May

 

It's been a cold, wet May. The temperature has been above 14°C on a couple of occasions only, and rainfall has been twice the average. Unsurprisingly, most things have hardly grown, at a time when they would normally be racing away. My broad beans (at the back of this plot) are still only about a foot tall, with a few flowers but no pods yet. In front are my kalettes, grown from my own saved seed, which are very hardy - they will stand (and crop) throughout the winter. They will eventually get to about 4' tall, with stems an inch or more across, so need good stakes.

Elsewhere on the plot I have sowed garlic (planted last October as they need a cold spell or will not give good bulbs) onions and shallots, peas, lettuce, potatoes, carrots, beetroot, spinach and spring onions, but none is growing as well as it should! However, strawberries have a lot of flowers - they will be late this year though : last year I started picking at the very beginning of June. Apple blossom was amazing, so we might do well there, and I have picked lots of rhubarb, which has been encouraged by the amount of rain we have had. At home, I have planted runner beans, French beans and courgettes - but it is still far too cold to plant these out - and leeks. Let's hope for some better weather!

Just starting up again

 

It's been extremely dry recently - no April showers! - but also not very warm, so not much is growing. This is my onion patch. I started them off in modules, so could keep an eye on them and water, but now they're planted out. Also here are shallots, which have not yet come up, and garlic which I planted last autumn. In other areas I have sown beetroot, carrots, spinach and spring onion seeds, and have planted out some broad beans (which are very hardy) and some peas. This is a special variety which is a bit more hardy than most, but they're not doing a lot yet. I've also planted out my potatoes. These are not at all hardy, but as yet have not come up, which is just as well, as frost is forecast - and although the weather for the next two weeks looks bright, it's going to be quite chilly during the day, and no rain either!

I've also given the strawberry patch some attention - weeded, a bit of blood, fish and bone fertiliser on each plant, and wood chippings to keep the fruit off the ground. And that's another area that will need watering soon!

What a winter!

 

I see that I haven't posted for a very long time, for which many apologies! However, there has been much going on at the allotment. Over winter should be a quiet time, especially when there is a winter like the one just passing - lots of rain - the plot has been extremely squelchy for most of the time, and a very severe spell with temperatures below zero all day, plus quite a lot of snow. Despite this, and when the weather has allowed, I have replaced the posts at the corners of each plot. They were going rotten - this is their tenth year - so I've put in Metposts, which should not rot, and put 6' treated wooden posts on top. Then I've put black netting over these to keep the birds off. This allows us to move round easily inside, rather than having to crouch down. Hopefully, there will be no more snow this winter. It tends to accumulate on the netting, which sags and then tears. I have also dug a lot of manure into a couple of the plots, and weeded them, so everything is now ready! 

I've already planted out some pea plants under a cloche, which should provide some weather protection. They are a specially early variety, Proval. I also have some broad beans coming up, which should be ready for planting out in a couple of weeks - again, under a cloche - and have just germinated some kalettes (we are still picking kalettes from the plants that I grew from seed last year) and leeks. The leeks were a disaster last year. Most were so badly affected by leek miner moth that they were thrown away, and if they do as badly this year, I won't grow them again. On the other hand, the onions and shallots were so good that we are still eating them, and have enough for another month or so. Ah, the joys of gardening!