It really has been a beautiful week weatherwise; here's a couple of shots of the allotment in the autumn sunshine.
The temperature is starting to drop on a daily basis (though this week has actually been warm for the time of year) so we went and picked the remnants of the tomatoes. It really has been a beautiful week weatherwise; here's a couple of shots of the allotment in the autumn sunshine.
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Following the disruption from the shed break-ins we went down to weed and generally tidy up. We cleared the bean bed and tidied up the asparagus. Weeded and dug a number of beds ready for Autumn/Winter . Trimmed the bottom leaves off the celeriac so they look a bit neater. Note the white board I've put in to divide the bed and leave an area we can top-up with compost for the carrots next year. Tidied the eating area up, although the slabs really need relaying but that can be my first job in the Spring. All this trimming, tidying and cutting back; both at home and down here, has left the compost heap full to bursting. . Picked our first carrots of the season and as usual their a little on the small side - see earlier comment about a new bed for next year But the tomatoes keep on producing...... As mentioned in the previous post we've been tidying the front garden and, having cleared the front bed of petunias it was time to replace them with the wallflowers we've been nurturing down the allotment. As usual we also decided to pick what was available. Had quite a bit to do today but we had some visitors who were only to eager to help. Becky came down with Sophie and Jess who picked some tomatoes (and unlike Mercy resisted taking a bite out of each one) and also picked a few blueberries and blackberries. We also had Stacey come down to help and she cut the beans down and cleared the bean-sticks and then picked a few of the remaining blackberries. We also cut back some of the stuff that was dying back, particularly around the seating area and we tidied up some of the beds such as the rhubarb. Sophie and Jessica picked a few tomatoes...... ..............and also a few blackberries. The rhubarb looked a bit of a mess so we cleared the dead leaves and tidied the bed. Just some of the produce we picked. Stacey cut the beans down and tidied the sticks. And that was it basically. Picked some produce as shown below and gave the squashes a whole water-butt of water as the ground looked very dry.
This has been the longest gap between allotment visits since May. A few days ago we had 12mm of rain over a few hours and it's certainly freshened everything up even if it wasn't a deluge.
All we've done this visit is pick some fruit and veg. As you can see the tomatoes have all come good. Again, hardly any rain recently though not quite so warm. Sill, needed to water and there was plenty to pick. The carrots have gone a bit wild; wonder if they're as big as they look? Sweetcorn, too, looks pretty good though one or two of them have fallen over. Squashes seem to be taking over the world............ Tomatoes are looking very good. The comfrey bed however is beginning to show signs of neglect as we've concentrated on watering and feeding the actual edible stuff. Finally, here's some more produce that we picked today. We're back to the heatwave again: 24 hours brief respite (of sorts) last week and now it's forecast hot, hot, hot again. Went down for two and a half hours Saturday evening and picked a load of tomatoes and other stuff, and watered everything. Picked some red potatoes and they look pretty good. Although technically we're still in the middle of a heatwave it has been slightly cooler and cloudier the last two or three days so we went down and weeded, picked a load more produce and planted a bed of Early Purple Sprouting Broccoli and covered it with netting. The artichokes are doing OK (well, two of them anyway: shame we don't like the taste.) and have got some pretty blue flowers/spikes. Tidied up the rhubarb. First time in a long time (if ever!) we've been down two days in a row. We needed to do some proper work down there as the last two months of heatwave have meant all we've been doing is watering or watering and feeding. This time we went down for just over three hours solely to tidy up, weed and cut-back. Weeded the two, now empty, onion and potato beds. Cleared and weeded the paths. Tidied and pruned the small fruit cage............ ............and the large fruit cage. The tomatoes are looking very good this year and one or two are just starting to redden. |
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