Hot work on the Allotment
An interesting find on Thursday – the splendid black/yellow striped caterpillars of the cinnabar moth grazing on some ragwort which was growing in a flower bed. Ragwort and groundsel are its larval plants, and it has been introduced into some countries to control ragwort.
The work continues with picking the fruit – strawberries, loganberries and gooseberries mostly going for making jam for Caley events. Netting was put up on the rest of the soft fruit and the enviromesh tent over the winter brassicas was raised. The plants are growing well and the enviromesh will protect them against aphids and the cabbage white butterfly.
The next row of early potatoes has been started, variety ‘Sagitta’. The first row of ‘Gemson’ had good flavour and was much enjoyed.
The onions planted in the autumn are now ready, they were taken up and hung up to dry off for a couple of weeks.
The hosepipe was out and everything given a good soak. We are copying the idea of using large water/lemonade bottles to keep the courgettes moist. A tiny hole is made using a needle in the lid of the bottle which is then filled with water and slightly buried upended in the ground beside the plant with canes about it to keep it vertical. The squashes on the Japanese vegetable bed where it has been tested are already showing how well it works.
Good growth on the Sweetcorn
The grass is not going to be cut at the moment, we’ll wait for some decent rain and growth in it.
And always some weeding to be done especially in the vegetable beds in this dry weather to retain the maximum moisture for the vegetables.
Jobs for next week
- Keep picking the produce
- Watering of course especially the raspberries
- Cut the grass edges
- Lift the shallots
- Protect the peas from pigeons etc descending on them with canes and string
We are also happy to announce the date of the next Allotment Open Day – Sunday 14th of August from 2pm – 4pm. George Anderson will lead a summer fruit pruning workshop. If you would like to attend, please contact the Allotment Team at rchsallotment@gmail.com. There will be cold refreshments served and some produce for sale.
