Good afternoon fellow allotmenteer, and welcome to my latest entry of this, my allotment diary. It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything, but as usual, that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing anything on the plot. Far from it! No sooner as everything was in the ground than we got hit by a mini heatwave which made me change tack somewhat. I managed to spend a half day literally crawling around every bed, and in the polytunnel, weeding and other than that, it's been all about the watering during the hot spell. Since the weather abated, it's been quite nice not having to visit every day though, with the rain doing the best job.
Scare Those Moles!
In other news, the mole population is still doing it's best to undermine my whole plot, but I have started to fight back. A couple of years ago, I bought some sonic solar powered mole deterrents which are pushed into the ground, and release a high pitched intermittent buzz and vibration. At the time, I hadn't appreciated how load they would actually be, so I ended up sending them back, concerned that my allotment neighbours would get slightly annoyed by the buzzing. I never actually used them. This time however, I really needed to do something, so I bought more and have put 4 of them in different beds. One in the mini polytunnel, and the other 3 dotted around. Have they made any difference? I think yes. Do I still have moles? Yes. Could the answer be more of these sonic spike things? Probably.
Harvesting
Elsewhere on the plot, things have really taken off and not only have I started harvesting, but only today I finished my first harvest of the year. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been picking the broad beans. Even though I had snipped off the tops, the black fly were starting to show an interest in the pods that were still to properly forms. Not that there were many at all. In fact, some off the plants had been blown about by the wind a bit and so were starting to die back anyway.
On the subject of harvesting, this years strawberry harvest has been very successful. I'm still picking the odd half dozen here and there, and there are still a few flowers left on a couple of the plants, but the main glut is now done and dusted. More on those later. And finally on the harvest front, today saw the first pea harvest of the year. I think it's fair to say that the pea plants haven't got quite as big as they have done in previous years, but sure as damn it, they are starting to harvest in the same week in June that they have done for the last couple of years.
Other things that have already been harvested this year are some of the lettuces in the polytunnel, although the remaining ones are now starting to bolt, a couple of beetroot, the first of the pak choi and in a big bonus, the first of this years carrots. Looking around, we will probably end up with a carrot glut, but at least that means we don't have to buy them again until next winter.
Sowing
With the news that the broad bean harvest has now been finished for the year, I find myself with a half bed, empty and with no plans for anything else to go in it for the remainder of the year. It's a little short-sighted of me that I hadn't planned anything, but that's when the local garden centre comes in useful. Mindful that I haven't grown any sort of main crop brassica's this year, I visited the nurseries and have bought half a dozen calabrese plants. I should fit about 4 of them in the half bed and I am sure that I will find room for the other two in the coming couple of weeks.
One plan I had made though was what was going to be in the ground after this years garlic harvest. Last year I hoped to have allotment grown red cabbage on the table for Christmas dinner. In the end, it was a little late and didn't really come good until around February time. The garlic itself isn't due to come out of the ground for a few more weeks yet, so I've sown some red cabbage seeds. The seed actually went out of date last year, but I thought I would give it a chance to see how it goes.
I've also made additional sowings of more lettuce and beetroot. If I can get these up and running, they are the types of things I can fit in around other crops around the plot. The last of the recent sowings has also been another pot of leeks. The intention of this sowing is to replicate the success of last years winter harvest where I planted some late on, allowed them to grow a little and then sit out the winter before they came on well late winter and into spring, giving us a welcome early harvest.
Other News
Before we go on a virtual bed by bed tour, some other things are happening or are in the pipeline on the plot. The first of which is an improvement on the water harvesting I currently have in place. Money is tight at the moment, so parts of these plans have to wait, but I am on the lookout for a second IBC tank. But this one, I want to cut the lid off, turn it upside down and use it on top of the existing tank. Over the winter, it became obvious that not all the water being gathered from the shed roof or the plastic makeshift lid was getting into the tank. I think having a more rigid lid on top of the tank will make things more efficient, and longer lasting too.
Away from water collecting, it's unfortunate to report that the large polytunnel has been infested with greenfly around much of the pak choi in there. Just as the plants have come ready for harvest. This means that they are looking a little unappetising when they're harvested, and the green leaves aren't really edible. The stems are still fine, but the plant needs washing really well before we eat them. It also means that I will probably be unable to give any away from this harvest. I might try another sowing later in the year when it cools down a bit more though.
The Tour
As it's been a while since I've been able to post specific updates, and so much has gone on, I'll go through each bed and location for up to the moment notes on what's occurring.
Bed 1 - The Spares Bed
This is a proper mix of whatever I had left from planting up the other beds around the plot. It has a bit of everything in there from Sweetcorn to Tomatoes, Kohlrabi to Lettuce and Onions to Beetroot. The first harvest of Beetroot come from this bed. From a slow start for the tomatoes due to a late frost which knocked them back a little, they have really started to come on strong. The Kohlrabi has started to split though, which I think is probably due to the wet weather we have had over the last couple of weeks.
Bed 2 - Main Crop Potatoes
All looking good on this bed. There has been a little bit of mole activity around the mounds, but I'm hoping that there isn't too much damage under the surface, and that the mole has chosen to go around any potatoes, and not gnaw on them! The first sign of a flower has appeared this week, but there is still a long way to go before we even need to think about harvesting.
As I mentioned earlier, today marks the start of this years pea harvest. The plants haven't appeared to grow as tall as they have done in previous years, but there looks to be plenty of pods forming. After this first harvest, I'll probably leave them until next weekend before I look again to pick more. Having said that, they do seem to swell up and ripen overnight! Again, a little bit of mole activity, but I don't think the mice have been in amongst the plants. Most things transplanted out from the guttering at the start of the spring seems to have been successful.
This bed is giving a little bit of cause for concern. I have two onion varieties growing in here. Bedfordshire Champion and Ailsa Craig. The Beds. Champ. appear to be doing just fine, but the Ailsa Craig onions look as if they might have been hit by leaf miner. On many of them, their leaves are becoming twisted and gnarled. They are still green and growing, but they look deformed whereas I would be expecting them to be growing with a bit of height. The edges of the bed have been planted up with companion plants, but I think the leaf minor arrived before the companion plants really had time to take root and start to flower. I'll keep them in place though and will just inspect them when I get around to harvesting them later in the summer.
The biggest threat to this years garlic isn't the rust which seems to have settled in quite early on this year, but the resident population of moles! Despite all the books saying that moles will stay away from garlic and alliums, there have been holes popping up right in the middle of the garlic bed. I've put in one of the sonic spikes into the middle of this bed. I think since doing that, there has only been 1 new hole appear, but until it comes to harvest, I won't know what damage if any has been done to the bulbs. The stems are quite thick on many of the plants though, so fingers crossed they will be good. I expect I will look to harvest them towards the end of the month although I will start to keep a closer look for leaf minor in these too.
Bed 6 - Parsnip and Broad Beans
The first half bed to be fully harvested and cleared this year. The Broad Bean harvest has been a good one with around 4 bags filled up and in the freezer to see me through the rest of the year. This morning's job was to cut the plants down and pull out the canes. As I mentioned earlier, I have some calabrese plants to go in that half of the bed, but before I do, I will need to remove the root balls of the plants. There has also been a lot of mole activity here too, so I will need to dig a bit to make sure the tunnels have collapsed properly. And then, there is my secret weapon in the battle against the moles! More on that on another post. The other half of the bed is home to this years parsnips and while germination has been it's usual random self as it often is with parsnips, there are a fair number that have made it through germination and are now putting on some good green growth. I estimate around 70% have made it this far.
Another bed that has seen significant mole activity since the young plants were transplanted out. I have lost several plants to the mole tunnelling under the plants, and then when it comes to watering, the small leek plant disappearing into the tunnel underneath as it collapses under the weight of the water. This is another bed that I have put a sonic spike into, although there has been a little bit more activity since I've done that, so this might be one bed that needs a bit more thought. The plants that have survived so far though are doing OK, but haven't really started putting on massive growth yet.
Bed 8 - Sweetcorn and Squash
This bed is doing really well. The Sweetcorn plants have put on some really strong growth and showing thick stems. Also, the 2 squash plants that have been put in amongst the sweetcorn have really come on very well. In fact, they have put on more growth than the squash plants in the main squash bed. No real signs of moles here though (he says quietly).
Bed 9 - Climbing French Beans
Back to the blinking moles again! Out of the approximately 15 plants transplanted, 1 has been lost where I think a mole has had the roots of the plant. Also, the other 5 or 6 places I direct sowed some bean seeds, only 1 actually made it to germination. I expect the mole ate the seed in the rest of the place. However, even the one that did germinate appears to have succumbed to slugs or ants and has now died back. On a positive note though, the remaining plants have started their twisted climb up the pole structure after an initial stall because of late cold temperatures.
There's not too much to report on the carrots. The first sowing are probably ready to be harvested, but I will leave them in place until we have finished harvesting the ones out of the polytunnel. The second sowing is coming on well although germination was a bit hit and miss. The plants are under nets, so should be well protected from carrot fly.
Potato Tubs - First Earlies
Over the hot weather, sometimes the green growth did wilt back a little, but I caught it early enough and soon got on top of the watering which brought them back. Otherwise, they seem to be doing very well with little sign of any sort of die back. There have been a couple of flowers, but nothing significant. I should imagine we're still a few weeks at least of being able to harvest.
Blackberry Bushes
This is the second full year for these plants, and they have really put on a huge amount of growth this spring. After harvest this year, I will need to read up on hard pruning these plants. Much of the growth has flowers on it at the moment, which is where the fruit develops, so I don't really want to cut the growth back much at the moment. But, some pruning will be needed though, if only to keep access around the plot and the communal path clear.
Bed 11 - Squash and Pak Choi
These plants are really beginning to appreciate the summer temperatures and daylight. Although they have not put on the same amount of growth as the plants on the other end of the plot, they have their feet in and are starting to trail. I also put some spare Pak Choi plants along here too, but soon on, they started to get attacked by something, showing white spots on all their leaves. The plants themselves seem to be growing on well though and it's possible the stems are still fine to eat.
Bed 12 - Raspberries and Blueberry
The two new plants transplanted in place a couple of weeks ago finally seem to have settled in place and have put on a small amount of growth. There are signs of flowers appearing on both the new plants. The only bare root plant to survive has grown a few leaves at ground level, but there is little else going on. In the bucket containing the blueberry plant, all seems well. A small amount of new growth, but the plant is still getting established in it's new home. I'm not sure if we will get a crop from the plant this year though.
Bed 13 - Main Crop Potatoes
Like their counterparts in bed 2, these potatoes are putting on some strong green growth. Again, the mole has been putting in an appearance with a couple of hole appearing early on.
The 8 plants transplanted out to this bed had a rocky start to life in their new home. A week or two after being transplanted, we had a week of low temperatures with a couple of nights of air frost. Fortunately they were wrapped up in fleece. But it did knock them back a little. Then, with the onset of a mini heatwave and temperature in the low 30's, they got settled in and have now come on well. They are smaller than the ones in the polytunnel which is to be expected, but they look to be good strong plants and have started flowering. During the hot weather, they were watered every evening and have also had a couple of feeds. The companion plants around the bed are also coming into flower adding some well needed colour to that end of the plot.
Bed 15 - Cucumbers and Cucamelon
Originally, I had planned for 5 cucumber plants along the trellis, and 2 or 3 cucamelon plants. Some of the cucumber seedlings didn't make it though, and even though I have some backup sowings of cucumber plants, I'm of the mind to just keep to the 3 that I have in place. Each of the plants is just beginning to climb. The cucamelon plants are a slower growing, but they too have started well since being transferred and are starting to climb the trellis.
On the whole, there is little going on in the small tunnel. The 3 watermelon plants put in there are putting on some nice growth and are getting watered every couple of days. There has been a bit of mole activity in the tunnel, but after putting a sonic spike in there, that activity seems to have dropped. Apart from sheltering some other seedlings in the tunnel, the watermelon plants are being left to their own devices.
Things have really kicked off in here in recent weeks, and not all in a good way. At the start of the mini heat wave, I remembered that I still needed to fit the ground spike to the rear door of the tunnel which holds the door open. I got that in place so I could leave the tunnel open during the really hot weather. Despite both doors being left open, temperatures were reaching 50 degrees plus, daily, and not dropping much below 18 or 19 at night.
As far as the plants go, down the left side, the hot temperature meant that some of the lettuces have started to bolt, but we have still been picking them and eating them. Recently, someone also left some spare lettuce plugs on the sharing bench, so I have put them in place of the harvested ones. The rest of the crop down the left is doing well. The two tomato plants, exceptionally so. I do think they need to be pruned though, but to be honest, I don't know where to start!
The right side of the tunnel is more of a mixed bag. As already mentioned, all the Pak Choi seems to be infested with greenfly. And given it's proximity to the pepper plants and aubergine plants, some of that infestation is crossing over. We will need to harvest the remaining Pak Choi soon so I can start treating the infestation on the other plants in that bed.
Up above the beds, today I moved the rest of the hanging baskets of strawberry plants outside. While the harvest is mostly done, a few are still fruiting, but temperatures are perfect for strawberries outside, and so to give myself the room I need inside, I have now moved the rest of them outside. Having them out there also means they will get watered when it rains and it's less for me to do.
And there you go. A bit of an epic, but that's what happens at this time of year. So much going on and not much time to put it all in the diary, so it all mounts up! Until next time, thanks for reading!
