Hungerford allotment blog - grow your own, harvesting and vegetarian cooking. Enjoying allotment wildlife, weather and other things that catch my attention.
Enjoying time on the Marsh Lane Allotment site in Hungerford, Berkshire.
A record of successes, failures and a handy reminder for me.
From 2017 each post title brings a song to add a little extra music to the world - enjoy!
Thankyou for bringing us some proper rain - real torrential showers. We were happy to avoid puddles, admire rain pouring from leaking gutters and water hammering out of down pipes.
We’ve been very happy to see the earth on the allotment looking a rich brown colour instead of pale and dusty. The plants say “thankyou” too.
I was very happy to be able to make holes that didn’t fill up with dusty soil as soon as they were dug (using a bulb planter). Thanks to Neal for the baby leeks, we now have 27 planted.
Just one thing, Clouds…. Did you need to have the biggest cloudburst just as the Hungerford Carnival parade was setting off and then disperse leaving sunshine as the parade finished?! Terrible timing! Most of the remaining crowd were sheltering under the railway bridge.
The Town and Manor cows 😀
Anyway, the rain saved us from a lot of watering for a couple of days which was a welcome break. I’m on holiday this week so I’m glad that it’s still warm, not sweltering, and we seem to have a few more dry days lined up for plot-days. And, we’ve picked our first tomatoes.
The beans are getting there, although we only see one(!) tiny bean so far on the Scarlet Empire runners…
Ahead of the rain, I pulled the shallots. They’re now trimmed and drying in the roof of the polytunnel before they’ll be pickled. They’ve done well this year - mostly due to the lack of slugs, I think.
Some of the small ones went home along with a potato harvest - the contents of one bag and two from the ground. They appear to be Nicola and Kestrel but who knows? Not me and I planted them!
Some of the potatoes and shallots have been used in several meals already. Roasted vegetables with paneer also included peppers, but mostly home-grown ingredients.
The raised bed, where the shallots were, has been topped up with soil from the potato bags and topped with Apsley Farms mulch. We’ve sown a row of radish and we’re going to sow some pak choi for over-Wintering.
The zinnia are flowering now and I’m dead-heading regularly to encourage more bushiness - such a pretty flower. And, as you can see with that tiny hoverfly visitor, they are good for pollinators.
The nasturtium on the other hand have proved irresistible to flea beetle this year - the heat has helped their numbers and they are being very destructive. Some plants on site are black with them and when you get close they all ping off in different directions. Nasturtiums are often used as sacrificial plants, but I was hoping to enjoy some leaves myself! The tiny beetles are also enjoying the radish, which are finally going to seed. I hope I can still pick some pods for a spicy snack.
The Sun is just breaking through the cloud now so we shall head for the plot for a bit of pottering, sitting, watching and thinking. The Housemartins provide the lovely song title, aah.
I got up early and left Jamie sleeping this morning. I got to the plot at about 7am and it was already warm but not sweltering.
The plants still had dew on their leaves and I noticed that one of the melons has begun to send out stems in three directions.
The plant in the polytunnel has grown faster and is beginning to climb its framework. I’ve moved the aubergine so both plants are in the sunny doorway now. They both have flowers and quite a few buds. Manoeuvring in the polytunnel is getting a little awkward!
I was hoping to prepare the bed for leeks, but the ground was too dry so I did some clearing instead. Terrible bindweed and so much Nigella which has seeded everywhere - they look lovely but are a bit of a pest and the bindweed clings on all over it. The weed pile is full of life; crickets, ladybirds and other wee beasties so I’m leaving it on the plot to dry off and the insects can move on.
Hmm, well it looks better and we can see the pond again but that bindweed will be back for me to fight another day. The little bed in front of the raised bed needs tackling too, but that can wait!
The raised bed has chard and salad leaf as well as the herbs. There are only a couple of small rows of mixed leaf, but it’s cut-and-come-again so perfect for salad and sandwiches.
The Baby cucumber is growing quickly and some tiny cucumbers are hopefully a sign of things to come. We haven’t tried Baby before as we usually grow Rocky.
The tomatoes are always a bit slower to ripen than we’d like, but there are some great looking trusses on their way on the Black moon plant in the polytunnel…
The courgettes have started regular production so the creative cooking needs to start - or perhaps they’ll just be fried up with garlic, which is good enough for me.
The broad beans are still going, but they won’t be part of many more meals; once there’s evidence of the broad bean seed larvae we stop eating them 😖 This was a tasty satay Raman noodle meal I enjoyed the other night. Very quick and easy.
I keep stroking the pollen on the sweetcorn to encourage it onto the silky tassels. Some are going brown, but they aren’t ready yet. Waiting, waiting!
Today we pulled one of the potatoes - thought it was a Duke of York, but appears to be Kestrel. A bit better than the potato bag that had one potato in it!! Potatoes really don’t like such dry weather.
So, with a final hollyhocks photo - what a beauty - I’ll say goodnight.
The song title is provided by Prince and as we’re into our third heatwave of the year it seems appropriate. Phew, stay cool all.
This is the tightly packed leek flower head which is protected by the pointy hat until it dries and pops off - or I release it. Most are white but some are tinted pink. I do love these pom-poms! So pleasing to pat as you walk by, but watch out for wildlife! The pollinators arrive en masse: flies, bees, hoverflies, beetles - they can’t resist a leek flower.The weather has been hot, hot, hot again but the wind is annoying - really howling at times. I’m glad the towering hollyhocks (seed from my Cousin Jen’s plants) are still upright, but I’m not sure how they’re managing it!
The wind has been so strong that we can hear the army practising on Salisbury Plain (about 30 miles away). I guess the noise is tanks firing, it sounds like thunder. And yesterday we could hear live music from a Summer Event about 3 miles away, that was fun.
You can see that heat doesn’t necessarily mean blue skies, but, although we’ve had a few torrential downpours, the weather has been mostly dry and the wind and Sun evaporate the rainfall quickly.
Everything needs watering and it’s hard work in the heat. Actually, not everything needs watering - the bindweed is doing just brilliantly finding its own water 😖 Wrapping itself around all the flower stems, it’s so annoying! I pull armfuls out every visit and try to get the root but it soon recovers - infuriating!
I harvested our garlic in the week - all from two bulbs, amazing! We’ve starting cooking with one although it’s still a bit green. The rest are drying in the polytunnel now.
Apart from that we are eating mangetout, broad beans and shallots. I’m expecting asparagus peas to be included in my meals next week. I don’t usually grow a long row as Jamie doesn’t eat the pods, but they’re such a pretty little flower. I’m hoping the plants will grow a bit more upright like they did last year, but may need to provide some support. The radishes have gone a bit woody now. I’ll try planting a few more but I want the original plants to go to seed as they are pretty with white flowers and I like eating the pods. I’ve netted the beetroot again as the pigeons/pheasants are really enjoying the leaves this year.
The tomatoes, cucumber and aubergine plants have started to spread; both outside and polytunnel plants and all the beans - climbers and dwarf- are looking pretty healthy; they’re loving the sunshine as much as us. A couple of the Tahiti Melon squash I sowed direct last week have germinated on the old polytunnel frame on Plot3 and the Sharks fin melon plants have grown more leaves - I’m expecting a jungle from them. Both are varieties of squash, not melons. The Alvaro melons on Plot7 are sitting quietly forming roots before the top growth takes off (I hope!).
On these really hot days Jamie and I have started walking down to the river after dinner, only a few minutes away, to sit and watch the wildlife.
It is a beautiful section of river - the River Kennet - with trout and other large fish as well as plenty of bird life. The other side of the stone road bridge is a private fishery. I got told off for reading my book there about 30 years ago - it still smarts! Otters have been seen here, but not by us - yet… We’re still waiting for news of the Kennet Valley Wetland Reserve which will be across from that wooden walkway, if the plan is approved 🤞
The River Dun sprouts from the Kennet and runs through Hungerford. This section, with the swan gliding by, is at the War memorial and is one of our stopping places when walking into town. There are plenty of benches for just sitting, it’s just a shame the road is so busy.
Anyway, back at the allotment we had a Sunday picnic last weekend - nice to get back to them. We lit the chimnea because the temperature dipped and we were competing with wind and rain, but we stuck with it, with umbrellas and a windbreak! So British 😀
It’s meant to be hotter today, with an amber heat alert. It was just about 30° in the shade yesterday - phew. Look how dry the earth is and the yellowing grass.
The potatoes have flowered, we don’t have many planted so it’ll be good to get a decent haul from each plant. They look like Nicola flowers, but I think that is where the Kestrels were meant to be planted - or perhaps they’re the Duke of York… oh dear, we really must work on our labelling!
The song title is provided by Jimmy Cliff - what a voice. Singalong, but don’t scare the neighbours!
We’re mid-heatwave at the moment - it’s extremely hot (high 20s) but I must say I’m loving it, especially working my part-time hours. We go to the allotment for lunch and stay until we’re flaking out.
There’s so much to water now that we’ve pretty much planted all that’s going in … well, there may be some additions if the mood takes me. My row of Jacob’s Cattle drying beans have all germinated and we’ve potted up the polytunnel. Jamie can help with a lot, but needs to sit down even more than me these days, but the allotment is definitely his happy place 😊
In the polytunnel we have: Aubergine - Graffiti Aubergine - Meatball Melon - Alvaro Tomato - Redcurrant Tomato - Black Moon
I’ve grown one of the Redcurrant tomatoes and three of the Alvaro melons outside too - just with holes dug through this weed suppressant - hopefully the melon growth will cover that entirely. It was only after I’d planted them that Jamie piped up “why didn’t you plant them in the middle?”. Hmm, good point, of course I’m wanting them to grow towards the centre of our plot but they’re bound to head the other way 🙄
We’ve planted a Cocktail Crush tomato and a Baby cucumber plant on Plot3. We’re expecting that just one cucumber plant will suffice, rather than swamp us with cucumbers this year! I’ve sown some celtuce, a Chinese salad veg into the raised bed. The radish, mangetout and salad leaves are providing me with some small lunch additions. I’ve used the garlic scapes in various meals and have used a couple of bunches of shallots (picked before fully mature) as I’ve given up with salad onions.
I have pulled one garlic but it needs more drying. I’ll probably wait another week before pulling the rest. And that is our first courgette of the year - we based our whole fajita meal round that tiny specimen ðŸ¤
I’m pleased to see the verbena bonariensis has started to put on its show amongst the feverfew flowers, just as the valerian oficinalis is going over. Zinnia and pot marigolds are on their way too and I hope to have some hollyhocks photos very soon…
I’m also happy to see more ladybirds arrive with the heat. I’ve been collecting them from our stinging nettle pot (it started out as a raspberry pot) and placing them on my Gigantes beans which are climbing well, but the blackfly have found them.
So, today is the longest day and it’s meant to be the hottest. I expect we’ll be doing a lot of watering, a lot of bindweed pulling and a lot of sitting for much of the 16hours and 37minutes of daylight. Enjoy the song by David Kushner.
