The work never stops on the Allotment

Posted May 30, 2023

The sweetcorn plants are growing well at home but it will be another week or so before we can plant them out on our exposed allotment. Also at home the courgettes, squashes, runner and French beans are all coming on. The hardy veg can be sown direct, so on Thursday we sowed some more carrots to allow for a succession of cropping and we also sowed some kohl rabi. As the seeds germinate and grow we need to thin the young plants to give the remainder room to grow and that is particularly the case when you are sowing very small seeds such as carrots and turnips.

Thinning the turnip seedlings

The cauliflowers were planted out in north/south facing trenches to give them protection from the east/west winds and covered with enviromesh to ensure we have no caterpillars!

The grass was cut. We didn’t manage the full month for no-mow May as the length of the grass would have caused problems with cutting it, but the blade on the mower was raised to allow the daisies to continue to flourish. From now on the clippings will be used as a mulch round the plot and were put round the raspberries after they had been thoroughly watered. It is important tho’ to keep the mulch away from the stems.

The strawberries are beginning to develop so time to put the straw down round the plants to keep the fruit clean and dry. There has been no growth at all on the top half of the cordon gooseberry and no green showing when a side branch is cut off so time to take the loppers to it. However there is another good growing shoot and that will now be trained up.

Taking the loppers to the gooseberry

The shed had another coat of creosote and there was a thorough weeding round the plum tree. And lastly the hose was out again since there has not been any useful rain.

Jobs for next week