The clematis in the seating area looks a picture at the moment.....
Although the seating area itself is a bit of a mess!
At least today we managed to procure some chippings, in not too bad a condition, and tidied the path by the cemetary wall.
Well, thanks to the good old British weather we haven't been down the allotment, productively, for almost a month. I have been down to drop off kitchen and garden waste for the compost but, essentially, no work has been done for over three weeks........... and it shows. We had cleared ninety per-cent of the weeds, but look at it now. Still, on the positive side, the wild flower garden is looking good.... ......and the wallflowers are still going strong. The clematis in the seating area looks a picture at the moment..... Although the seating area itself is a bit of a mess! At least today we managed to procure some chippings, in not too bad a condition, and tidied the path by the cemetary wall.
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We've had a decent spell of weather recently so plants other than weeds are growing well. We planted plenty of leeks.... We have some tiny, tiny pumpkins. The picnic area is completely shrouded by the vine and clematis, and the roses within are looking and smelling lovely. After quite a few weeks of dry weather and a severe lack of rainfall, we've now had almost double monthly rainfall for May and we're only halfway through the month. But it's the cold that's having a significant effect on all the plants and we are probably almost a month behind where we should be at this time of year. On the plus side the weeds aren't growing either. We can't say the same for the bugs though, they're still thriving. We have a severe infestation of sawfly on the gooseberries in the top cage. Strangely, the gooseberry plant just three feet away is completely untouched. On the plus side, thanks to all the wet weather, the two bottom beds that are traditionally like a desert, are thriving. We harvested what was left of the winter parsnip's and they looked okay. We also picked some rhubarb and asparagus that looked good. This persistent rain has also done the flowers by the seating area a lot of good. We also finally got round to digging up the "woody" rosemary by the water butt. It's been dry for some time now, but it's also been quite cool. Rain is forecast next week but remaining quite cold, so we're just pottering about weeding etc. At last we have a plot-number post. No potatoes coming through yet................. ..............unless you count where we don't want them! The comfrey has settled in to it's new home. even without watering. If it hurries up and warms up the clematis will look a picture. Planted our new redcurrant plant in the big fruit cage. The blackberries we planted last week, if not actually thriving, are surviving. We hadn't been down the allotment for a fortnight so we thought we should have a good long day down there, especially as we were currently in the middle of an exceptionally dry spell. So far April has only produced 10% of it's normal rainfall. As it turned out we were down there for around six hours and for three of those we had a couple of little helpers! As Simon was with us we took advantage of a recent delivery of chippings. A major job was weeding the fruit cage, planting the blackberry cuttings from the upper fruit cage, and then laying some chippings. The wild-flower bed is looking good and with the majority of the comfrey removed from it there's more room for flowers etc. Note how many clematis buds there are on the clematis that was only planted last year. We found time to sow a whole bed of onions and net it over. All in all a productive day and we managed to weed about 90% of the beds, although it's definitely easier when we're in the middle of a prolonged dry spell. It's been dry for a few days now and as we've recently planted quite a few plants we thought we ought to go down and water some of the less established veg. The squashes and courgettes especially needed a drink. The clematis and the poppies are still flowering well. The gooseberries in the large fruit cage are looking excellent. While we were down there we planted a few more carrot seedlings. Once again what we had already planted were not doing particularly well. The leeks were definitely in need of a water. While we were there we picked what is probably the last of the asparagus for this season. Several of the onions appear to have some sort of disease or blight so we got rid of all the infected ones. There don't appear to be any actual grapes on the vine this year. They're normally visible by Mid-June and we did have an exceptionally dry, warm May which should have benefited the vine. It still makes a lovely green wall against the shed. No sign of Lockdown ending any time soon, although we are being given a bit more freedom of movement so might start spending more time down here and, for the first time this year, we had fish/pastie and battered chips down here as the chip shop in Wynall Road has jut reopened. In the seating area, where the artichokes used to be, we planted Ipomoea next to the rose and we also finally gave up on the Clematis and dug it up. Planted peas around the bean sticks. And we planted the first sweetcorn of the season. Seven weeks of Lockdown have now been endured, though luckily the weather for the most part has been good. Inconvenient (and necessary) as things have been, it has given us the perfect opportunity to get on top of things early. We spent over two hours today weeding and generally tidying up and doing our best to try and eradicate, as much as possible, the huge amount of mares-tail that is springing up. On top of that though I did put a new bolt on the fruit cage. Dead-headed the Pulmineria (Soldiers and Sailors) to stop the seeds spreading. We moved a couple of Viburnams. From here.......... .......... to here. Took two hours to remove the mares-tail from just this bed - and it'll probably be back within a couple of weeks. The "Wild" bed, where the comfrey is, is looking fantastic at the moment. We went down to the allotment again this morning for the third time in four days, although we have only been stopping until about a quarter past twelve and going home for lunch. No stopping off at McDonalds on the way home these days under the new world order. Things are looking a bit grim for this to end any time soon, and forecasts for a return to normal vary from six months to eighteen months. Still, the potatoes are popping their shoots up. Finally started weeding the top bed and put netting up alongside the path. We also started weeding the bed. This top bed is by far the worst one to get looking good as not only is it mostly clay but the weeds and mares-tail have got a really good grip. Had a go at fixing the roof/cover in the seating area. Put a piece of trellis up or the clematis and vine to wind round. The clematis is pretty much in full-flower now. We're into the third week of lockdown because of Coronavirus. Still not 100%sure if we should be going down but all the indications are that it's OK if we keep to social-distancing and stay two metres away from everyone else. In any event there were around ten people down there, spread around the whole allotment. Today we sifted the compost or the carrot bed. And here it is on the carrot bed; with boards to keep animals from digging it. Many of the other beds are now looking okay too. The Clematis in the seating area is looking good too. |
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