***Summer's End down on the plot (1st Part)***

Well done Balcony, I used to get a lot of blossom end rot when I first had my greenhouse, will admit its been easier since I retired as I`m able to water at more appropiate times. Lovely sunflower and the wine looks a drop of good stuff as well, enjoy it........

Mmmm! Rosado! Seems to be one of Spain's favourite tipples over the past several years! Well done!

Thank you for your kind comments. :-) I always feel encouraged when people leave their comments.

Thank you, Avis.

Lincslass, this is the first time I've ever had Blossom End Rot on my tomatoes. In fact, aside from very little fruit & elongated plants last year, I've never had any problems with tomatoes even though I've grown them for 20 years! In Spain one year I grew a lot of tomatoes that were even smaller than the cherry ones we now grow. We had tonnes of them! I still conserve photos of them! I need to digitalize them.

Nariz, Vino rosado used to be my favourite wine when we lived in Spain. I'm afraid wine is too expensive for us to buy here :-( Thank you for liking my blog. After last week's cooler weather & the rains we are forecast some nice sunny weather for this week. :-)

hi Balcony ,enjoyed reading your blog and your pics,what a lot of weeds you had to clear i bet your back was aching after that lot,we have had blight on our toms on our site i also have had blossom end rot but still got some at home doing ok..good job i planted so many lol..congratulations on the sunflower thats a fine specimen you did well with it..hope you enjoyed the wine ..look forward to your next blog :o)

I really liked your blog Balcony my friend -you certainly have a lot going on there. I had blossom end rot one year due to irregular watering I have learned my lesson as I am sure that you have. I didn't think you would get it like that after missing watering for just about a day and a half though. I will need to be even more careful now after hearing that.
We have a few sunflowers growing. All the seeds were collected from a dwarf sunflower last year but quite a lot of them have grown to full size. Seems like they have 'reverted back'. Like Joanella, I am looking forward to part B of your blog now my friend. :-)

Such a shame about those first tomatoes, but the rest look so tasty. The beans and lentils look great after all your hard weeding (at least nettles mean fertile soil, however).. Gerry's squash is impressive, and just look at all those apples! Eileen's plot is a great substitute for your end-of-blog shed view, and hope that you enjoyed your prize! :-))

I too enjoyed your blog Balcony, I admire you for showing your failures as well as all your successes.....some wouldn't. You must have had a really bad back after all that weeding, those kneelers are great aren't they. I've not heard of 'Pinto beans, they are late, are they frost hardy?

Thanks again for your great comments - makes me feel very happy to know my blogs are appreciated! Part "B" will be along in a few days, probably before the end of the week, I hope!

The weeds are something wicked! You can't begin to imagine how many have grown since we had our first rainfall on the 13th!!! It takes me all my time now to weed whereas I used to water before!

As for not being afraid to show my failures as well as my successes - well I don't want to appear overly presumptuous, like everyone else I have my ups & downs & I think it's a help to others if they see both sides of the coin as it were!

I do however try to get rid of most weeds before I take a photo only this time I thought I'd do something different & put a before & after photo on the blog.

The blossom end rot occurred during some very hot weather. It has only happened to the lowest truss of the tomatoes in the greenhouse. The tomatoes growing outside haven't had that problem. They have had a different one - splitting! I'd been watering then 2 or 3 times a week but all that rain we had between the 25th & 26th was too much for them. Even the cherry tomatoes have suffered the same fate. The normal size toms are the size of large dessert apples! I shall have to find an apple to put beside them as a comparison!

Good blog Balcony, always learn something new with you.
Well done on the prize !

Only too glad to contribute to everyone's knowledge a little. I also learn many things from people who write on here, so it becomes a reciprocal process whereby we all learn something new! :-)

Heron, you asked "I've not heard of 'Pinto beans, they are late, are they frost hardy?"

Excuse me for not replying but yesterday I got carried away with other things. Pinto beans are a bean with brown markings on the seeds & are very popular in Spain & in Mexico. Here is a page I wrote about them some months ago:

http://beyondspace.info/forum/index.php?topic=2125.msg11839#msg11839

You will also see I write about the Chick peas (aka Garbanzo beans) on the same page. There are pictures of both beans on the same page.

As to the 2nd half of your question as to whether they are hardy I don't think so. The plants are quite small, not at all like runner/French beans! They do climb a little but they are quite dwarf plants. I will no doubt be posting more photos of the Pinto beans in later blogs, so keep an eye out & we will learn together!

im jealous its just spring here and the last frost i hope today
so will be planting tomatoes soon meanwhile have many plants inside.
waiting to be planted outside.
beans seds are in and should be up well after the frosts.

a super blog Balcony and very inspirational as we have just taken on an overgrown plot full of brambles and nettles, so it lovely to see what can be achieved

Sorry to make you fell jealous, PD, but you can soon make us feel jealous as you move into your summer & we head on in to our winter! Careful with your beans, better to sow them later than risk losing them with a late frost! That's what happened here. We are totally unaccustomed to frost here in early May & many of the guys on our allotment site put out their beans during the last week of April & lost many plants with the early May frosts. Many had their potatoes set back for the same reason, fortunately just the day before Gerry had earthed up his potatoes which protected them from the frost! At least have some in reserve - just in case. Better late than sorry!

Mageth, thank you for your very kind comment which I appreciate very much. :-) Don't try to cut them all down in one fell swoop. Better to take your time & cut the brambles back little by little. As you go cut the long branches into manageable pieces about 30 cm (12") long. You will see the wisdom behind this piece of advice when you go to dispose of the remains & will thank me! Be sure to wear thick gloves & try to get hold of a lopper if some branches are old & thick.

I cleared out the gardens of the old Red Cross Centre here about 8 years ago. It was impossible to get round the back because of the brambles & nettles. I used a pair of loppers & secateurs & soon learnt the best way to tackle it. It took me several weeks but eventually I cleared it all away & restored the gardens.

thanks for the advice Balcony. Fortunately the council strimmed the site for us. we are laying half under weed suppressant and digging the other half. are brambles one of those plants that will rejuvinate from small pieces of root?

"are brambles one of those plants that will rejuvinate from small pieces of root?"

Not like bindweed or couchgrass or Dandelion, no. But it will regrow from root still in the ground. So if your local council has strimmed them down for you they have only done you half a favour! You now won't have to actually cut them down *BUT* you will have to dig out the roots! If you only remove the top growth & not the roots than next spring they will grow with increased vigour!

Weed suppressant fabric or membrane with not do the job for you! Brambles will only try to push off the material! You have no other choice if you want to be rid of them other than getting down to soil level & physically digging them out - it's hard work, believe you me I know!

Oh bother! :o(((

I had to dig out a couple of smaller bramble plants from amongst the Gooseberries behind our shed today. I first cut them down to within a few inches of the ground then I dug into the soil at their base a couple of inches or so till I was able to get a handful & pulled them up, slowly so as not to break the root. I succeeded in getting out 3 roots this way!

We put some new roofing felt on the roof of the shed this morning & to get around the back of the shed Gerry cut away some of the branches on the Gooseberry bushes. He told me he's thinking of grubbing them out. He has had the allotment nearly 10 years & they were already there when he took it over. Many of the branches are covered in lichen, just like the apple tree the shed sits under.