Summertime and the weedin' is easy

Slowly but surely

This morning when I went down the allotment it was a pleasant summers day, a bit blustery but warm in the sunshine on the sheltered allotment site. We had rain overnight so the ground was nicely moistened. By the time I left the allotment about two hours later the clouds were building up for more rain. The wind became more blustery and after about another hour of building there was heavy downpour and a clap of thunder. This all blew through pretty quickly and now we have sunshine again for a while. It’s really great to be getting some rain, am I the only one to be so happy about it?!

My Neighbouring Plot

North of the Path

This year's trend

The south side of the path

Holding back the tide of weeds

Down on the allotment things are getting growing, especially the weeds! The French beans are recovering from their sunburn but still not looking as happy as they could be. The results of last weeks hoeing meant that there were only a few small weeds to be pulled out from among the Carrots and Scorzonera. I filled in the gaps in the rows of carrots with seedlings given to me by a friend at work. The Scorzonera can be planted right up until the end of May so as we are running about a month behind schedule I chanced it and put a load more seeds in then covered them with the cloches to keep them extra warm and speed things up. Where the spinach had been planted out there was some space under the chicken wire so I filled in more gaps with new sowings of seeds there too. Down at the Chard I cleared out all the weeds then raked it ready to put in more Ruby Chard on one row and Spinach Beet on the other row. There is still room for the Chard seedlings which are in the greenhouse but not yet big enough to plant out. Sadly it looks like one of the Butternut Squash plants hasn't survived. However there are several pumpkin seedlings growing in the greenhouse so I'll plant them out when they are sturdy enough. It was a brief visit to the allotment today, there is still some clearing to do and the edges need strimming but I needed lunch and I knew the weather was very changeable so I only planned a short visit.

Did I miss the Wassailing?

Once again I seemed to be the only person down there – I say seemed because I can't see every plot from our plot. I don't know when other people do their allotment work because nearly every time I go down the place is deserted! (Perhaps they are trying to tell me something!!) However there are always signs that work has gone on. I took some pictures on the walk back top show you all. You will see that there are still a lot of derelict plots overrun with weeds which makes it difficult in the ongoing battle with weeds that everyone has. You will also see that there is a trend for blue waterpipes to be used as cloches. I'm old school and stick to chicken wire (no not literally!).

Whether the weather be good......

Gardeners, like farmers, are always complaining about the weather – too hot, wet, dry, cold – and rightly so! Those of the population who are not trying to grow crops just don't understand how important it is to have the right amount of rain and sunshine to make everything grow and produce food. Last week I went to the allotment in scorching sunshine. This week it was back to cloud and low temperatures. I planted out French beans and they got scorched by the sun, now they are shivering and parched. We have had no rain for about two weeks and the free draining soil has drained and turned to dust with a concrete crust. The effect of this capricious weather is that most crops are way behind where they should be and many seeds haven't even germinated. Even the weeds are struggling!

 

The Bean Arch

Last week I took my apprentice (the advantage of being a Master Gardener!!) to the allotment  and he did a marvellous job of digging over the weedy area and clearing it (Gardening skill went up a notch). I have been able to clear the backlog of seedlings from the greenhouse at last. The climbing bean arch has been constructed and beans planted, Cobra on one side Scarlet Emperor on the other. The four surviving Buternut Squash plants are planted along with the Dwarf French Beans, sprouted parsnips, onions and leeks. That has just about filled the area cleared by my apprentice. I have also added another row of mixed potatoes (destined for the compost bin at work) they are a Jamie Oliver taster kit including Sarpo Mira, Majestic, King Edward and Pentland Javelin. Yesterday I went and 'puddled in' the leeks. I theory You dib a hole drop in the leek and fill the hole with water. I practice the soil was so dry it was like digging on a beach above the high tide line so holes couldn't be dibbed because they kept collapsing in on themselves. I had to pull the soil aside with a trowel then very quickly drop in the leek before it filled with soil.

Tidier Strawberries Sad Blueberries

At least they all got a good watering. The Butternut Squash were gasping so I had to give them all a good drink, I may try fitting reservoirs to them using large cola bottles pushed into the ground. I then went for a hoe down – along all the rows where seedling should be sprouting. There were very few of anything; Carrots, Scorzonera, Chard or Field Peas. Fortunately the other day I sowed more Chard seeds and Carrots can be sown at any time but the Scorzonera, like parsnips should have been sown much earlier. I have little to lose though so I'll probably put some more seeds in cells in the greenhouse then transplant them and hope they grow big enough to use by the end of autumn.

Weed free for now

 

I also removed the protection from the Asparagus as it has grown very tall then I set about weeding around them again. I found that disappointingly few of the many Calendula seeds have sprouted, maybe they will come up if the weather settles down to what it should be. The fruit 'cage' (it has no mesh at the moment) has been weeded so now I can see how well the strawberries are doing and how poorly the Blueberries are fairing – I think I may move them back into pots of ericacious compost and keep them at home. The only things which seem to being this dry spell are the strawberries (well mulched) and the herbs.

4 Moneymakers 2 Gardeners Delight

Up in the greenhouse all is growing well. The tomatoes are in big pots (I found some other suitable ones) and the cucumbers in terracotta bowls. All are sitting in gravel trays to keep them watered. On the bench more seeds are growing, salad leaves and radishes to go by the back door and biennials for next year. 

Bowl of Cucumber

 

Also growing are spiders! In the top of the pot bag was a clump of spiderlings. That wasn't much of a problem so long as they stayed put. They didn't. One day I went to work in the greenhouse and the spiderlings had moved up to the bubblewrap roof via the tomatoes and made little cobwebs everywhere! On the next visit they had all gone – I have visions of not being able to get in there one day because of all the spider webs!

Spiderlings