Monday, 22 June 2020

Another week isolating, harvesting & planting more!

First, I made a new number for our gate, just cut from plywood & soaked in dark oak fence/shed paint, in the hope it lasts a few years!
Strawberry & Sweet Pea harvest. 
We have had so many strawberries, we made Cordial and eaten plenty with ice cream etc.
Main crop Maris Piper potatoes, most are in flower and the rain & sun has helped to boost the growth after a very dry April/May. 
Cauliflowers are ready, a few have bolted but still OK for soup etc. 
The firmer ones will make a lovely cauliflower cheese dish.
No sooner do we pull out plants that are finished (cauliflowers in this case) we plant more out, that we had started in seed trays. 
The leek patch is looking good, the first lot I put in a few weeks ago have grown well & the ones put in most recently have taken too. Again the sun & rain has helped.
Another big harvest: 
Cauliflowers, 
Broad Beans, 
Peas, 
Chard, 
Raspberries, 
Strawberries, 
& Loganberries.
All the potatoes are looking good, most have flowers and the earlies have caught up, I think we will dig up some International Kidney very soon.

So another good week, inbetween the showers. 
We have been down most days or evenings, just to do weeding, picking & a little more planting.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

Sunday, 14 June 2020

Mid June & a change in the weather

Our first big harvest: 
Chard, 
Radish, 
Rocket, 
Lettuce,
Spinach, 
Rhubarb, 
Strawberries & a few Raspberries too.
More Peas put in, so squeezed in another wig-wam!

I also put in more Peas on a chicken wire frame.

So we now have 6 varieties growing, I think we must like peas!
I dug out our label making machine, so new smart labels are popping up all over our plot. It's a good way to re-use old plastic labels. I'm looking at a way to re-use wooden lolly sticks too.
We have been making the brassica tunnels bigger, by swapping wire for 20mm water tube hoops, we have replaced 5 up to now & just one more to do. 
Look our Charlotte potatoes are in flower, well 2 are so far, wont be long until we can dig some up. 

I love the thrill of digging up the 1st potatoes, to see how many we get from each plant.
Another good harvest, Chard & Strawberries again.
With all the rain the early potatoes are growing taller, so I earthed them up again, hopefully for the last time.
Well its been an interesting week, rain sun & windy too. At least the ground isn't so dry now. 
I planted out more leeks today, so check back to see how they get on. 
Check out my latest video below:

Allotment walkabout 2020

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo