Updates and First Crops

Well.  It has rained...and rained...and the wind has howled like the soundtrack for a horror film.  Today, though, has been very warm (clammy) so I went up and weeded, tidied, etc.  Here's the current state of play:

Potatoes:


They're doing ok.  The ones in the foreground are second earlies and are starting to flower, so it won't be long now before I start digging a few up.  In the background are the maincrop potatoes and they, too, are doing fine.  They're  not as far advanced as others on the allotment (especially Alf's...more about Alf another day!), but they went in late, so that's to be expected.

Blackcurrants:


I decided to keep my few fruit bushes in pots until after they've cropped.  The plan is to make a fruit cage where the potatoes, cabbages, etc are now, so they can go in later on.  As you can see even with this method I should soon have enough blackcurrants (my favourite fruit!) to make a small crumble or something with.

Flowers:


Only a few this year so far, but the Canterbury Bells that travelled with me from Shropshire are very pretty.

Lawn:


When I say 'lawn' I am, of course, using the word very loosely.  I started digging out the weeds today, trying not to go too deep as I want the ground compacted - which it is at present.  It feels like there are  more stones in this little patch of Devon than on Brighton beach, so I am also raking ... a lot.

Onions:


Doing well.  Weeded again today.

Runner Beans:


Wind-battered but making progress.

French Beans:


Wind-battered.

Cabbages/Cauliflowers/Sprouts:


Fine.  Will need weeding soon.

Salad Leaves:


First picking.  Thinnings really, but should be nice on a sandwich.

Radishes


Again, only thinnings, but very tasty!




















Finally, I just heard the weather forecast...more rain on the way.  Lovely...

Butterflies & Birds Beware!

Don't get me wrong;  I love butterflies and birds and in fact most wildlife - I say most because I have a bit of a thing about earwigs, but they don't feature in this.  In fact I have a potful of lavender cuttings to plant out at some stage to encourage honey bees and am aiming to deliberately plant things to encourage butterflies and so on later on.  It's just that everything in life has a place and the place of butterflies and bees is most definitely not on my cabbages.


I reckon you only make the mistake of not protecting cabbages once.  You soon learn that if the cabbage white butterfly has its wicked way you will end up with something resembling a green sieve.  So, I planted cabbages, sprouts, calabrese and cauliflowers and then built a cage:

When I say 'I built a cage I should maybe add that my friend Steve banged the posts in for me!  I am hoping it will take a very determined pigeon or butterfly to break in, but just in case...

...I added a rather attractive (ok, tacky) 'bird scarer'...

Then I had the maybe-not-so-great idea of digging up the comfrey.  I did this because there are other comfrey plants popping up lower down the plot that are in a more suitable place.  This one was a monster and in totally the wrong place, so i dug...and dug...and went back the next day and dug again.  I am not particularly hopeful that I have done any more than offend its dignity as I think its roots must go down to the Southern Hemisphere.  We'll see.  I am now on red alert for shoots.

I am pleased to say that the runner beans seem to have survived their battering by last week's wind.  They're picking up and some are making a valiant effort to climb up the canes.  The French Beans are looking rather less well but I'm crossing my fingers.

I am also pleased to report that I now have radishes and lettuce.  You'll be glad to know that they have now been thinned out a bit!








Onion Update:

They are looking SO much better!

In fact, they are looking like onions at last.  The problem is, they now need weeding (Remember...onions hate weeds), but guess what?  Yes...it's raining...a lot...again...

Shed, Sharing, Digging & Planting

Shed Update:


OK.  It fell over.  It's back up.  End of story really...no-one hurt, the shed's fine and thanks to a few burly men turning up it took only seconds to restore to vertical.  It actually took longer for me to repair the fence round the adjoining allotment that sadly got damaged when my shed rested on it...


Sharing:


I am discovering what must be one of the great joys of allotment life...sharing the surplus.  Yesterday I gave away some French Bean seeds and a couple of garlic bulbs.  I was given some lovely fresh rhubarb, several strawberry plants and a pot-full of Brussels Sprout plants (Just as well really because some of mine have been attacked by slugs before I could even plant them out).


Crop Update:


The beans had taken a bit of a battering in the wind but only a couple of minor losses - French beans - and all tied up and tidied up now.  Have dug over the final big patch for now and then planted out sprouts, calabrese, cauliflowers and cabbages.  Had problems netting them so will go back and do that when it stops raining and before they are attacked by rampaging  butterflies.


Plans:


Short-term plans are to dig, level off and seed the patch that will be a lawn, and then to tidy up what I've done so far, including sorting out the paths, strimming, etc.  I have recently purchased a rechargeable strimmer which I have yet to investigate and try out.  It's very stony up there so have also bought some goggles.  I will no doubt look like a middle-aged Biggles on a mission, but at least I'll have my eyes intact at the end of it!

Wind

I am very worried about my shed after the wind that kept me awake for half the night...not so much worried that it has blown over; more worried that it's still in the same county...


Update later...when I summon up the courage to look...

The Shed, the Veg and the Rain

The Shed

Well, it's up...it took two people a day to build the base (reinforced old pallets on bricks and rocks, topped with old flooring sheets):

...then two more days on the shed itself.  Some people watched, some wandered up and commented ('Your apex isn't right...') and others grabbed a drill (see previous blog) and got stuck in.  It kind of came together - several times owing to a few re-builds - and began to look shed-like:

...and at last the plot is starting to take on a bit of shape:

Finished!  

The Veg:

The onions are holding their own.  I sneaked up there today and weeded them (Remember, onions hate weeds!), and because it has rained they came up easily.  I hand weeded the bindweed (nasty stuff, you have to try not to leave even the tiniest bit of root) and the buttercups (nearly as annoying as bindweed) and any weeds close to the onions themselves, then hoed the rest.

The potatoes are all up and doing well.  I did a quick earth-up of the maincrop ones today.  

A few days ago (before the rain) I planted out the runner beans and french beans.  I can report that they are all doing well.  Planting beans always brings out the inner eight year old in me - I love putting in the sticks and tying them up!  

I put in a short row of 'cut and come again' lettuce, one of 'normal' English lettuce, one of globe-shaped radishes, one of the longer type, By the time I popped back up today all of them were through.  So far there's no sign of the other things - a short row of carrots which are a bit experimental as it looks too stony up there for good carrots, one of globe beetroot and one of the longer ones that are great for slicing.

The reason the veg are doing well is:

The Rain:

After a lengthy spell of weather so hot and dry the ground was like concrete on the surface - though to be fair it was still damp a few inches down.  Watering is a huge problem at the moment as the shed has no guttering and I don't have a water butt.  My friend has now loaned me a couple of huge plastic containers which have helped a lot but I must sort some guttering out next!  However...within a couple of days of planting the beans it began to rain...and rain...and rain...

...am now thinking of utilising my newly found carpentry skills and building an ark, just in case...