Sunshine

 My strawberries are looking good this year, with plenty of flowers. Of course, the harvest will depend on the weather. I have fertilised and watered them, and surrounded them with wood chippings to keep the fruit off the ground, and put some slug pellets round them as well, so maybe I will be picking in 2 or 3 weeks. I shall have to keep them watered of course, as there is no sign of any significant rain in the near future. So far in May we have had about 1% of our normal rainfall, and the temperatures have on the whole been well above average :- 26°C forecast for today, against an  expected 17 or 18°C.

I planted out my kalettes yesterday. These are flower sprouts, ie open sprouts, and they should crop in the winter. They will get to about 4' tall, so I've put some strong stakes in to tie them to later. Like all brassicas, they are sought out by cabbage white butterflies, so I must keep an eye out for them!
Since (I hope!) there will be no more frost until autumn, I have also planted out French beans, runner beans and courgettes. We had frost last week though, and my potato tops have suffered as a result, being turned brown. This will put the crop back by a couple of weeks, but hopefully do no permanent damage. Others were not as lucky - some had planted out beans, but these were all killed. Still to plant out are leeks - I have 3 different varieties growing in pots at home, to give a succession of harvesting - and sweetcorn. Running out of room!

Allotmenteering under lockdown

 Every cloud has a silver lining, and it turns out that Covid-19, which has so badly affected so many people, and which I would not wish on my worst enemy, has a few. For a start, pollution has reduced hugely, and I know many people will not want to go back to commuting every day, and I think this will last a long time. And many people have more time to do things. This is reflected in the allotments. Last year, there were a couple of empty plots - this year there is a waiting list, and many plots have received more attention than ever before! My own plot is (for the first time) virtually weed-free. In addition, the weather has been mainly fine, dry and warm (although we did have one wet week in April) which has meant that everything has come on well, and has also necessitated watering.

The top photo shows my strawberry patch. Quite a lot of flowers already, and each one has been fertilised, treated with slug pellets, and surrounded by wood chippings to keep the fruit off the ground. I have used barley straw in the past, but inevitably this has seeds incorporated, which germinate and give a grassy layer.
The second photo shows the onion plot, with garlic, shallots and a couple of types of onion set. There is also a row of lettuces which should be ready in a month or so, and rows of beetroot and carrots. Hardly any of these germinated though - too dry despite watering - so I've sowed some more at home, for planting out later.

This photo shows one of my 2 hives. If the allotments are not accepted as my 'daily exercise', then looking after livestock certainly IS. Both are incredibly busy, and when I last inspected them, it was difficult to see where any new bees would slot in, but since each queen is laying about 2000 eggs per day - more than her own bodyweight - and since the workers are bringing in lots of pollen and nectar, it might be a good honey harvest. That's if they don't swarm, which they inevitably will do, and half the workforce disappears! At least we know that all the flowers on the allotments will be properly pollinated!

Wet, wet, wet!

This winter has been characterised by lots of rain and strong gales. Many trees have been brought down, and there has been significant damage up at the allotments. My mini-plots are all covered with mesh to keep off the birds, and the corners of this are supported by posts driven into the ground. Two of these were snapped off and had to be replaced. And even when the weather has been dry, digging out the posts leaves holes half full of water, as the water table has come right up. On the positive side, there has been very little frost and no snow - I wonder if we will get another 'Beast from the East' before spring? Anyway, it does mean that some things have come on earlier than expected. I picked my first rhubarb yesterday - two weeks earlier than last year - and it was delicious. It has been covered with a wheelbarrow, which has protected it from most things. And I am still digging leeks (extremely small, but at least no damage as I protected them from insect attack with  very fine mesh) and parsnips, which are of course a variety of very curious shapes, as usual. And we are also picking kalettes. As the name suggests, these are a cross between kale and sprouts. And they're very new and not easy to come by. The taste is mild, sweet and nutty - not like a sprout or kale - and they look like flowering or open sprouts, which grow on stems like sprouts, and can be green or purple. Very easy to grow - I have already planted seeds for this winter - but of course, like all other brassicas, the pigeons love them, which is why I grow them under mesh.
I have also planted (inside) peas, garlic, shallots and broad beans, some of which are coming up already, and will be planted out when they are ready - and when it's drier!

Peak Strawberry time

Yesterday I picked about 8 pounds of strawberries. On the whole they are good - well swollen because of the amount of rain that we've had - but a larger than normal proportion have been attacked by mould (not surprising) or, of course, slugs. So I've been making jam and putting a lot in the freezer. By cutting them up and freezing them spread out on a tray, then putting them in bags, they are ideal for use later - not fresh of course but for cooking, where they are a real taste  of summer.
I'm also picking lettuce (my second sowing is now coming up) beetroot (ditto) carrots and small broad beans. We eat them mange tout, rather than podding them, when they're small. 7 or 8 minutes in the pot - delicious! Next week there should also be peas and courgettes. I love this time of year!
I planted some sweetcorn seedlings a couple of weeks ago, but lost about three quarters to something - don't know what. It didn't look like slug damage, so could have been birds or more likely mice.In most cases the plants had not only been nibbled off at the base, but the seeds had been dug up and eaten. Anyway, I bought some more and planted them out, and so far they're OK. I have put mouse traps down and slug pellets and made sure that they are covered by mesh - can't do much more!

At the moment, the plot is just about full. There's a little space for leeks, but I have 10 purple sprouting broccoli to plant out, and there's just no room. So for the time being, they are in 5" pots and will be planted out when the broad beans have finished.

No sun - no strawberries

I have lots of strawberries coming on, but we need more sun to finish ripening them. Last year, I started picking them on 2 June. This morning - 10 days later than last year - I picked my first three. Last year we had 2mm of rain in the whole of June. So far this June we have had more than 100mm. So the strawberries are swelling - and don't the slugs love them! - but not ripening. Hey ho. Gardeners and farmers are never happy with the weather.
I planted some sweetcorn seedlings last week, but they are being dug up by the birds. Note to self : this plot will have to be netted. Otherwise, things are coming on OK. I will be able to pick broad beans and beetroot soon, also carrots and spring onions, and we have had several lettuces, so I have planted more seeds. Runner and French beans are climbing up their poles; courgettes and peas are coming on quite quickly now. Broccoli plants have settled in nicely after being planted out, and onions, shallots and garlic are growing strongly. Leeks are very slow - I shall probably have to buy some plants if they don't hurry up. But everything needs some sun!

Coming on nicely

 I have just planted out my runner beans (pictured), French beans and courgettes. Hopefully the risk of frost has passed, and the plants - now they have their feet in open ground - should romp away. I have of course taken the precaution of putting slug pellets down, since all of the seedlings are protected by netting cages and the birds cannot get in at them. In the background are my pea seedlings - now coming on strongly - which I have further protected from pea moth (they cause the caterpillars which can destroy an entire pea crop) with a very fine mesh, as the moths are small enough to get through the bird mesh.

This is my strawberry plot. There are lots of flowers, so if it doesn't rain (and we haven't had a lot recently, nor is much forecast) I will have to water them. Again, I have put slug pellets down, plus some blood, fish and bone fertiliser, and I have put chippings under each plant to hold the strawberries clear of the ground. I put straw round them a couple of years ago, and it was effective, but I had a lawn of barley as well, from the odd seeds caught up in the straw.
My broad beans are also in full flower. I have also protected these with a fine mesh, which will hopefully deter the blackfly.
So things are coming on as hoped. I should be picking lettuce next week, and beetroot, spring onions and carrots shortly afterwards. Later on there are broccoli, onions, shallots, garlic and potatoes to look forward to.

OK so far!

So far, things are not going too badly this year on the plot. The photo shows broad beans (which will soon be starting to flower) and - in front - kalettes, which will not be ready until the autumn. I also have garlic, onions and shallots coming up, and my beetroot, lettuce, carrots, leeks, peas and parsnips are doing quite well. My potatoes have now shown above the soil - no more frost please - and the strawberries are in flower. At home, I have runner beans, French beans and courgettes starting, to plant out later. The one thing that I am not happy about is a mole! You can see some of its hillocks in the foreground, and it is digging up much of the plot! I would really rather not kill it, so how do I get rid of it? Mothballs down the hole are said to make them leave - they don't like the smell of naphthalene - but I need it to go far away, and anyway, where can you now get mothballs? All ideas welcome!
On another note, we now have some more bees on the plots. The last hive did not survive winter, so let's hope these do better, and pollinate all our crops!