July begins on the allotment

A mild and cloudy day on Thursday but a sudden downpour had the team running for cover. Digging down shows the ground is still dry so they had the hose out and gave the veg a thorough watering especially the early potatoes.  The main job at the moment is weeding, keeping the vegetable and fruit beds weed-free so all the nutrients and moisture are available for the plants.

The first shaw of the early potatoes – variety ‘Foremost’ was dug up with enough to give a boiling, but the crop should be bigger next Thursday. The blackcurrants and cherries are colouring up so not long now before these can be picked.

The autumn planted onions – variety Radar – began to be pulled. They have come on really well after looking fairly poorly but quite a few of the sets died off over the winter. The Japanese onions grown the previous season did better.

The pigeons have somehow found their way through the netting over the brassica bed and the spring broccoli have been badly eaten but the plants are strong enough so they should regrow. The Brussel Sprouts which were bought in are looking odd, not like Brussel Sprouts at all so one for us to watch and see what they turn out to be.

Biochar Trial – the main veg bed is still showing the benefits of adding Biochar and the pallet beds with the salad crops showing little difference.
Jobs for next week: Tie in new shoots on soft fruit; Thin the plums; Weeding and watering