Harvest starting on The Allotment
No sooner is the plot fully planted up than we start to harvest and clear areas. It is a little late to be sowing most veg since most things need around 8-10 weeks to grow but we could sow salad crops and green manures.
Yesterday the autumn planted onions were dug up and taken off-site to dry off, and the second row of 1st early potatoes.
Runner Bean – ‘Desiree’
Apart from harvesting, we made a determined effort to take out the foxgloves and forget-me-not before they scatter their seed and tried to slow down the spread of the green alkanet by pulling out the leaves. We bag these up for green waste, we have enough already on the plot.
The remainder of the apples were thinned down to one fruit per cluster to get reasonably sized fruit and not to over-tax the plant. It is not a good year for our apples after last year’s bounty and we don’t want the bushes to get into the habit of one year good, one year poor.
Yellow Courgettes
Everything is growing very well, though while we netted the peas against the rabbits, we forgot to net over the top to stop the pigeons eating the tender growing shoots! They have left some and there are succession crops coming so all is not lost.
Jobs for next week
- Weeding including paths
- Harvesting
- Sow salad crops
Don’t forget our Allotment Open Day on the 20th of August, 2pm – 4pm. There is still time to book your place for the Summer Fruit Pruning workshop lead by George Anderson, although you will have to be quick. It is always very popular and gets booked up quickly.
