Send In The Cavalry

A quick visit to the allotment this evening to do some emergency planting. We bought three new courgette plants and two new butternut squashes. They are a little bit bigger than the ones we lost so hopefully they will survive. We also added some organic slug pellets to keep the little slimy buggers away.


A new packet of White Lady runner bean seeds has filled in the gaps on the runner bean bed. I also planted another row of peas, and as you can see the previous rows are starting to come up nicely now.

A few of the haricot beans are starting to make an appearance too.

Digging My Potatoes

One of the best days of the year is the day you dig your first potatoes for the year. Today was that day, we dug up a couple of plants and although there wasn't a huge amount, they tasted good. Picked some more strawberries too.

I planted out the sweet corn plants, although they look a bit straggly now they will soon pick up. I also planted a row of seeds at the end of the bed to use for replacements if we should looses any of the plants.

The broad beans are forming nicely, but still suffering from black fly.

The runner beans that were started off at home are now starting to climb their canes, but the seeds that were planted directly into the ground are not doing very well so I'm going to buy a new packet and plant some more.

Beetroot are coming up nicely. The same can't be said for the butternut squashes and courgettes. Out of all the plants I put in, I have one courgette left, time to go in search of some more plants.

Squashes

We've lost a couple of the squashes and courgettes to slugs and snails.

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.

Another Very Hot Day On The Allotment

Lin and I spent the morning weeding and watering on the allotment in the scorching heat. I also planted a row of peas (Twinkle). As you can see, the potatoes are coming along nicely. These are the first earlies, the second earlies are shooting too, but the main crop haven't started yet.


In the shed at home, the butternut squashes are shooting, all of the courgettes have too. Runner beans and sweetcorn have only given about 50%, so I may have to buy another packet of corn seeds and plant some more beans.

More Things Popping Out Of The Soil!

We have a lone spear on the asparagus bed. Hopefully we will have a good crop this year, we've had the crowns in now for a few years and the amount we get has slowly been increasing.

The first of the courgettes and runner beans are now shooting. Once there was some room I put them in the heated propagator and they've come on quickly.

A Few More Seeds Planted

Found some time this afternoon to plant the first batch of runner bean seeds. These are White Lady and are seeds that we saved from last year's crop. I also planted some courgettes (Striato D'Italia) and butternut squash (Zucca). Space is getting very tight in the shed at home now, but I'll get them in somewhere.