Bad news on the brassica front!

Allotment Tales 24-07-25

Muggy and cloudy today.

Lots of weeding amongst the peas, parsnips and cabbages and along paths. Self-sown poppies and spires of rosebay willow herb have looked beautiful on bed fringes through July but were pulled before they seed everywhere. Some will still make it through, but we do need to keep space available for growing veg!

The grass was mown, with the courgettes getting the resulting mulch treat.

  All our beds now have clear labels, ready for the Beautiful Scotland Judging next week.

Radishes sown last week have shot through the soil, and we sowed more today. The blueberry bushes got an ericaceous feed, as the plot has a natural alkaline character. The leafy rows of beetroot were thinned and given a boost of blood, fish and bone.

Bad news on the brassica front! Clubroot has infested the pak choi. These had to come out and roots carefully disposed of so as not to spread the disease. However, it’s inevitable that the remaining brassicas will be affected and will need pulling. Very disappointing! Clubroot can linger in soil for years, outliving a standard 3-year rotation, so we’ll have to consider our options.

On a happier note, harvesting continues. Red currants, blueberries, courgettes, thinned baby beetroot and the salvaged pak choi leaves were all up for grabs today.

As we were locking up, woodchip arrived, so we hastily filled a few barrows to bulk up the paths.

Jobs for next week:

continue to thin the apples and plums;  give all the fruit a blood, fish and bone feed; tie in the soft fruit; strawberry bed activity – remove the straw and old leaves, give the strawberries a feed and remove runners to concentrate energy into the mother plants; time to order potatoes and alliums from FEDEGA for next year