Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

I remembered I hadn't picked any courgettes for a couple of days so I went down this evening to see what there was (I picked 4 large courgettes for the charity table). I took my camera with me.



The biggest of the melons hiding in the mass of foliage in the growhouse.



A few of the ridiculous number of cucumbers.



One of several bunches of cucumbers.



A surprising 2nd crop of strawberries.



The newly sown seedbeds, with and without copper mesh.

While I was taking the photos I heard the sound of running water and then one of the bus drivers talking on the phone. When I set off home I found the bus standing in a large pool of green liquid which the bus driver said was coolant. He'd just turned off the bus engine when there was a bang (which I didn't notice) and all this hot green liquid came out. He said it was running down the inside walls of the (single decker) bus as well as outside, and he thought it must be coming from the heating/cooling system. Luckily there had been no passengers on board at the time. Never a dull moment!

[geepee]

you sure he was telling the truth ?? and not caught out !!!

[Penellype]

you sure he was telling the truth ?? and not caught out !!!

If you mean what I think you mean you'd have needed an elephant to produce that volume!

[Penellype]

Yesterday was another very hot and increasingly sticky day and I again found it hard to work up any enthusiasm for exerting myself. I managed 2 visits to the plot and finished trimming most of the grass edges, pulling some horsetail and removing some dead rhubarb leaves as I went. Other than that I picked a couple of cucumbers, some pink blueberries and a bagful of beans, ate a ripe strawberry and watered everything, and that was about it.

The evening became increasingly thundery in the area, with some torrential rain and storms just to the east of us. Much to my relief the storms missed us but we did get a couple of short heavy showers.

[Penellype]

Unfortunately today the timing of work and rain seemed to conspire to be exactly wrong. After a quick visit to the plot to collect rain water and pick off a few slugs I was busy with emails and waiting for replies much of the morning while it was reasonably dry. By the time things had quietened down a large area of rain had moved in, so I had to resort to a day doing paperwork.

I managed to nip to the plot in a gap in the rain around tea time to collect more water and picked a few pink blueberries, but that was all that got done today.

[Penellype]

No gardening time on Thursday but I did harvest some courgettes, beans and cucumbers for my family.

Yesterday I managed 2 decent sessions at the plot, doing nothing more exciting than catching up on weeding and removing horsetail from the raised beds and tunnel. I also harvested more cucumbers and beans, a head of calabrese, some pink blueberries and the first of the baby mizuna and spinach leaves.

I was going to remove the peas as I have picked all the pods and the plants are getting mildew, but there are a fair number of new flowers and a few pods forming, so I have left them and we will see whether the mildew kills them before the pods ripen. This variety (Terrain) is supposed to be resistant to mildew.

[Penellype]

Saturday was busy as Saturdays usually are, and I was not helped by rain at lunchtime, which is about the only time I can get to the plot on a Saturday. I went down first thing to collect the slugs and bring back a cucumber and a courgette, and apart from a quick visit to collect the rain water in the evening, that was that.

Yesterday was better and I spent some time picking up dead leaves, removing a few weeds and bits of horsetail that I had missed on Friday and trimming bits off the hedges. The leylandii in the west hedge could do with more attention.

The kohlrabi and fennel seeds I sowed last week are starting to germinate. The kohlrabi seed was very old and there are only a few, but the fennel is doing ok. I expect the carrots to be rather slower. No sign of slug damage in either bed yet, but it is early days.

I harvested some beans and ate a couple of ripe strawberries, watered the pots and that was about it.

[Penellype]

Absolutely nothing doing yesterday. The morning was filled with appointments and phone calls and despite a dry forecast, by the time all that was finished with it was raining. As the most important job for today was to cut the grass, which was clearly going to be too wet, I decided to get on with some jobs at home instead.

[Penellype]

Some photos taken on Sunday



Melons and tomatoes are coming along nicely. The raspberries have been thinned out ready for next year.



The runner beans are in full flow. The tripod is leaning somewhat towards the camera.



The romanesco under the white net is getting too big for its net and the 2 courgette plants in the bed in front have completely blocked the path. The other net covers my experimental bed of baby veg, half of which have copper mesh round.




The leeks and parsnips are also trying to escape from their net (which is really only there to keep the cat off).



The pink blueberry is growing fast and sending branches through the bird netting.

More to follow.

[Penellype]

More photos



The tunnel is nearly full - carrots, leeks and romanesco on the right, lettuce on the shelf (the winter mix has grown much better than Rouge D'Hiver), cucumbers and peas down the middle, strawberries, swede, brokali and calabrese on the left.



The view from the shed end of the tunnel - the beetroot between the leeks and carrots is just visible. From this angle you can clearly see the mildew on the peas, which are still valiantly producing a 2nd crop of flowers and new pods. The strawberry runners rooted in the soil are making a takeover bid and I need to decide where I am going to put them. Swedes are growing under the little shelf. Spinach and oriental greens on the aluminium shelf with pots of strawberries behind.



A close up of the mushroom trays of spinach and oriental greens which are a mixture of red mizuna and namenia. I've just started thinning these for baby leaves.

[Penellype]

More time today and reasonable weather so I got plenty done.

I went down in the morning and collected yesterday's rain water then walked round and picked up some more dead leaves and a few weeds. Then I set about trimming the leylandii a bit more, using my secateurs as there is a lot of hawthorn and blackthorn in amongst, which I know my hedge trimmer won't cope with. I managed most of it, but could do with the long handled loppers to nip off a few higher branches but currently these are at home. I took home a cucumber and a beetroot for lunch.

I went back in the afternoon and went round pulling all the horsetail I could find, then cut the grass, which was now dry enough. Another job that needed doing was re-staking one of the tomatoes, which was pulling its stake over and leaning over the path. I then watered everything and picked some pink blueberries for tea.

[Penellype]

A very busy couple of days on Wednesday and Thursday meant no time for the allotment, although I did nip down in the mornings to harvest beans, courgettes and cucumbers.

Yesterday was unhelpful as I had more time in the morning, but it was very showery. I nipped down between showers to collect the water, water the melons which are under cover in the growhouse and harvest a cucumber and some baby leaves for lunch.

I got back for a short while in the afternoon, but only really to harvest a leek, beans and some pink blueberries for tea. The leeks, which have survived the white rot, are now being eaten from the tops by greyish-white grubs, which are burrowing into the stems. I strongly suspect this is leek moth, which I have never seen in this area before. The plants have been netted all year, but the net is open at the bottom as I thought I only needed to use it to deter cats. Better netting required next year.

[Penellype]

A lovely sunny weekend, but as usual limited time for the allotment.

On Saturday I managed an hour or so weeding pretty much the whole plot including the tunnel and tidying up fallen leaves. I harvested a cucumber, a leek, some beans and pink blueberries. Also the first ripe tomato (Oh Happy Day).

On Sunday it was the turn of the horsetail, and again I went round pretty much the whole plot apart from the grass areas. I'm quite impressed that I can do all this in 2 days after 3 days of no weed removal of any sort. I also changed the net over the romanesco as the leaves were pressing against it. I knocked in 6 posts and used a larger net, which I really should have done when I planted the romanesco as I know how big the plants get from last year's lot in the tunnel. The soil was again looking very dry, especially in the raised beds, so I went round watering everything even though rain was forecast for today.

I harvested the inevitable cucumber, some runner beans and about 6 strawberries, some of which were slightly damaged by slugs.

[Penellype]

As expected it rained all day on Monday so nothing got done.

Better today and I went down fairly early to collect the water. One of the tomato plants had collapsed under the weight of fruit so I spent some time tying the plants up more securely. I then removed some courgettes that had got rather large and were starting to rot underneath. Having done that I picked 3 cucumbers and some baby leaves and went home.

I'd accumulated various large bits of packaging and there were a couple of trugs of horsetail and a bag of onion rubbish that was infected with white rot, so I did a trip to the tip. I took my loppers down in the car and when I went back in the afternoon I trimmed most of the higher bits of the leylandii n the west hedge. There are a few branches that I couldn't reach so at some point I will take my steps down and cut them off.

Next job was to go round the hedges trimming back the nettles and cutting off some brambles. I then harvested the remainder of the Spartan blueberries (still all very small) and some of the Pink Lemonade, which are much bigger. I dug a leek and picked some beans for tea and went home.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was very frustrating. It rained most of the morning and I had one of those lovely appointments where the person coming says they will arrive between 12 and 2, but they actually turn up at 1/4 past 2. By the time we had finished it was nearly 3pm. I went down and collected the rain water (surprisingly large amounts given the forecast of very little) and picked some beans, a small head of calabrese that was being attacked by woodlice, a couple of tomatoes, 3 strawberries and a few pink blueberries. That was all I had time for.

I went back in the evening when the sun was off the plot and watered all the soil areas with nemaslug (I also did the garden at home). Hopefully these will have time to soak in over night before the surface dries out again.