Went down the allotment just to weed and tidy as many beds as possible and to spread what compost and manure was left onto some of the beds. The following photos show how many beds are now tidy and (fairly) weed free. Notice how red the leaves on the blueberries have gone. Cabbages are looking exceptional this year. More of the grapes have gone purple but not really enough have done so to do anything with them; which is a shame because there are dozens of bunches - even if most of them are about the size of my little fingernail. They are extremely juicy though. Finally, just for comparison (and future reference) there now follows a series of pictures of Barry's plot, next door to ours.
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Went down for a couple of hours this morning mainly to prune the grape that's become a bit overgrown. Hopefully this will make the vine put it's energy into the grapes rather than extra growth. Still a few onions to pick and the ones that are left are pretty big now. Picked a couple of sweetcorn. Look very nice. Also bought a new cover for the bench and seats as the previous one was almost ripped to shreds. Just popped down for a couple of hours to do odd-jobs. Dug a deep trench in the recently vacated potato bed by the cemetery wall and added some compost from the first compost bin to help moisture retention and give the bed some body as it's like dust; but at least it's easy to dig. A fresh delivery of chippings meant that we could lay some more down on the paths and in the fruit cage. Grapes seem to be doing extremely well. Just hope the weather remains nice and warm for a few more weeks. Went down yesterday after visiting the Book Fair at Baddesley Clinton and also went down this morning, Weather is now more unsettled - got soaked at Baddesley. Just picked some more soft fruit, beans, courgettes and emptied the potato bed by the cemetery wall. Grapes are looking very impressive. if the weather can stay warmish until into September then we may get a good crop. Went down the allotment yesterday and again today. This weather is making everything very high maintenance. Crops are ripening all the time, things can't get enough water as everywhere is so hot and dry. In this picture loads of pine needles were in a pile under the trees near the green water butt. No idea how they got there; possibly a squirrel sharpening his teeth? We were joined in the heat by a cat who is the spitting image of Annie - except we think it's a he. He even meows like Annie and is so friendly. He's exceptionally thin but we don't think he could possibly be a stray. We put some fresh chippings down on some of the paths. We cleared and prepared the bed that the cabbages were in, ready for 92 leeks. The bed was just a pile of hard lumpy clay/soil but the dry weather made it a bit easier to break up. ...and then we planted the leeks. One thing that's happened, and it's happened in previous years so I don't think it's weather related, is that the grapes are shrivelling up. Looked it up on the internet but can't find anything like this! .... and finally, the sweetcorn is definitely this years success story - so far. They're easily twice the size they were this time last year. We are getting very nice potatoes too this year, but not a huge amount unfortunately: still, there's enough for the odd meal. .............. so it's about time the weather warmed up. Picked the first rhubarb of the year. Planted some runner beans. Strawberries have now got a few flowers showing. Grapevine has a few leaves appearing. Blueberries are doing well in the pots in the top fruit cage. Broad beans are doing OK. Ground looks a bit dry but the onions are also doing OK. Two beds of onions, both doing well. Dug the holes for the pumpkins and courgettes today. Comfrey's suddenly shot up. The rhubarb has gone a bit berserk since I fed it with the comfrey juice, which is why we picked several stalks. We also planted a dozen or so potatoes today - but obviously there's nothing to see. At last, two red tomatoes......... and the sun's shining and it's warm. We even have a "Woolly bear" caterpillar. Unfortunately something has eaten all the sprouts! The celery, on the other hand, is getting even better. ...... and so is the sweetcorn. Beans have been a bit of a failure. We trimmed the grapevine back today. Amazing how quickly it's covered the shed and the seating area. Tidied the back wall up today as well. Did a bit of weeding as well. Still a few roses left by the seating area. In fact the seating area's looking pretty good for mid-September. ..... and finally, after over three hours tidying up, the compost heap was the highest it's ever been. Middle of August and a lot of the produce is now doing OK; not brilliant, but OK. The sweetcorn, however, is going great guns, especially as it's our first attempt. Beans have finally started to take off. Grapevine too is going beserk. Pruned some of the new growth off today so more of it's energy can go into the actual fruit. The boysenberries are fruiting like there's no tomorrow. Unfortunately they seem to prefer it outside of the fruit cage. Courgettes are doing OK. But then they always do. It's been over a week since our last visit and some were now marrows; and big marrows at that. Strawberries seem to have taken to their new home (next to their old home). The celery, as mentioned several times in previous postings, is exceeding itself and everything else. Shame you can't actually do that much with it. Still, it is very low in calories. Cabbages, too, are coming along nicely. Leeks too.................... Following on from the failure of the pumpkin in the compost bins, at least we have one starting in the courgette bed. It might just about be the size of a grapefruit by Halloween so it won't be scaring anybody. We planted some brussels sprouts today. Soil was a bit claggy but hopefully we should some nice ones for Christmas. Onions!! Picked them all. The tops had gone on all of them so had no choice really. Still looked edible but they won't win any prizes. Potatoes are a bit of a mixed bunch. Some are alright but many are having to be thrown away - and none of them are excellent. We did manage to pick a bit more fruit and veg. Blueberries have definitely been this years success story and the soft-fruit as a whole has been very good. As you can see from this and the following pictures, after three months rain we've had a couple of weeks decent weather and nearly everything has picked up. The sweetcorn is looking good....... ........ and the tomatoes are finally doing something. Celery as well.................. .............. and the leeks. Even the grapes are trying to make an impression. They may have left it a bit late but depends how long a summer we now have. Plums too have suddenly appeared from nowhere. unfortunately, if the squirrels have their way, they'll disappear just as quickly. Another decent crop picked too. Spent three hours down the allotment this morning weeding and picking soft-fruit. I suppose it's only to be expected but the weeds love this weather. As you can see from this photo the soft-fruit and courgettes aren't doing too bad either. The grapevine is also still going completely mad and as you can see below has decided it would like to be in the shed as well as around it. |
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