Gathering pace

On what turned out to be a rather busy weekend I only managed to get to the allotment briefly on Sunday for about an hour and a half. However, it was the most productive hour and a half in terms of harvesting that I've had thus far.

I harvested another handful of peas (pods, not single peas!) - around 15-20. I dug up a few potato plants (King Edwards) and gave some to my in-laws to take back with them. And, I harvested my first ever courgette!! Woohoo. It won't win any prizes, and to be honest I could have left it their another day or two, but impatience won the day. Here's a picture of my potatoes and you can see the courgette at the top of the picture. The yellow ones were given to me by Stuart, one of my allotment neighbours.



The courgette plants have grown enormous - well, to me. I put a watering can in for perspective.



I also had a quick check on the rest of the plot and there are a few areas of concern. The brussels sprouts are growing, but some are showing signs of attack, and others are looking decidedly unhealthy - I've no idea what's up, but I'm sure a quick bit of revision of my many allotment/gardening books will tell me. They're still partially protected by chicken wire, and I think I might have to cover them in netting to give them a bit more protection still. One more job for the list.



The onions are looking swell (sorry, couldn't resist), and some are the size of cricket balls now, and others are slightly larger still - they even drew comment from Stuart. "They might be show winners". I'm not bothered about that, as long as they taste good - was my response.

Also had a quick look at the runner beans, and there are a few small beans starting to develop. Some of the plants seem unwilling to climb, and are spreading out across the ground, but they seem healthy enough, and are producing fruit which is the main aim. Aren't they cute?



I've also planted up on of each tomato plant - plum, cherry and beef, in a grow bag to see how they get on out in the open. I have another of each back in the mini-greenhouses which are growing well and a couple of them have flowers, so hopefully not long now before we get some fruit.



The weather is supposed to be a bit better this week, so I'm hoping for a couple of evenings down there so I can get a few more things planted out. I have some cauliflowers that could do with going in the ground, some cabbages, a few more onions and the carrots are probably nearing the point when they can be planted out.

Blighted

I think I, like many people accross the country am suffering from potato blight due to the wet weather we've been having for what seems like an eternity. Here's some photographic evidence of what I suspect is blight:



On a lighter note, I do have a few things starting to fruit. Look verrrry closely at this photo and you can just make out the startings of a courgette! Can you see it?
















I've also had a few of my sugarsnap peas - hardly enough for a banquet, but they did taste good. Nice and sweet.



I also planted some more sugarsnap peas (top image) which will hopefully provide a harvest this year, and also planted some dwarf beans (bottom image) at the same time.

There are also some sprouts that I planted last week, but in my excitement at harvesting my first "major" crop of peas, and dealing with the blighted potatoes, I forgot to take a snap of them. Most are growing well, with the exception of one that seems to have some tiny light grey furry speckles on the underside of some of the leaves. It seems to have stunted it's growth.

Wanna see my onions?

Here they are. Starting to grow well. The "stems" are about an inch thick, some less, some more. A few of them are even starting to swell and look like onions. Crazy stuff!

The peas. They're growing at various rates, a few have flowers now which you can just about make out from the photo...

Runner beans are doing pretty much the same thing. Some seem to be able to grab hold of teh cane and climb without problems, some need a little more coaxing. I also planted some sprouts (or they could be cauliflowers) in between three of the uprights. I have no idea why, just inspiration took hold - that or sheer madness!

The courgettes that I planted out, are starting to show real signs of growth - finally! I think I can even spy a few flowers in there. Fancy that! They're the bush variety so shouldn't trail accross the ground too much - but then again...

"Once upon a time my lad, all this was strawberries...."

Well, the green bit at the back was. Unfortunately the weeds have taken hold. Bindweed is rife and I think I'll have to save what I can in terms of strawberry plants and lift them for next year. The get rid of the weeds.....

Planted a few brussuls sprouts too. Having heard horrow stories about pigeon attacks, I fenced them in with chicken wire, and hung a load of blank CD's from bamboos. Hopefully it'll keep them off until they're big enough to fend for themselves.

Overall though, I think things are starting to actually take shape, and it's starting to look like a proper allotment. Waddya reckon?

Long time no see

With the recent rubbish weather I haven't really been able to do much on the allotment apart from the occasional weeding between showers. My mini-greenhouses are starting to fill up, and I have my first ever courgette flower!

Look!:There are a few other things starting to grow, and I am getting eager to plant them out now.

Here are a few other seedlings that have shown their "faces" of late:

Dwarf beans.

Mixed lettuce.

Sugarsnap Peas.

After my last abysmal attempt at carrots, it's encouraging to see these:

Here are my various tomatoes (cherry, plum and beef), and a few chilli plants (middle three pots).

Hoping to get onto the plot one night this week, and I'll hopefully take some piccies of how things are going.