Plot 7 Marsh Lane - Our Hungerford Allotment Blog: June 2014

Friday, 27 June 2014

Catching Up

A couple of weeks away from work and a few sunny days have made all the difference! I feel much better and the plot is looking at least part-loved again. We've been driving to the allotment and parking next to our plot so I can escape to the car (the shed) as necessary!

This is what we've been living on throughout June - no wonder you've been unwell, you're thinking!! OK, not quite, but it is all we're harvesting at the moment.

The Raspberry Red rhubarb has been amazing; shooting up delicious new stems regularly. The plants are collapsing under the weight of the older leaves and stems now, just look at the size of those two plants!

We've enjoyed quite a lot of air traffic recently because of D Day commemorations and this Dakota flying low over the site was very impressive - take my word for it - the photo does NOT do it justice.

Jamie's just finished sowing some Speedy dwarf French beans for germinating at home, before planting out on the plot. This may mean that our runners and French beans don't all arrive at once...

The Scarlet Empire runners are looking happy since being transplanted on the plot and protected from wind damage by fleece.

Look at that healthy bud, just waiting to become flowers then lovely beanies!

The raised bed crops are looking ok, though the Pak choi leaves may not be edible due to flea beetle damage. We should get some salad and I live in hope that the beets will pull through (though generally seedlings don't appreciate being completely dried out in the early stages of their lives!)

The Florence fennel continues to need regular protection from slugs. They are beginning to bulb up, so I'm looking forward to that!

I've put a trellis up for purple-podded mangetout and some PeeWee 65 petit pois. I've also sown a row of Asparagus pea, chard and Callalloo. Jamie transplanted the grafted Lizzano tomato plants into high standing pots. We're hoping this will stop us trampling on so many of the toms when they start

I've put a Festival squash to scramble along the ground near the pea trellis and a Sunburst patty pan squash, which is a bush variety, on the legume quarter. Two Zephyr squash have been planted to grow over the squash trellis from last year.

Jamie's sown the carrots and parsnips and we've got Tundra cabbage and multi-coloured beet root seedlings just popping up in the seeding cage by our healthy-looking potato plants.

So, we've been pretty busy - well, Jamie's been busy; I've provided vital morale boosting and support :-)

Sunday, 22 June 2014

What we have done...

Luckily Plot 8 is looking a bit better than Plot 7. The rhubarb and strawberries have been serving us very well. We had to net the strawberries as we have a friendly female blackbird who has a very sweet tooth :-)

Slugs are again the bane of the site. They've eaten some potato plants down to stalks - our Chopin rows received a lot of attention, but the Desiree got away with it (at least the foliage has).

I bought a tray of 8 Florence fennel, which have gone into the raised bed, protected by bottle cloches and slug pellets. Everyday we find new dead slugs surrounding each plant - gross, but at least I still have 8 plants...

I've put rows of Pak choi, lettuce and beets into the raised bed too. The slug pellets are saving them too, but there aren't many red fire lettuce left!

Alison (fellow plotholder) gave me a bunch of jewel-coloured flowers - so beautiful!

The squashes and gherkins germinated well but aren't quite ready to go into the ground yet. The cucamelons didn't grow well, so none of them to try this year - unless anyone else on the allotment site had any luck with theirs.

The two rows of broad beans are pathetic, as a result of slug (and possibly pheasant) abuse. We've got a few flowers on most remaining stems so we're leaving them to do what they will... And hopefully we'll get a few beans to eat!