Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

That's disappointing about your lettuces Pen, I seem to lose less to slugs if I grow them in buckets rather than in the ground.

I normally grow them in pots indoors, but I had too many seedlings and decided to try this experiment. Yesterday there was almost nothing left of the plants with the Slug Gone pellets - I am expecting bare soil when I check today. The ones planted through the wool mat were slightly damaged yesterday but as yet nothing serious. I have some more planted in a Saladgrow planter at home - so far these are undamaged.

[Penellype]

Photos from yesterday (taken in rather a hurry first thing in the morning as I had to go out for most of the day):



Strawberries and a melon (Magenta, growing slowly) in the growhouse. To the right of the rhubarb is one of the runner bean plants. Beetroot in the hotbed is starting to bolt and most of the lettuces have been eaten. The black trays on the weed matting are for catching as much rain as possible as I am again getting very short of water.



A better view of the hotbed with melon Emir growing much faster than Magenta - they were sown and planted out on the same days. The shelf is to support the melons and the spare shelf will replace the lettuces soon. Cauliflowers under the green net are being eaten, the ones under the white net are about finished. The nasturtium seedlings have been allowed to grow in the hope of deterring pea moth, which they seem to have mostly done. I have found about 6 infested pods in hundreds I have picked.


The little cherry tree has been netted as there are 2 potentially edible cherries. The remaining fruit have now almost all fallen off. The blueberries look much more promising.




Plenty of fruit on the raspberries, which is starting to ripen. The blackcurrants are also nearly ready.




Onions in the nearest bed seem to be ok so far (touch wood). The potatoes behind (Desiree) are well in flower. The smaller Lady C behind are slowly being eaten by fishing out potatoes from near the tops of the buckets.

[Penellype]

More photos



The net has been taken off the courgettes to allow pollination and fruit is growing fast. Beetroot in the bed behind is disappointingly starting to bolt. The Meteor peas are in full flow and have been fantastic this year.




The west side of the tunnel is still looking a bit bare. Summer leeks (out of shot to the right) are growing well, the white rectangle is plastic with copper tape round - I sowed some spinach in there yesterday. The rest of the space is for winter leeks and there are some calabrese plants behind the shelf. On the shelf are 4 PSB plants which will be planted on the other side of the tunnel when they are big enough. The Hurst Greenshaft peas that managed to germinate are growing well and should be ready any day now. The smaller peas in front are Terrain, which is somewhat resistant to mildew so a good variety for later sowing.



The strawberries that I couldn't bear to pull out (variety Marshmello) have rewarded me with some huge and delicious fruit, which unfortunately is not visible in the photo. Behind them are romanesco and space for PSB. The early strawberries that were in the growhouse have nearly finished and have been consigned to the shelf at the less sunny end of the tunnel.


Strawberries in pots in full flow - I picked more than a 2 litre tub full from the various plants yesterday morning.




The experiment with sheep's wool and lettuces. The remnants of one lettuce can just be seen among the pellets on the left, the plants planted through the matting are still damaged but much less so. The copper mesh was added a couple of days ago, but it is hard to tell if there is any further damage since.

[Sweet savory]

“The nasturtium seedlings have been allowed to grow in the hope of deterring pea moth”
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that was one of their benefits as I mainly grow them because they are pretty and attract pollinators and black fly. I have very little pea moth damage and self sown nasturtiums throughout the plot so maybe this is why.
thanks Penellype

[Penellype]

“The nasturtium seedlings have been allowed to grow in the hope of deterring pea moth”
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that was one of their benefits as I mainly grow them because they are pretty and attract pollinators and black fly. I have very little pea moth damage and self sown nasturtiums throughout the plot so maybe this is why.
thanks Penellype

Pea moth seems to vary massively from year to year here, but I read somewhere that nasturtiums deter them. It is hard to be certain because of the natural variation, but I do seem to get less damage when I grow nasturtiums than when I don't.

[Penellype]

I can't believe its a month since I last posted on here!

Things have progressed much as expected and I have some photos from 1st August.



The runner beans are in flower and there are plenty of beans forming - I should be able to pick some either today or tomorrow. The hedge looks a bit strange because we are not allowed to cut the top of it. The council want to let it grow a bit higher to keep the people in the houses behind the allotment happy.



The melon in the growhouse is growing quite well (but not as well as the one in the hotbed). Cauliflowers in the bed behind have been replaced with tomato plants and self seeded nasturtiums. The peas in the bed behind that have also finished and been replaced with tomatoes. I have left the green mesh windbreak up to protect the young tomatoes a bit as north winds were forecast at the time.



More tomatoes (rather bigger) in the foreground. The melon (Emir) is rapidly taking over the hotbed and has at least one fruit forming. The bed behind is waiting to have cauliflower stumps removed and garlic powder applied - it will grow onions next year and I may get a salad crop from it first.



Cucumbers are growing well outside the tunnel door. I normally grow them in the centre of the tunnel but decided on peas there this year. This position may be a mistake as the cucumbers are quite hard to see as there isn't really enough room or support mesh for 2 plants. The green pieces of path are there to stop the cat from using this bed as a toilet. The cat retaliated by leaving a stinky present on the grass near the hollyhocks, which I didn't expect and managed to put my foot in the other day, which was seriously revolting.



The self seeded hollyhocks are absolutely huge (at least 8ft tall). I was trimming back the nettles in the hedge when I stepped in the cat mess.

[Penellype]

More photos:



The blueberry (Spartan) is producing a nice crop of fruit, and the fruit on Pink Lemonade (nearer the compost bins) is just starting to turn pink.



The parsnips under the white net are growing well and there is some florence fennel nearer the tunnel which is slowly disappearing (probably slugs). The desiree potatoes are starting to look worse for wear and the Lady C have been harvested for a reasonable crop of 1-1.5kg per bucket.



The nearest plant along the fence is the chilean guava, which is still in its pot as I didn't know if it would flower in the shade. It is now flowering so I will probably plant it where it is in the winter. The strawberries and blackcurrants (far end) have finished and the purple gooseberries are just about ready to pick. The raspberries have nearly finished, which is probably a good thing as the wasps have discovered them and are carving them up very quickly. I won't harvest any more as I hate wasps and don't want to get stung. I got stung by a bumble bee at the weekend, while deadheading some cosmos - I simply didn't see him hiding behind the dead flower and put my finger right on him. Luckily he was very polite about it and didn't sting very hard, just enough to let me know he was there.



The courgettes are loving the wetter weather and are producing a courgette every couple of days. I have already given away about 6 huge ones and eaten several more. Beetroot in the bed behind (alongside the tomatoes) is about ready.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



The lettuce experiment ended in complete failure, even with the sheeps wool mat. The white border (which has copper tape round it) had spinach sown in it - despite sheeps wool pellets, only one plant has survived the slugs. The leeks are faring rather better and there is calabrese at the far end. The peas are Terrain, which is a (slightly) mildew resistant variety. The very end of the tunnel, which has grown PSB 3 years in a row, is having a rest so I have moved the shelves down there.




The strawberries at the front were last year's runners (Marshmello) that planted themselves and I couldn't bear to remove them. They are now invading the path and I must do something radical with them, but they have produced some very nice big and very tasty strawberries. Romanesco and PSB further down.



The strawberry invasion from the other end of the tunnel. There are more rooted runners at the door end (unknown variety that was already at the allotment) - these are slightly better behaved but smaller, softer and less tasty fruit. They fruit earlier than Marshmello which is why I have kept them. I spent a good deal of yesterday afternoon tidying these up.



The leeks from the far end - the ones near the door are a summer variety with a long, german sounding name ending in Lincoln. They are not frost hardy and will be ready to eat soon.

I've had a couple of wasps get into the tunnel - I have no idea how they get in although I suppose there are gaps where the pieces of net overlap. Once they are in I can't catch them or easily let them out, which is a pain.

[Nicos]

Fantastic photos Pen- thanks for sharing!

[Snoop Puss]

Really enjoyed reading your posts and seeing the pictures. Your plot looks lovely.

I hate wasps too and we usually deal with them because we have a friend who's seriously allergic to them. Because of Covid, he very rarely comes to visit, so we've left the wasps be. And what a fantastic job they've done. I've seen cabbage whites fluttering around the brassicas but not one caterpillar. And the cabbage loopers have done very little damage this year. We get a terrible tomato pest locally, Tuta absoluta, but I've only thrown out two tomatoes and very few clutches of eggs this year. The rest dealt with by wasps and spiders.

And commiserations on the cat poo. Horrible stuff to stand in. They rarely leave it exposed, so that cat definitely had it in for you.

[Penellype]

Not really allotment related, but I just had to laugh at Monty on Gardener's World. He was trimming his thyme, and stressed that it really does need "perfect drainage". That is interesting. I have lemon thyme at home. It sits between 2 paving slabs that spent about half of last winter under about an inch of water. I expected the plant to die, just like the gentian, primulas and campanula did that occupied this boggy place before it. This is what it looks like today:


It just goes to show that sometimes you have to chuck out the "rule book" and experiment.

[Penellype]

Photos from 1st September - where does the time go?



Runner beans have produced a big crop, but many of the smaller ones are now shrivelling up. Possibly too dry, although I have been wetering.



Melons are producing a lot of greenery and a huge number of flowers, but there are only 2 fruit in the growhouse. About 6 on the plant in the hotbed.




My poor tomatoes have blight - these plants were removed this afternoon. No red tomatoes, but I have salvaged some of the green ones in the faint hope that they might turn red rather than rot. Unlikely.




The hollyhocks have nearly finished. Plenty of fruit on the pink blueberry.



The raspberries are not looking at all happy. All the old canes have been cut down and the new ones tied in where they are tall enough. In previous years the new canes have been up to the top of the taller poles and I have had to cut some of them down a bit.

[Penellype]

More photos




Parsnips are growing well. 2 florence fennel plants have survived the slugs (out of 2 rows). Potatoes behind have all been harvested. The bed with the green net over is empty - I did try to sow spinach in there but nothing appeared.



Courgettes are still producing fruit - these have done quite well this year. This bed is nearest to the part that floods and I think the courgettes quite liked that. Beetroot behind is bolting. So far the tomatoes in these 2 beds appear to have escaped the blight, but I am not hopeful that situation will last for long. The nasturtiums have been completely defoliated by caterpillars.




Peas have about finished. I have left the plants in as some are producing more flowers, but I am not hopeful of anything much happening as it is a bit late. Leeks are growing slowly. The calabrese at the far end is just starting to produce heads. The strawberries need their runners removing.



Romanesco and PSB are growing well despite significant caterpillar attack. Strawberries are still making a takeover bid.



From the other end, showing the PSB and strawberries on the shelves.

[Penellype]

A few more



Cucumbers outside the tunnel door have done well.



Blight on the tomatoes - this had got very much worse by today.



Melons in the hotbed.

[Penellype]

Finding it really hard to keep up with this at the moment, but here are some photos taken on 1st October



Beans still look healthy but have stopped producing. I cut the top part down yesterday to reduce the likelihood of the wigwam being blown down in today's gales.




The melons have done quite well, but I had trouble a couple of weeks ago with (almost certainly) teenagers stealing them. Twice in 3 days I found melons had been removed and bits littered around the plot - they also took a beetroot and a cucumber, which I found half eaten in the hedge. I harvested all the remaining melons and I haven't seen any evidence of intruders since. The plant in the growhouse has developed several more small melons, some of which I am hopeful will ripen.



Tomatoes have been removed after getting blight. The melon in the hotbed has no more fruit - I am using the prickly foliage as a cat deterrent for now.


Parsnips under the white net are growing well. There are 2 florence fennel plants in there too, but they are showing signs of bolting.




The courgettes have done reasonably well and there is one decent sized fruit left which I intend to make into soup. Several flower buds but I doubt they will come to much now. Tomatoes in the bed behind have been removed due to blight, but the ones in the bed with nasturtiums (Crimson Crush and Oh Happy Day) are soldiering on with a few fruit each. The grass in the foreground of the picture is currently under about an inch of water.