Early June down on the allotment
By balcony
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As I had thought I would make regular two week entries to tell you about our progress on the allotment I’m going to tell you about Early June down on the allotment.
We are now well into June & things are growing a pace! We have had some rain this month, which is good news for the allotment as well as for gardens & for the farmers’ fields. We haven’t had this much rain since way back in March! In between we have had a very hot April this year & even a week in mid-May the temps were at the high end of the 20s Centigrade.
I’ve been doing a lot of watering as the soil on Gerry’s allotments doesn’t hold on to moisture very well. It is quite stony, though other plots are much, much worse than ours. It’s a delight to dig, especially for someone with a very bad back like me! I suppose our fellow allotmenteers have grown used to seeing me dig on my hands & knees after 3 months! LOL!
Here are some pictures of the greenhouse:
Here is the base which I laid out after digging up about a 1/4 of the Raspberry patch. After planting them elsewhere, (see below), I had to dig over & level the space & tread it down & rake it over – you could’ve sown a lawn when I’d finished!!!
Unfortunately the glass for the greenhouse which Gerry brought down & stacked so carefully against the apple tree was knocked over by the very strong winds we had over the weekend & every single sheet was broken! A few triangular pieces survived because he hadn’t put them with the rest.
Here they are put into drawers so they can be taken down to the council tip.
Here is a photo after we had finished putting up the greenhouse frame. Gerry is picking up his tools. No glass for the moment, perhaps in my next blog in 2 weeks time we will have got the glass put in it.
Here is one of the photos I promised last month of Gerry’s runner beans. These had only just been planted. He has planted more since this photo was taken & now they reach to the far end.
Beyond the runner beans you can make out the tomatoes we planted.
Gerry brought down some of the sweetcorn he had been growing at home & I planted them for him. Here I’d just finished trying to “drown” them.
Between the tomato bed & the sweetcorn bed I planted the Raspberries. They share the bed with the Fig trees now.
As this is just after they were planted & they are still wilted but they have picked up since then. I hope they survive & give fruit next year. Any fruit that starts to form this year I will pick off to give the plants a year to get established.
We have begun to eat the lettuces now & I found them very nice! Gerry’s Asparagus can be seen alongside of the lettuce bed.
I sowed some lentils down the gap between two rows of lettuces. I’ve no idea how they will turn out as this is an experiment. Like the Pinto beans & Chickpeas I’m also trying out!
Last month I said I would put in a picture of Gerry’s potatoes, well, this is it!
Another photo of Gerry’s potatoes, a few days later after earthing up. These are in a 2nd patch, behind the shed & behind the Gooseberries (cookers):
I was going to add more photos of the allotment I took on Monday after being ill for a week & not being able to get down, Instead I’m going to publish this one & do a 2nd with the photos I took on the 14th June. So you will get two blogs for the price of one!!!
LOL!
14 Jun, 2010
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Comments
Thanks, Lincslass. :-0
It was a very annoying moment when we found what had happened & will make putting up the greenhouse that bit more difficult. Fortunately Gerry has some glass at home & a neighbour of his has a lot of greenhouse glass she wants to get rid of. It seems her husband had had several greenhouses over the years but now only the glass is left.
I noticed today that Gerry has put in four sheets of glass in what will be the back of the greenhouse.
15 Jun, 2010
Pitty about the glass. I hope you get it replaced soon so that you can make use of the greenhouse.
The allotment looks good with everything growing well.
19 Jun, 2010
That allotment is amazing and I much admire your willingness to experiment with unusual things. Glad the glass is gradually reappearing and look forward to seeing pictures of further developments. I am still amazed by what you can get on your balcony and love the snapdragons.
19 Jun, 2010
It is a real shame what happened to the glass but Gerry has found some to put in & has already put a few pieces in. He is trying to get hold of more.
It's truly amazing how fast everything is growing! I took some photos of the tomatoes just 4 days apart & you can really see the difference!!! I finished putting up a makeshift frame to hold them up today. I pinched out the sideshoots on Monday & then earthed them up, like potatoes, & then started to put up the framework. I found a few flowers on a couple of the plants, well buds actually, although a couple had opened by today! I hope we don't get blight this year as Gerry told me that they did have blight on the allotments last year. Just in case I've still got about 10 plants on my balcony but as they went into 5" pots a couple of days ago they can stay here for a few more weeks. I'm hoping to put them in the greenhouse. I'm keeping two plants to grow here on the balcony.
Felinfan: I'm glad you like my balcony but "you ain't seen nothin yet!" I've still got several Dahlia seedlings that have yet to flower. There are the climbers, too. Morning Glory, Runner beans, Sweet Peas & Nasturtiums to grow up & flower yet!
I'll be posting more photos of my balcony as the summer goes on. So, as they say "Keep an eye on this space!"
19 Jun, 2010
Blog one get one free (bogof!). Missed this so have just read after your latest update, but great to see the progress being made. I'm envious, lol!.
4 Jul, 2010
Thaks, David, glad you're find my blogs interesting. I enjoy writing about the allotment but find it very difficult to make them short (?) & interesting! There is always more I want to say & more photos I could add! Last Saturday I went the "whole hog" & sowed 3 rows the with of the allotment of Pinto beans & then another bed with 5 rows of Garbanzo beans (aka, Chick peas), Unfortunately I ran out of Garbanzo seeds so tow of the rows had to be finished off with more Pinto beans!
I'm quite happy with my "experimental" beds though they have only been growing for a few weeks. In my next blog I post some photos of the seeds, if they have germinated by then, I suppose they will have as the ground is very warm! They have a very short growing season just a little over 3 months! Even these I've just sown should be ready for picking before the autumn is too advanced.
Sorry for making you envious, I hope you can get hold of a plot for yourself as well. It's a lot of hard work but I can't wait to get down to the allotment every day! Fortunately I've only been stopped by the weather once in the 4 months I've been working on them.
4 Jul, 2010
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Sorry to read about the glass, everything else looking grand.......
14 Jun, 2010