Planting Out

I planted out the runner beans, butternut squashes and courgettes today. Also transferred the sweetcorn, chillies, aubergines and basil to the allotment shed.

Lin planted some leeks (Autumn Mammoth) for next winter, they're a bit late, but we may be lucky. Most of the seeds are coming up nicely as you can see from the beetroot picture. The exception are the peas, which are not doing very much at all. The only reason for this that I can think of is that the seeds are old.

Whilst having lunch I sat and watched the bees collect the pollen from the comfrey flowers on the next plot. It's obviously a good plant to grow to encourage bees, plus it has many uses on the allotment.

Potting On

Today I potted on my chillies, aubergines, basil, rocket and mixed salad leaves seedlings. I also planted some more sweetcorn and runner beans. As the last lot of beans didn't do too well I planted two seeds in each pot. If they both grow I can just keep the stronger one.

Main Crop

Another trip to the allotment yesterday meant that I managed to get the main crop potatoes (Desiree) planted.


I also did some repairs to a couple of the raised beds. Lin spent her time tidying the strawberry bed, weeding and planting some wild flower seeds. She also lifted some leeks and we brought home the last of last year's shallots.


The other good news is that both varieties of chillies have started shooting eight days after planting.

Chillies And Potatoes

This morning I planted two kinds of chilli, firstly some hot Tabasco which should take about ten days. The second variety was Jalapeno which are a little bit milder and take seven to ten days to germinate. I took some specialist advice and soaked the seeds in a little warm water overnight, hopefully this will increase the number that germinate.


Then we went to the allotment and planted the first early (Maris Bard) and second early (Charlottes) potatoes. We had hoped to get the main crop Desiree but sadly rain stopped play.

In the first photograph you can see a seed potato with some nice healthy shoots on, compare this with the photograph on this post that was taken before chitting.