Allotments 4 All

Not been to the plot yet but have been very busy mowing the lawn and cutting the edge at the front of the house...............only the rear to do now.

Having a beer first though......one of my favourites  ;D

I pulled up a lettuce only it didnt come out and ended up with a handfull of leaves.

What did i learn from this??

mmm

You learned not to pull the lettuce up but to cut at the base first  ;D

here in cambridshire we had sun, sun, sun and managed to get some more leeks set. 2morrow I will mostly be planting out more leeks again, didnt realise you could freeze them.

got any leek tips for me?

Mick
www.mickcox.co.uk

Had a WHOLE DAY down the lottie yesterday, got there early and actually got loads done, and it was sunny all the time too....I'm a bit sunburnt now!

Dug up the rest of the potatoes in the raised beds....what a difference a few weeks have made! Much bigger spuds, Salad Blues, Witchill (a.k.a. Snowdrop) and Epicure all slug free, but Yukon Gold were truly massive (some were like three big bakers stuck together) but the slug damage.....oh dear. Strange, I've had very little slug damage to anything this year, used a combo of nematodes and ferramol based pellets, so they must really love Yukon Gold! Shan't be growing those again methinks....

Elephant garlic was harvested next....not bad, some a bit small but they were in the very end of a bed that was pure clay last year, more manure this autumn should sort it out a bit more. I'll save the biggest cloves for planting in the Autumn again. Last of the overwintering white onions were pulled too, so the rest of the squashes (Red Kuri, Jumbo Pink Banana, 'Lil Pumpkin and Jack O'Lantern) have been planted out to follow on there.

Clearing the second row of Epicure in my 'long rows' bed left a lovely deeply manured bed for my runner beans. They have been sitting reproaching me for not planting them out the past two weeks, but I'm hopeful they will do a bit better than the CFB....which still haven't put much growth on and refuse to climb. I think the windy days are not to their liking. Leeks (I know, also late going out...) went in the raised beds where the other early potatoes were harvested, so at last I'm up to date!

Went back in the early evening to help show some members of another Allotment Association around the site with Saddad and his OH, lovely group and the weather was just right too.

And now I'm back on night shifts again from tonight.... :-\ Just as well I caught up with lottie stuff yesterday....

Learnt an important lesson.
Don't cut down brambles in a short sleeved shirt
LOL

Gave everything a good drenching..........it's so dry.

cut back all the strawberry plants and composted them with the straw. picked purple podded beans, runners, french beans, well, a couple, tayberries, and tomatoes, went home and made 5 jars of piccalilli  ;D

nowt went shopping for my holiday instead  ;D

what did I do in someone elses garden today? A big posh house in Wales with a helicopter in the garage. I planted about 45 camelias. I'd have had a lot more to do except that their regular gardener sprayed the new Woodland Walk area with Sodium Chlorate on Monday instead of Roundup  :D, so that's 4 grands worth of Rhododendrons to be found a home for several months. The lady of the house was a lovely 30 something Russian. Not just a pretty face either, she's the one who pilots the helicopter apparently  :D

that sounds very impressive rhubarb,bet you were tempting to ask for a ride! we keep getting a helicopter over our (aigburth) lottie,dont think its the police one? i went up just to water and say goodbye,wont see it for 9 days now,d**n work,was nearly crying as i left!

I felt like I was in an episode of Midsummer Murder, and knowing what a dodgy person I am, it could only be me what done it, once you'd weeded out the red herrings (if you know what i mean)

Strimmed and weeded..strimmed and weeded... and it was bloomin'hot! Away most of the next two weeks, so guess what I'll be doing when I get back!

Me too Caroline!! Just back home for much needed cup of tea and some lunch.

hope you have a good break. Going anywhere special?

picked stuff, tied stuff in,
it was our anniversary yesterday so we bought some fruit bushes, a red thornless gooseberry and 2  ::) raspberries.
the gooseberry has thorns on it and 2 green fruit and ray picked up tayberries instead of the raspberries, never mind, I've taken 8 cuttings from the gooseberry, it was so large and I've given a tayberry away, we can find room for one more  ;D

Went down the lotty for 0830 had a watering session picked some potatoes and peas repaired the shed door after the breakin abd came getting to ht own there :)

Gave the plot a good going over with the hoe....this baking sun will soon kill the weeds off.

Picked the last of the broad beans and also picked some more cabbage,lettuce,peas and french beans.Got a nice big marrow too which will get stuffed sometime this week  ;D

Will be going back later when its cooler to water

bottled up 150 pints of comfrey liquid, put another load in to soak, fed everything that needed it!! Oh, and picked a load of toms ;D

watered everything with my new water butt gizmo from hozelock.

picked a handful of strawberries.

picked 1st lot of peas

harvested another cucumber

harvested marrow

measured up lawn to see how much space I will have for growing stuff when I split lawn in two.

CC

Went up to pick stuff to find someone has been rootling about in my shed!Nothing taken that I can see, but stuff moved about. Very odd as the can of Sprite and the crisps were still intact,and whoever it was has bothered to replace the stones carefully in front of the door. :o Glad to see some rain anyhow.