Been a bit busy since my last post. Too much gardening, and especially weeding to do. The school had a plant sale to be prepared for. To add to the mix I was allocated a place "on the shelf" at our allotment site just as the growing season got into full swing. Happily there have been family events too. The shark is a visitor to Alnwick Castle Gardens - a great otherwise safe place to take grandchildren without foregoing horticulture! (Mind you they do have "The Poison Garden" behind a closed gate.)
Excuses aside, here is the current state of play at the plot:
Pride of place goes to the potatoes. Here's the maincrop
and here's the earlies:
The soft fruit has only recently been netted
This shot takes in the broad beans, cucurbits and bean wigwams. (There are two Shark's fin Melons amongst them!!)
And here is the reverse view of the broad beans with Jerusalem artichoke, rhubarb and peas in front
This picture shows the end of the spring cabbages with short rows of parsnip, celeriac and celery beyond
And on to the brassicas hiding under their protective netting.
and the alliums all grown from seed. (The bed to the left is going to be carrots now that the rain has finally arrived.)
A lovely morning of sunshine, after what seems like weeks of wind and cloud - but no rain to speak of. So off to the plot to water.
Alliums in the foreground. The leeks onions and shallots are green, but the yellow strip is three rows of garlic. (Digging up the first few they are rather disappointing.) The potatoes behind are looking really happy.
And what pretty flowers on the Blue Danube!
Beside the alliums the brassica patch is looking a bit sparse, but is nearly full up now and will come into its own later when the seedlings put on some leaf.
The cucurbits are showing plenty of leaf now. Fruit will follow and an avalanche of courgettes is anticipated.
Separated by a row of broad beans that has been cropping for weeks we have celeriac, celery and runner beans. I have high hopes for all three. The runners have just reached the top of the canes and I pinched out the tops today.
One rather unsightly crop is peas (alongside a second,later, row of broad beans). The pigeons discovered the peas, but not before they had podded. While they decimated the leaves and stems the pods were not to their taste, so we humans got them! Next year either taller pea sticks or netting will be deployed.
Last word goes to the carrots. Not pretty due to the protective net, but they deliver for months provided you keep the net on and the root fly out.
So, all in all, I am pretty happy with progress on the vegetable plot so far this year.
Another rainy day dissuades me from visiting the allotment. Instead I am tending to the plants at home waiting for their invasion of the allotment. OK these courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and cucumbers don't look quite so alien when they are in the greenhouse under natural light.
There are plenty seedlings awaiting improved weather. You might spot the tomatoes which are having a temporary excursion out of the greenhouse, and there are runner beans and peas too. I have plenty of spare alliums and a whole host of lobelia just needing to be found a final spot.
Also there are some later brassica seedlings. More than enough to fill the garden, allotment and school garden!
It is a relief to get to the direct sowing. Soon I will have to reconfigure the greenhouse for the tomatoes and cucumbers.
The weatherman advises that the risk of frost is past! It's time to release those cramped plants from their night time confinement in the greenhouse. 20 cucurbits went off to the school garden today. More to the allotment over the weekend. Time to sow the sweetcorn. Time to reconfigure the greenhouse shelves for tomatoes and peppers and cucumber. Also the last impediment to direct sowing has been removed.
Cucurbits for the Allotment
Dwarf French Beans and Italian Climbers (Barlotti)
Peas and leeks at the ready
Brassica seedlings
A selection of flower seedlings itching to be released!
The song should be "Happy Days Are Here Again" but I have gone for something more contemporary:
On the frost carpeted grass are the last pickings of raspberries and runner beans and the remnants of the tomato harvest that has been sitting it out in an unheated greenhouse at the school garden. Ironically the one BIG pumpkin has been given away to the nursery class so is missing from the picture.
To make amends for this omission here is pretty much the entire pumpkin crop gathered from our allotment. I had a big push on cucurbits, but it looks like I chose the wrong year to do that*. The result is one fruit from each plant that survived. There is the traditional orange pumpkin (only just turning orange), Uchi Kuri, Kabotcha and Butternut squash Hunter. Oh yes, two random Sharksfin Melon also made a surprise appearance. Now they are scary. I was surprised to see these on Gardeners World a few weeks ago and even more surprised to see the intrepid presenter sampling them raw. Like a mature marrow, but more dense, they definitely need to be cooked!
*The other 2019 push was sweetcorn. I grew three varieties and ended up with a unanimous raspberry: They don't like the cold and never quite made it to edible proportions.
Vegetable growers should never take a holiday in July. This year that's exactly what I did, as you no doubt will have gathered from my previous two posts.
On my return to the vegetable plot there is a lot of greenery, and not all of it weeds. Here the rather neglected end of the plot that I concentrated on today:
Back row (left to right) there is the official Jerusalem artichoke patch, broad beans, the unofficial (last year's) Jerusalem artichoke patch and then the Runner bean wigwam. In front there is sweetcorn, peas and French beans. There is also a rogue cucurbit - probably a self sown Sharks Fin Melon on the right now scrambling all over the supports for the tall peas! I have removed the broad beans after stripping them of their full pods but left the cucurbit to see what happens.
Peas pods ready for picking
French beans, short peas, tall peas (Alderman) with broad beans behind
I am well pleased with the runner beans now moving from flowering to podding.
We will have too many for our own consumption and will be freezing them and passing them on to neighbours. That is with one wigwam so you can imagine my astonishment to come across the following scenario at Tintinhull Gardens a week ago
Here's the current state of play: Looking from East to West, there are beans in the foreground, brassicas beyond.
The East End (reverse view)
In the corner the globe artichokes are showing a bit of muscle.
The blueberries are responding to winter pruning in their pen.
Here is a closer look at the brassica, each plantlet at its station 18 inches from its neighbour planted through the weed suppressant fabric. At the rear are the early planted cabbages and cauliflowers already well away.
A closer look at the early brassicas,
Moving along further West there are peas, cucurbits and sweetcorn (also through weed suppressant fabric) carrots (under nets) and alliums.
Cucurbits: Squashes and Pumpkins:
Sweetcorn with two courgettes beyond.
In the next corner the old rhubarb is looking robust
and alongside at the West End there are first signs of another robust cropper: Jerusalem artichoke.
The alliums are looking very happy.
Heading back from West to East the fruit cage now has a net over it.
and the early potatoes are flowering.
View of the potatoes and fruit East to West.
These pictures were taken yesterday 7/6/17 a dryish day between two very wet ones!
