Help! I need a vegetable doctor.

Although some of my vegetables have done well, some (as I said a while ago) have not. I sowed two rows of white onion sets, and next to them two rows of red onion sets, both through holes cut into black plastic. They have both had the same watering, fertiliser etc, but whereas the white onions are excellent, the red onions are miserable and have died off. Why?? I could believe that it's because the red onions are faster maturing - but the bulbs are pathetically small.

Awaiting black gold

I made this compost bin from some pallets that a friend gave me. It's actually two bins side by side, and the first is very nearly full already! The second has a few potatoes growing in it - the remnants of what I planted - so I'll have to dig those up before using it. I'm using whatever weeds come to hand - and there are lots of them - together with alternate layers of horse manure. Hopefully, by the time it comes to digging over the plot, this will be black gold. We are extremely lucky to have a 'community composting site' in the village, where anyone can take green waste, and this will be moving to the plots over the course of the next year, but until then (at least) I need to make my own.



We nearly have water on the plots now. We have
the containers, and they have been connected to
the water pipe. Now we need to connect the other end of the pipe to the mains, and put ball valves
etc on the containers. Of course, it hasn't stopped
raining since this part of the project was started...

More produce

As usual, all of my lettuces have come on at the same time, so there's a glut. Anyone for salad? I've planted more seed, and have some more coming along nicely at home.

We tried some of the second early potatoes - Lady Christl - which have a lovely texture (they'll be great in salads) but not as much taste as the Kestrel. Also tried some beetroot, which were quite wonderful, and some pak choi in a stir fry. Most things are growing quickly now, but for some reason the potatoes don't look happy, and the shallots have just given up. Never mind - I shall be digging in a lot of muck and compost this autumn, so we'll see what next year brings.

And then there were three

With my garden vouchers I bought another couple of mesh cloches, so that should save my cabbages and brussels from the dreaded large white butterfly!