Midsummer

 The sweetcorn have grown really well since I put them in a week ago, and are now double their size. The weather has been warm, but not too warm, and basically dry, so I've had to water them. I have also dug my first potatoes - Casablanca - not many but enough for two and very tasty. I shall now have to be very patient and wait another month!

Buoyed by the success of my netting, I have put some more in the same enclosure, this time over rows of carrots (which were attacked by carrot fly last year) and swedes (which were attacked by flea beetle and pigeons) and beetroot (which just happen to be in the middle). This will also stop the birds eating the slug pellets.

I have also picked another cabbage - untouched! - and some broad beans, so already I'm doing better than last year (not difficult!).

I have also now finished putting boards around each of my enclosures, so it will be possible to raise the levels by adding compost and manure. Looking forward to next year!

A summer evening's delight

It was a real pleasure to go up to my plot this evening - warm, and (most importantly) very little wind. I took the opportunity to plant out my sweetcorn, most of which I have enclosed with plastic jars with the bottom cut off. This will give them a little protection against the weather, but it also let me put slug pellets round them, as the birds should not be able to get to them. The variety is 'Ovation', a so-called 'supersweet' variety, which is F1, so I won't be able to save seed if they are good. I have intercropped them with lettuces (Little Gem, which I have been growing in my seed bed), which should be ready in July/August, while the sweetcorn  should be ready in September. It will be interesting to see if the protected sweetcorn do better than the unprotected (in the foreground) ones.

That's nearly all of the planting/planting out done. I have also planted more carrot and beetroot seed, and a row of swedes. There are some more leek plants to go in - not big enough yet - and I shall sow some chard and early spring cabbage seed in my seed bed. No more room for anything else - in fact I shall have to take some things out before planting out the chard and spring cabbages. Of course, that is not the end of the work this spring! I have boards to install round 2 of my mini-plots in order to raise the beds, and there is always weeding, feeding and watering. But things are now back on an even keel, after a very slow start.

Only 9 days til the longest day.

 These are my apple trees and - under the green cloche - 3 courgettes. It has been quite cold - not at all like summer - but the cloche is there to keep the birds off the slug pellets that I have put down round each plant. Yes, it's slug time again, and they are either in my enclosures, or they have somehow managed to cross the 10cm depth of shredded bark that I have laid on all my paths.

These are the legumes. Broad beans (nearly ready to pick) in the background, then in the middle are runner beans. Despite the netting, they have been badly affected by the wind, hence the scorched brown leaves at the bottom. However, they are recovering now, and are beginning to twine round the poles. Nearest to the camera are climbing French beans. I put these out a week after the runners, and they escaped the worst of the wind.




I took my old cultivator up to the plot at the weekend. It's about 60 years old, is heavy, and makes a lot of noise, but it is very effective at breaking up the clods. So everything is ready for the sweetcorn seedlings, which are in the mini plastic greenhouse that is just visible in the top photo. I planted 36 seeds and every one came up, and is now a healthy seedling. This is because I put them individually in pots of seed compost, and started them in a heated propagator - they like heat. Most only took 4-5 days to germinate.  They will go in the space next to the potatoes, also in the top photo. Looking at my post this time last year, I see that the sweetcorn were already in (too early?) but the slugs were having a field day .... what's new?
(It was a busy weekend but fortunately the weather was kind - dry but not too hot. I cut some of my hedges at home, and ended up with 4 builders' bags of clippings.)
I have also planted another row of beetroot and another row of carrots on the plot, so space is quickly running out. Just room for another row of lettuce seedlings. 
Next week I hope to pick my first produce of the year - lettuce, a pointy cabbage and some broad beans. Can't wait!