Beautiful day on the Allotment

Such a pleasure to be out working on the plot today in the sunshine but as we have had no rain for some time now, we shall need to have the hose out each week to keep the plants growing on well. Everything newly planted was given a good soak – watering the surface with the spray attachment on the watering can only wets a shallow layer and can encourage the roots to come to the surface, whereas we want the roots to go down in search of water and nutrients.

Newly planted courgettes

Today was a  big planting day. The courgettes, squashes, sweetcorn and French beans were planted out and seed sown for the runner beans. We used to wait until early June before putting out the tender veg, but the weather looks set to stay reasonably warm from now onwards and the plants are ready to go into the ground. The blossom on the fruit trees is over and the set is looking good, even on our problem Victoria plum which has set much more fruit than normal, so the protective covering has done its job and we dug also around half the root ball of the tree to stimulate root growth.

Broad beans in flower

There is still no sign of germination on the carrots sown in the middle of last month, so we need to do a resowing. The beetroot and parsnips are doing fine, and the swedes have germinated well. The only plantings still to be done are the kale, chard and finally the leeks which we get at Gardening Scotland.

Jobs for next week

We shall be volunteering at Gardening Scotland but if there is no rain, one of us will be out to do the watering and to cut the grass.