Grow, grow, grow!

 3rd Week of June 2021

Some tomato seeds planted, and a few lettuce - more of those will follow. Nice to be getting off into the growing season, proper. So far we have dug, dug, and done more digging, so the primary work on forming the outline of the allotment is complete!

The next stage is to begin the building phase to make the plot fully operational.

You can see under the white netting (just about see) plenty of cabbages are now planted, as well as cauliflower, sprouts, kale and broccoli. Outside of the netting, in that small patch, we have leeks, which are just tiny thin strips at the moment.

The potatoes are flourishing with lots of greenery going on there, although a couple of rows just haven’t emerged at all. We are thinking that the potatoes we used for seed were just not up to the task, maybe… Never mind, next year!

The one radish we left for seeds is also galloping ahead, carrots are up, as are a few parsnips too. The courgettes have also been planted out behind the pallets, although it is difficult to see them at the moment. All in all, a good start.

Notice the Orange peel laying on the ground. It is supposed to help keep slugs at bay, but to be honest, we haven’t seen a lot of evidence of that yet!

The renewed / repaired polytunnel is doing its thing - the tomatoes are doing really well in there with blossoms already appearing. We’re hoping for a bumper crop of beef tomatoes this year! 

We only managed four French beans this year. Here are two of them, the others were planted out behind the polytunnel on some spare stakes we had put in for the runner beans, that we didn’t need in the end. (Some more Orange peel to act as a decoy, not very successfully...)

A random shot of “roadside” not much been going on here thus far, but the incumbent horseradish are making a play already by the “weed drying-out area”. Nice Tap!!
More to see here as we begin to develop things. There are “loose” plans!

"Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!"

2nd Week of June 2021

The weather is galloping away with a very warm start to June, so much so that the hose is now making an entrance. It is absolutely amazing how the allotment can go from "being damp and not requiring water" to “having to water", because the ground is becoming so dry.

The white netting makes an appearance as we prepare the final plot to receive the Brassicas. We are growing Cabbage (lots of Cabbage), Cauliflower, Brussels, Kale, and Broccoli on that plot. With some space also for leeks we hope…. 

Desi is attending to the Tomatoes which like the potatoes are benefitting from this sunny period, after what was a turbulent May.

We may get a good crop of pallets too with 6 or so coming along nicely. We are collecting them together to make our compost bins for which we’ll be needing 9 altogether, so a good start with these.

At the top of the allotment next to the road we have spread out the couch grass, bind weed and other difficult-to-remove weeds, hoping the sun will dry them out and then they'll be easier to burn. We also want to reclaim the soil that the weeds were attached to.

The lovely green leaves you can see making their appearance in the bottom right corner are horseradish plants - not something we planted, however we are going to try to control and cultivate. We’ve heard that horseradish takes over if you let it, so we'll be very careful with it as we build around this area. It is the final part of the allotment yet to be tilled, weeded and dealt with, but we have ideas and thoughts (mainly Chris has these) about what we could possibly do in this area.

The next picture gives a different perspective of this weed drying process. Once dried, we will separate the weed from the soil and then burn it. The ash will then be put back into the soil: a good source of phosphorus which is great for plants.

Taken from the road, you can see the whole allotment in the next picture. It is gradually taking shape from a “weedy field” to a working plot. Still huge amounts to do, as we have big ideas (no plans). We are taking this as it comes, the allotment itself guiding us at every step…

The last picture from behind the rather battered polytunnel. The runner beans are doing well. They are going to make it!  

Notice in the black buckets some Jerusalem Artichokes we have been given - allegedly like small potatoes going by the funny nick-name of "Fartichokes"... we’ll let you know about them.