Harvest Festival!

After all the recent rain the weeds have been trying to take over so Lin spent several hours getting them under control. Then she dug potatoes, picked a huge amount of strawberries, the first broad beans of the year and a couple of armfuls of rhubarb.

Strawberries And Rain

I popped to the allotment this morning just to pick some strawberries. I got half way through the bed and the rain came, and didn't stop. I took shelter in the shed where I transplanted the basil into bigger pots. After what seemed like hours, but was probably about 40 minutes Lin came to my rescue.

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.

Strawberry!

Our first ripe strawberry of the year!

Weeding & Watering

Two visits this week so far. Firstly on Tuesday afternoon, I planted a third row of peas, the other two are just starting to come up. We were given half a dozen globe artichoke plants by a friend and they were put in next to the peas. Lin thinned out the first row of mixed salad leaves. I planted some runner bean seeds straight in to the ground. I planted some spares as we've not had a good success rate with the ones in the propagator at home. It will be interesting to see how they compare to the ones we are starting off at home.


Today was mainly weeding and watering. The beetroot are looking good as you can see, the cabbages are starting to get eaten so I covered them with a some chicken wire. The Charlotte potatoes are now starting to flower as are the broad beans (which are still being eaten, but much less, I've treated them a couple of times with a mild water/washing up liquid mix).


The asparagus is not doing very well this year, our only consolation is that other people on the site are having the same problem. Overall since planting them they have not given us many spears, I was hoping that this year would be better, not worse. But we do have one strawberry that is starting to turn red!

Mulching

The broad beans are still suffering from something eating them. I've sprayed the beans with watered down washing up liquid and that seems to of helped.

Now that the onions and shallots are a decent size we have covered the beds with leaf mulch. This should make it harder for the weeds to grow and when watered it will help keep the moister in.

Most of the seeds that Lin planted recently have started growing. The mixed lettuce (above), spring onions, beetroot, carrots and cabbage are all coming up. Only the parsnips haven't, they always take a long time to germinate.

I planted more seeds today, carrots (Artemis F1), red lettuce, parsnip (Place F1), beetroot (Alto F1), Romana lettuce, spring onions (Long White Tokyo) and rocket.

 The potatoes are all doing very well, these are the early Charlottes. The strawberries are getting more and more flowers on and it shouldn't be too long before we start getting fruits.

Strawberries And More Sowing

Another morning spent on the allotment and we were greeted by the first flower of the year on our strawberry bed!

Lin spent her time planting seeds - mixed salad leaves, carrots (Nantes and Fly Away, a F1 hybrid variety that should be resistant to carrot fly), spring onions (white Lisbon), cabbage (Greyhound) and parsnips (White Gem).

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.