6/7/26 - Hot Catchup
Good evening, and I'm back with a quick update for the allotment diary. A few weeks have passed since the last post, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening. Actually, it's quite the reverse. This time last year, I also struggled to get everything that was happening in the diary as there was so much going on. This time, I'm trying to be better, but I know for sure I'm going to miss something out. Anyway, here we go with some updates and pictures covering the last few weeks.
Harvesting
With the heat comes the growth and the need for lots of watering. This also means the harvests have really started, and in some cases, have already finished! The first crop to talk about have been the peas. This year, they haven't seemed to have grown quite so big, and despite watering very regularly, they quickly produced their harvest and then started to die back within days. The harvest itself has been pretty good, but it was all wrapped up within what seemed like 3 or 4 weekends. All the peas have been bagged and frozen, and the plants have even been pulled up, releasing the bed ready for it's next crop. I've also put some manure down on the bed to help feed it.
Next on the harvest list has been the onions. Like last year, I have grown two types. Ailsa Craig and Bedfordshire Champion, but this year has been somewhat disappointing for the Ailsa Craig variety. They have nearly all succumbed to allium root minor. I knew something was wrong by looking at the deformed and curly leaves, and when I lifted some of the bulbs, they were either very soft, verging on starting to rot, or simply had not developed at all. Unfortunately, a vast majority have been lost. Thankfully, the Bedfordshire Champion variety seems to have stood a bit better, even though they were planted alongside the Ailsa Craig. So, the onion harvest for this year hasn't been as big as last year, but at least we have a reasonable haul to see us through until Autumn.
On a more successful note has been the harvest of the early potatoes. I was a little unsure as this year, they seemed to go over very quick and start to die back. I thought that this may have been down to the first heatwave we had a couple of weeks ago. Out of 6 buckets in total, so far I have turned over 3 of them and the crop has been excellent. Previous years, the early potatoes have been a little bit scabby in places, but this year so far, they have been really clean and plentiful.
Planting and Sowing
A few weeks ago, I was really pleased with myself for coming up with a potential solution to protecting small plants for burrowing moles. I'm pleased to say that the solution seems to have worked well. But then again, there seems to be little mole related activity everywhere on the plot at the moment. Alas though, this time, the attack on those plants has not come from below, but from above. Initially, I saw some whitefly coming onto the plants, but I was able to spray the plants with soapy water which seemed to have the desired effect. The main problem has been the pigeons. I hadn't netted the bed, foolishly thinking that the pigeons wouldn't bother with 5 brassica plants put out. How wrong I was, and now those plants are no more.
Nevertheless, I have bought another 6 red cabbage plants, and transplanted them into the bed that previously had the garlic in. And this time, along with fresh compost, handfuls of lime, cabbage collars and enviromesh, I've got the plants in the ground where I hope they will grow on and produce by Christmas.
I've been a little lax on follow up sowings of plants this year, and I'm trying to desperately catch up. Some of the early attempts were just completely fried in the last heatwave so had to be started again. But, on the go here and now, I have spring onions, leeks, lettuces, red cabbage, purple sprouting and calabrese to name but a few things. This time, I am trying to keep the seedlings in the shade all day, and not in the polytunnel. Early signs of germination have been good, so I just need to make sure I don't cook them in the sun. For reference, during the last heatwave, the temperature in polytunnel got quick high...
Generally....
Elsewhere on the plot, things are progressing at a brilliant rate of knots. I see squash developing under the leaves of the plants at the front of the plot and those amongst the sweetcorn. Cobs are forming on some of the sweetcorn stalks, although the stalks themselves seem quite short compared to previous varieties I have grown. The cucumber plants have started to produce small fruits so it won't be long before they will be ready to harvest. The cucamelons have also gone a bit crazy and the follow up carrot sowings in the bath tub are now ready for harvest too.
One thing that is really standing out at the moment is the amount of colour around the beds. I'm so please with the way things have turned out when it comes to the flowers I put in place as companion plants.
Irritation with Irrigation
During these dry spells of weather, much of the time on the plot is spent watering. Over the last few weeks, other jobs have been let slide because any time I have been spending on the plot has been spent predominantly watering. To try and make things easier, I looked into automating some of the watering in the large polytunnel. This will also pay dividends for those times where it does rain, but everything undercover still needs to be watered.
As a test, I have invested in a small solar powered irrigation system that can water up to 15 different plants. The set up is pretty simple. A small solar panel is attached outside the polytunnel.
The panel is used to charge a small battery in the control unit which is mounted inside the polytunnel. The control unit can be used to set the frequency of watering, and also contains a small pump to move the water around. On days where there isn't much sun, the battery will continue to operate the pump for possibly up to a week.
From the control unit, a water feed is attached and at the other end, a small filter is attached, and dropping into the water butt outside. Also attached is a water sensor. The water sensor stops the pump from operating when the water level in the butt goes to low.
Finally, the main irrigate pipe comes out of the control unit, and along it's length, the dripper pegs are attached. I have put them every meter, 8 in total. There are 7 others that I can fit in the future if needed. Each of the dripper pegs are pushed into the soil at the foot of each plant and hey presto, automated irrigation!
And there you have the highlights of the last few weeks. We are due another period of hot weather, with daytime temperatures due to reach low to mid thirties again later this week. The emphasis will again return to watering each evening and harvesting things that need to be picked.