30/4/25 - Warm Weather Kick Start
Good evening and welcome to my latest allotment diary entry. Thanks to some well earned leave, and a busy week with work before going on said leave, this is the first update for a while and it is entirely weather driven! Summer temperatures have arrived earlier than expected, with normal daytime highs being around the mid 20's, but because of the time of year, the overnight temperatures are still dipping well into single figures. Let's get stuck in!
Growing Growing Gone
The big difference in the last 10 days is the amount of growth things have put on since the few days of rain we had, followed by warm daytime temperatures. Potatoes in containers have all made a great start and nearly all are now covered in green foliage. The main crop left over potatoes that didn't go in the ground have also pushed up, but still no sign of the potatoes in the ground.
Meanwhile, in the main polytunnel, the strawberries have really taken off. Particularly the early cropping variety, Elsanta. In recent weeks, the baskets for both varieties have been in full flower and are now beginning to bare fruit. Some of the plants are already starting to push out runners too, but as these are only year one plants, I won't be taking any cuttings from these this year. Next year though, I will take runners to make new plants and continue the cycle of new plants every 2 years after that.
Pesky Mice
Elsewhere, in the outdoor beds, everything is ticking along quite nicely. The recent transplants have all taken and are continuing the grow. But one sowing is struggling. Earlier in the year, I started my peas off in gutters in the polytunnel. When I felt brave enough, and happy the temperatures weren't going to drop too low, I transplanted them outside. Those transplanted pea plants have taken root and are doing well. To fill in the gaps, I direct sowed other peas for almost the entire length of the second row. However, germination has happened, but the plants don't seem to be surviving. We know for a fact that there are mice about on the allotment and we have seen the evidence in the form of two cat kills where they have left the evidence of said mice on our allotment pathways. I think the mice are what's responsible for these other peas not getting off to a good start. Fortunately, it's not too late to do another sowing though, so I will be looking at doing this over the weekend.
Tomato Feet
The next bit of big news from the plot is again partly driven by the current weather conditions, and partly because I'm desperate to get rid of the final piece of suspended staging from in side the polytunnel. It was always the plan to grow tomatoes outside again this year, but also inside the polytunnel too. In recent weeks, all the quad grows have now been filled, but the remaining tomato plants have been desperate to move on into bigger pots. Or, in this instance, until the ground and conditions have been good enough to put the tomatoes out into the beds. There is always the chance of the weather taking another turn for the worst, but the fact is that some of the tomato plants were showing signs of stress being kept indoors. So, it's been about time we get them out and allow the to get their feet in the ground.
Previous years, I have grown outdoor tomatoes in buckets of around 15 litres. However this year, I am trying for the first time, so tomato planters which sit on the surface of the soil and the tomato plant sits inside them, surrounded by fresh compost, and with the soil underneath for them to grow down into. The added bonus is that for watering, each plant has it's own trough which has holes in the bottom of it, ensuring the water poured in is delivered straight to the roots of the plant.
Hopefully, the plants that aren't looking too healthy will begin to pick up a bit now. I have already fed them since planting them out, and will aim to continue doing so weekly. Finally, the original plan was to grow two different varieties outside. This has changed somewhat to now choosing whatever the strongest plants were left out of the 3 varieties in total. So we have a big mix!
Polytunnel Temps
It's been a rather warm week. In fact, I have now started to leave the polytunnel door ajar in an effort to keep the daytime temperatures down a little. In addition, the mini polytunnel is being left propped open a little too for the same reason.
Over the last week, the maximum recorded temperature inside has been over 50 degrees, with the nightly minimum dropping to 6.5. Still a little short of that magical double digit overnight temperature we are always told to watch out for!
