Busy day at the Allotment.

Posted July 16, 2018

A cooler day today meant that we could be more energetic on the plot and spent much time catching up on the weeding on the paths. Most of the veg are loving the heatwave and they get a good soaking with the hose each week.

The sweetcorn has never been so good with the tassels beginning to show already. This year we are growing the squashes amongst the corn in the traditional native American way and they are doing much better than the ones out in the open ground.

Picking the loganberries

The strawberries are over, so on to the raspberries, tayberries, loganberries and gooseberries. All were picked this week. Unfortunately, most of the new raspberry canes – Glen Ample – are looking dead. Other people shared in the batch bought and have had the same experience, so it looks as if they were poor stock to start with. For the second time we shall need to get new ones and start again. All the fruit had a feed of blood, fish and bone. This is done every few weeks in the growing season.

The broad beans are just at their best, the peas are almost ready for picking and we had the first digging of the new potatoes today with a reasonable crop from the shaw.

Pink Gypsy potatoes

The courgettes and marrows are doing splendidly – already the marrows are big enough for the autumn shows.

There is once again no germination on the latest sowing of carrots. These are traditionally sown direct into the ground but you can buy young carrots in trays, so we shall do a home sowing and try for the last time this season.

Don’t forget the Allotment Open Day Sunday 19 August 2-4.30pm

Jobs for next week