Yeay rain!

Went up to the allotment on Tuesday to do a few things, but didn't have time to water. The brussels looked a bit wilty, but the new lettuces seemed well established. Anyway, failed to go and water on Wednesday and Thursday as well. There was a sprinkling of rain but then on Thursday night it rained very heavily. Hurrah! A good bit of sun today and we'll have monster lettuce for the weekend.

Fruit update

We had intended to leave the fruit for this year as hacking our way into the fruitcage was quite an exercise. However, the raspberry canes seemed to be doing well against the weeds, so we cut our way in and harvested some. The apples are also doing very well, with quite a heavy crop beginning to appear.

Concerted effort.

Following the terrible neglect while we were away, Nat has put in a lot of work (ably assisted at various points by Nat's Dad, M-A, Kate and Jeremy, but he's been down there a lot) and the allotment is now back under some semblance of control.

The main development has been the acquisition of a hand mower, which has moved on Nat's grand plan for paths. He has a theory that if he mows paths through the weeds then the allotment will look like it's divided into plots but some (most) of them just have weeds in at the moment. He thinks this is working. There is now a very fine path up the side of the plots.

This is a view of the first plot, with happy potatoes in the background, established onions, lettuces in need of harvesting with newly planted broccoli and more lettuce. Kate and Nat tidied this up very quickly in a morning, making the whole thing look more tended.

Nat and his Dad then did some more work on the second plot, planting carrots and brussel sprouts. (Note passable path all the way to the gate - contrast with previous post). Also in this shot are the sweetcorn on the left and the broad beans on the right.


After plantings the carrots and brussels a fellow allotment-holder warned that the woodpigeons had eaten every seedling the night after he planted them, so covers were hastily arranged from anything to hand. In this case half an old chicken run protecting the carrots.

High winds over the weekend called for running repairs to the carrot cage, but all the plants seem to have survived the flattening.

Neglect!

After two weeks away from the allotment due to holiday this was the sight that greeted the first visit.

The bindweed is binding the gate shut and the nettles have gone crazy.

The leeks have disappeared entirely in a swamp of weeds and I think we'll just have to dig that patch out. On the up side the courgettes are happy and the second lot of beans are well established.



Job for the the weekend is 'cut & compost' (the allotmenter's version of slash'n'burn).

Rabbit!

The lettuce has been growing nicely, but the tops have all been nibbled off. We spotted a rabbit retreating into the brambles... Have replaced the cloches to give them some more protection. Maybe we should investigate the boundaries and make them more rabbit proof - the current theory is that it got in under part of the gate.

Nat & I went up to the allotment this afternoon. The potatoes are continuing to grow well, so we mounded them a bit more. The onions are also looking good, as is the sweetcorn. We mostly did weeding and chopping back the weeds near the beds and the edges of the allotment.

Unfortunately, something seems to have eaten almost all the dwarf bean leaves, leaving some very sorry-looking stems. I'm not sure if they'll recover from that.

When we got back, I potted out the brussels sprout and carrot seedlings into bigger pots, to let them get a bit bigger before the go in the allotment.

Watering Weds 14th May

Went down this evening and gave everything a quick water (now it'll definitely rain tomorrow!), under the watchful eyes of 4 robins, numerous rooks and I think a jay though the light was too poor to be sure. Pictures show a potato flower (several of them are flowering- are they supposed to do that?) and the beans looking slightly happier than they were last Saturday.