Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

More photos



The raspberries have finished and the old canes have been cut down. Some of the new canes have also been removed as there were far too many. Several of the new canes have grown through the net, so I have rolled the sides of the net up and tied it to the frame so I can weed more easily. I will remove it when the leaves have dropped.



The blueberries have also finished but the pink ones are now in full flow. Like most of the fruit, these have done well this year.



The little chilean guava has some fruit on it this year but is being smothered by the rhubarb. I intend to move the rhubarb a bit to make more room (it is in a bucket), which will mean moving a trough of strawberries, which didn't do well here anyway.



The melons in the growhouse. I have about given up hope of any fruit, but it is possible there is something lurking under all those leaves.



The buckwheat was starting to produce flower buds, so I pulled it up and chopped it onto the soil. I was disappointed with this - it is supposed to form deep roots, but only went down about an inch, and considering the amount of seed I sowed, there was very little of it.

[Penellype]

Courgettes and tomatoes



The courgette in the compost bin is growing well and producing a reasonable number of smallish courgettes. The compost has dropped quite a lot and some of the courgettes are getting trapped inside the bin and are very hard to harvest. I will need to make sure I fill the bin to the top next time - this time I left about 6 inches headroom in case I needed to cover the plant against frost - that was a mistake.



The 2nd courgette is now growing well and starting to produce small fruit. These are getting a bit slug damaged (the ones in the compost bin are not). It isn't easy to see, but there is a Sungold tomato in the middle of the bed which has green fruit on it. The 2 Garden Pearl plants at the end of the bed have already produced some ripe fruit. These are starting to look tired and won't last much longer.



The Sungold plant in the hotbed has got completely out of control. I put up a plastic tomato cage and tied the stems to it, but the whole lot got too heavy and pulled the clips away from the stakes, so I have stopped off every shoot I can find and removed loads of sideshoots, but it keeps on growing. It is in fact a perfect illustration of exponential growth! The first tomatoes ripened just before the end of August. Behind the Sungold, Crimson Crush and Oh Happy Day are doing their best to hold their own. These always get unruly however hard I try, so I am just putting up with it.



Oh Happy Day in the tunnel is slightly more under control. The visible tomato (there are plenty more) is starting to look like it may turn red soon.



Garden Pearl in the tunnel looks happier than the ones in the raised bed and is just starting to produce ripe fruit.

[Penellype]

More photos



Beetroot in the tunnel.



The terrain peas with more flowers and pods forming.



Romanesco in the bed near the raspberries.



Kohlrabi in the hotbed. I had 7 plants and only 5 copper rings. One of the 2 plants without a ring has almost disappeared (slugs).



Beetroot and turnips ready to harvest in the hotbed.

[Snoop Puss]

Looking good, Penellype.

I sometimes wonder about growing nasturtiums and the like: are they really a distraction/deterrent, or do they just encourage pests to come closer to my plants?

[Penellype]

Looking good, Penellype.

I sometimes wonder about growing nasturtiums and the like: are they really a distraction/deterrent, or do they just encourage pests to come closer to my plants?

I've wondered this before too, but this time the caterpillars were definitely migrating from the nasturtiums to the tunnel, as I caught several on their way.

[Mark_Riga]

I've wondered this before too, but this time the caterpillars were definitely migrating from the nasturtiums to the tunnel, as I caught several on their way.

Depends how big they are. If fully grown, they could be looking for somewhere to form a chrysalis.

[Penellype]

Depends how big they are. If fully grown, they could be looking for somewhere to form a chrysalis.

Yes, they do that, but they were also quite definitely migrating onto my romaneco and eating it.