May 1st to May 14th were probably our most difficult 2 weeks on the allotment thus far…
Let me walk you through the pictures one by one. It seems as if not much has happened but in this case the pictures don't tell the story.
Check out the first picture:
Now moving onto the next picture which doesn’t tell the story at all!
We faced the gale force winds and for a time we were battered and bruised. The Polytunnel took a real pounding and when we walked up the path to see our polytunnel waving around like a white flag after a battle, we knew major league collateral damage had been wreaked upon us.
We dug deep, we acquired Gorilla tape, we bought iron concrete stakes for support and we spent the best part of 4 days repairing our polytunnel. We were very fortunate we hadn't planted out our tomatoes before hand into the polytunnel, because there would have been precious little left of them to be honest - one saving grace. A set-back though, as time was ticking for getting our seeds growing, and mid May fast approaching. If we didn’t finish the digging soon we’d miss getting crops in the ground early enough to ripen.
Notice the piles of Couch grass and other weeds are now serving to hold down the polytunnel, as we sought to provide greater levels of anchorage just in case the winds were to visit us once more. A better solution is going to be needed going into next winter for sure!
The good news is that some of the potatoes were making their presence known with green shoots coming through.
Our fireplace got a welcome raise through additional bricks as some serious burning of the most virulent weeds is going to be needed as we progress into the hot summer months and everything dries out.
The last picture:
We got our runner beans in the ground (for the 3rd time of asking):
1st set went lanky and the weather was rubbish (too early) -died off.
2nd set went out and then the weather claimed them (too optimistic) - died off.
3rd set were late but held on for what turned out to be a fabulous crop!
