Good intentions thwarted by rain

Had lots of weeding to do today, but due to another commitment didn't get down to the Allotment until 10:30. So started weeding the Brassica extension patch, all went well and managed to hand weed the remaining patch plus set aside pulled up Nettles, more on that later. Then It rained :(

The good weather this week, mostly Sunny with a little rain, has made everything put on a growing spurt, lots of the early Potatoes are now in flower, so will be lifting them soon.



The Peas & climbing Beans are also growing well, Brassicas too are growing so fast they are pushing the netting off!

Our Fruit Cage is so full of fruit we are expecting our biggest harvest, Strawberries, Raspberries, Black & Red Currents too. I think the top dressing of well rotted Manure early in the year did help.




This is our first ripe Strawberry, the 1st of many:)

We shared it (half each) on top of Vanilla ice cream in a meringue nest, it was the tastiest we have ever had, supermarket strawberries are no match!





The Runner Beans are starting to climb up this permanent wire mesh as usual we are expecting a bumper crop and expect to give lots away, as usual we gave a good dose of Manure :)

The Yellow & Orange flowers are Calendula (self seeded) but the Bees love them so we don't mind some growing but we do have to weed some of them out as thy can take over.



Anyway I said earlier I harvested Nettles, well I am considering making Nettle Beer from the top few leaves of each stem and liquid fertilizer from the rest ('Tea').

It's very simple to make FREE liquid fertilizer from Nettles or Comfrey:
Harvest the Nettles and/or Comfrey, stems & leaves, place in a large bucket or bin, place a weight on top.
Then fill bucket/bin with water to cover the leaves, wait a few weeks (it may pong a bit so keep away from house etc) then remove the rotted leaves etc (these can be put in the compost bin).
Then decant the liquid off, never use neat always dilute the 'Tea' before use to about 10 parts water to 1 part 'Tea'.
As I like to recycle things I made a Comfrey Bin out of an old Wheelie Bin (one that was damaged and council forgot to collect when it was replaced).
First I made a base to stand the bin on, I used 2 breeze blocks and a paving slab.
I put a water butt tap close to the base, used wire mesh (chicken wire is ideal) inside placed on top of 3 bricks standing on end inside the bin, this makes a sump for the liquid that is collected.
Then I fill the bin up with Comfrery (Nettles too if you have any) and fill with water to cover the Comfrey/Nettles, after a few weeks the 'Tea' should be a dark brown colour.
I then, using empty 500ml water bottles, fill the bottles via the tap and store for future use, approx a third of a bottle per watering can is about the best mix.
This free liquid fertilizer can be used on any of your growing crops especially Tomatoes, Peppers etc.

Thanks for reading/returning.
Ian.