weeded well, the peas have germinated pretty thickly and should provide a good late crop, the current crop are starting to be picked now! Its great to see our kids devouring peas straight from the pod's. I also put in the tray of leeks and have a good row there now, fingers crossed they survive.

The runner beans all seem to be slowly climbing the poles now and starting to put on the pretty pink flowers too, the broad beans are podding up nicely, i'll give most of those away though, and in the centre the sweetcorn are looking well. In the middle of the sweetcorn i put three butternuts, although as i previously said one plant was looking dodgy, and has since perished, the other two are okay as far as i can tell. I have however bought and sown another 4 butternut seeds as a backup plan.

Which is what i have also done with the courgette's, the two that survived in the plot are okay but slow growing so far, so i have bought and sown another three plants which look quite promising at the moment, i'll defiantly put these in the ground soon too.

Another pleasant surprise is on the path edge into my plot some raspberry canes have been growing, coming under the path from my neighbour plot!! They have suddenly starting producing some lovely fruit which the kids have loved picking! i must look at transplanting the canes into my fruit row that was started this year.

Finally, in the greenhouse and garden, the tomatoes looking good, the cucumbers look poorly still, even the new one i bought to replace the last dead one, and the chillis have whitefly. The strawberrys in growbags are producing the odd fruit, but also plenty of runners which i am starting to try to propagate into pots of compost as i need to start a strawberry bed at the plot next year. This is been my latest 'reading up' topic as the kids love them and i need to start a proper 'production line'!!!

First potatoes!!!! Its pretty much 12 weeks since planted so took he plunge and dug some up. these first earlies are 'red duke of york', few small ones so i reckon another week or so and some good sizes should be coming through.

The previous post had photo's of my tomatoes, cucumbers hopefully going to climb up a trellis, a row of french beans with celery behind alongside the overgrown radishes, runner beans, and my massive radishes which i have tasted and affirmed my 'not-so-sure' opinion of them to be honest.

Lots of weeding done, just planted my sweetcorn, 3 butternuts put in but looking pathetic. Four pumpkins planted amongst plenty of manure, and i just removed the radishes to allow the lettuce to get some light and room to grow. I also sowed the last of peas in a thick row.

Sunflowers in and poppy sowing

sun, sun, torrential rain, sun

Its been a great couple of weeks with dry and hot days, but this Friday it turned wet, very wet overnight and then torrential rain on Saturday and again overnight. It was much needed at the plot and in the garden, and will have added a bit to the water butts too.

In the last week i put in the dwarf french beans, runner beans, added to the lettuce row gaps with ones brought on in a tray. I again earthed up the potatoes, and in row next to them i dug a shallow trench and back filled it with bagged compost for the parsnip seeds. This was the method i used last year with great success, and i will also aim to get in another row soon.

I then one morning took over the tomato plants 'moneymaker' and put them in into a 3 x 3 block, staked and twined in to help against the winds. Another 2 of the yellow cherry plants that are also in the greenhouse i planted outside next to the block, and i had one plant of the variety 'san maranzo 2' which i put into a pot. The block of plants is in the area where the horse manure was previously so hopefully there is plenty of goodness now in the soil there for them to feed off.

As i said in a the last post the courgette plants were looking terminal so i planted four more when i got back. So far the pumpkins and butternuts have all germinated as well so i need to make sure the central area is finally dug over with the manure dug in for these crops. In the area will also go the sweetcorn which i sowed and have come up about 90% so far.

This week i had a morning off on Wednesday which i planned to spend at the allotment but it rained all morning. However i popped to the shed and sowed three trays of scattered seeds which if successful i'll put into the plot later. One tray had good old beetroot 'bolthardy' another was 'little gem' lettuce, and last was pak choi 'joi choi' variety.


The purple carrots seem to be doing well in a pot in the garden, and i thinned them out recently, and the strawberry plants in growbags are putting flowers on. I must also see when i planted the potato bag in the garden as its now huge and possibly ready for harvesting.

In the green house the spinach has bolted, and lettuce is possible going over, but the tomatoes and chillies seem to be doing well apart from a little white fly on the chillies. The cucumbers are okay with one doing very well, the other 2 coming on much more slowly.

This week i hope to sow more parsnips, carrots, swede, spinach, lettuce, peas. Weed, weed and make a decision about the weedy/carrot area!!!!