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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For one reason or another we haven't been down the allotment recently as much as we normally would this time of year. It's not adversely affected anything but the weeds are flourishing and several beds could really do with a water. Weeds are enjoying the late, dry, warm summer. The celery doesn't look too good; possibly not had enough water. The bottom two beds near the cemetery wall are exceptionally dry, and have a lot of weeds. The beans and cucumber plants look spent. One success; we do have an exremely large pumpkin. Goodness knows how big it would have grown if we'd watered it properly. The grapevine, roses and clematisaround the shed and seating area have gone a bit beserk. Having spent an hour clearing the foliage the compost heap is hgher than it's ever been. Some decent produce today, including half of the carrots which has equated to half a bucketful. Well, another growing season is drawing to a close yet it doesn't feel as if we've really had a summer. We had a couple of weeks decent weather in June but other than that we a month of rain followed by an admittedly very dry spell, but below average temperatures. Still, the wallflowers have done well. And the blueberry bath remains water free, though it hasn't really rained for around six weeks so it's difficult to say for certain. The potatoes are looking very good so, while we're ahead, we dug them all up. Not something we've done before and we'll have to store them in the garage. Cleared the potato bed. Another good selection of produce picked today. Well, despite heavy rain and storms being forecast for the last four days we've had nothing, so it's down to water again and this time we need to fill the water butts up.
More produce picked including some very decent potatoes. This hot spell seems to be continuing so it's off to water before everything shrivels up! The temperature is still in the high twenties to low thirties even though we went down late afternoon, so we just quickly watered and picked a few items. We'll have to fill the water butts up next time.
We are currently in the middle of a hot, dry spell and temperatures for the next several days are forecast to be consistently in the high-twenties.
As in previous occasions like this it seems wise to come down and water later in the evening. We did pick some produce though. Finally, we get some decent weather, and what happens..........? ............. weeds! Today we planted some squashes in the bed by the rhubarb. My new support frame for the tomatoes seems to be holding!!!!! We also planted a couple of pumpkins. Some cucumbers too. At last, the forecast for the next week to ten days is a steady improvement in the weather; and about time. Still, the two bottom beds that are normally so arid are flourishing beautifully. The asparagus, finally, is shooting. We mounded up the potatoes in the top bed. We picked a decent amount of asparagus and rhubarb. 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. |
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