Should've Gone To Specsavers

Apart from 2 short posts recently its been almost 3 weeks since I've had time to sit down and reflect on happenings down my plots. The time has passed unnoticed, with a busy schedule of d.i.y., re-designing some areas of N2 Plot, harvesting and more seed sowing taking place. The main time consuming work has been harvesting currants. The hot weather up until last Tuesday has meant harvesting was best done on an evening to avoid continual standing in strong sunlight. The vast amount of currants ripening, especially Red currants has taken approximately 2 hours per evening for the last couple of weeks to harvest, with still more to pick in the coming week or so. To save myself time I have stopped weighing and recording the amount of fruit gathered. After a loud and angry thunder storm in the early hours of last Tuesday and some further rain later that morning the weather has cooled here slightly since, with more rain showers yesterday and today. Although the rainfall has only penetrated the soil a couple of inches, most plants are now refreshed, if not fully recovered from the last month or so's hot dry weather. By Tuesday midday the sun was back and it didn't take long for the soil to dry. I decided to clear the remaining Gooseberries from N1 Plot and set about stripping down the 4 bushes of their berries. I had already harvested several punnets of Gooseberries a couple of weeks ago but decided to pick the remaining berries, mainly due to the fact that one of the bushes was suffering from stress due to lack of rainwater.  I don't normally wear gardening gloves down the plots or in my garden, maybe on this occasion I should have done so. It's almost impossible to pick Gooseberries without getting a few scratches from the thorns. By late afternoon I had stripped the bushes and cleared out various weeds and foliage from underneath them, working around the Strawberry plants growing in their shade. I had several scratches and cuts from the gooseberry thorns, on my hands and arms but nothing serious I thought. An hour or so later my arms became unbelievably itchy and irritating and my left hand and forearm was swollen up like a balloon. It was only then that I noticed 2 fang marks on one of my fingers which I decided was a spider or other insect bite. Later in the week I was informed it was an Adder bite. I didn't see that coming, should have gone to Specsavers. Well it's o.k. now and it seems it was a glancing blow rather than a full on bite. I was told yesterday, that a previous allotment holder had caught 2 adders on his plot a few years ago and released them into the drainage ditch which runs past my plots, well at least that adds up.

Frog In My Water Tank (He Was Rescued)

The remainder of the rainwater guttering was fixed into place on the drainage ditch side of my shed on Monday, just in time for Tuesdays thunder storm. With 2 more water butts installed, taking water from the said guttering, I now have 7 butts installed around the shed. I think they will come in handy in future, if the recent dry weather is the same again next year, or indeed later this year. The remaining soil dumped on top of the drainage ditch, from N2 Plot during last Winter, has been removed, cleared of Dandelion roots and other weeds and applied to the raised beds at the lower end of N2 Plot. At the moment I am in the process of building a low wooden fence along the area where the soil was, to keep back the vegetation under the hedgerow. As my regular readers will know I recently moved my poly tunnel to its current position where an old compost heap used to exist. I decided that the original door on the tunnel, consisting of a flap and 2 zippers was a nuisance to open and close, having to bend down to completely close the zippers didn't do any favours for my arthritis. On Wednesday I constructed a wooden outer frame and door frame which, hopefully, will be fitted to the tunnel tomorrow. Funny what you can achieve with an old bed frame, wooden mantle shelf, some pallet offcuts and some battens left over from my recent shed repair, oh and the screws and metal braces used were also re-cycled.

Replacement Door For The Poly Tunnel Made From All Re-cycled Materials 24/7/13

Thursday was more relaxing with one of my favourite jobs of seed sowing. Although my successional sowing has been hit and miss this season, I've decided it has to be a priority for next. Anyway I raked over the 2 larger raised beds on N2 Plot, leveling off the soil and removing small stones and some other bits of debris. One bed was sown with Carrots (Autumn King) and the other bed was sown with Radish, Spring onions, Beetroot and Cauliflower seed. O.K. so I know its probably the wrong time of year to sow Caulis, but they are in a fertile bed, sheltered and if they germinate will be easy to cover for protection. On completion of the seed sowing it was more fruit picking time, by the time I had harvested 2 large punnets of Black currants it was time for home and a cuppa.

Carrots Sown Into Raised Bed At The Back. The Bed To The Left Has Radish Spring Onions Beetroot And Cauliflower Sown Into It 25/7/13

 One of my favourite veggies with some meals is Swede but I don't use much Beetroot. As both crops were ready for harvesting and with a glut of currants and a lot of Rhubarb, I decided to take some of the veg to a car boot sale. Things were organized by late on Saturday evening and a successful morning was had at the sale this morning with the Rhubarb selling extremely quickly along with lots of Black currants. This afternoon  I spent a couple of hours harvesting some more Red currants for the freezer. Jam making will have to wait for a while, probably when the evenings start to become darker earlier or it rains again.

Red Currants Just One Branch Worth

White Currants

Black Currants Last to Ripen

Gooseberries & Black Currants for Boot Sale 27/7/13

Red Currants Picked Today 28/7/13

First Bunch of Carrots (From the Barrels on N1 Plot 27/7/13)

First Batch of Beetroot 27/7/13

First Batch of Swedes 27/7/13

Rhubarb Ready for Car Boot Sale 27/7/13

Drainage Ditch Bank Soil Cleared Back Near the Shed

Blackberries Beginning to Ripen N1 Plot

Another Frog on Dry Ground This Time

I Didn't Drink All That Water, Honest

The 1 and Only Plum

Butternut Squash Taking Over the Area 26/7/13

Some Nice Looking Apples 26/7/13

Grapes Developing 26/7/13

Watermelon Developing 26/7/13

Pak Choi Falling into the Cracked Earth 26/7/13

There's Always Tomorrow!!

 

Get The Ark Out

Yippeee!!! twenty minutes so far of steady rainfall is happening. Never thought I would be glad to see some rain at last, after just over a month of dry hot weather. Just got a mental picture of my 7 recently installed water butts filling up with rain water. Better check them for leaks later this morning, instead of going down to the beach sunbathing. I expect the climate change experts are tucked up in bed dreaming about how to re-instate the long range weather forecast.

Whizzing Around The Plots!!

Just thought I would post another video taken this afternoon. I've been busy with more maintenance around the plots and my garden so I hope the video is not too "rushed".

Large UFO on the Inside of My Lounge Window (Picture Taken into Direct Sunlight)

There's Always Tomorrow!!

Sharing

Another week of extremely hot weather like most of the U.K. I've been unbelievably busy, both down the plots and domestically this week again. I've intended writing another blog post since Sunday last but again not enough hours in a day lately. One of the allotmenteers I follow on Google has had his allotment vandalized and when I saw the video of the damage done, I stopped moaning about the hot weather causing problems down my plots and decided to post the video here.

There It Was, Gone!!

Sunny and hot all week and still no sign of any rain, possibly for the next fortnight or so. The past few days have been far too hot for any manual work down the plots, such as digging or soil moving. Therefor as normal I decided to finish digging out the compost heap at the top of N2 Plot. I finally finished the task at about 4 p.m. this afternoon. About 2 tons of compost/soil mix is now stacked on top of plastic sheeting at the lower end of the plot, ready for future use. Much of the good quality compost has been added to the top surfaces of my recently built, raised beds, with the remainder barrowed and spread around the Potatoes on N2 Plot. About 50% of the Potato bed is well earthed up again. As the compost was removed it was checked over for things I would not add to a compost heap. I have 2 full dustbins of rubbish and vegetation, plus 1 barrow load of stones, plastic and metal (do they still manufacture 10 inch nails), to dispose of tomorrow. Another large container is almost full with vegetation which requires further decomposition, so this will be added to one of my compost bins on N1 Plot. Despite popular opinion, compost is the main-stay of any allotment.

Compost Heap There It Was Gone

Thing I Don't Add To A Compost Heap

More Items Removed From The Compost Heap

Over the past week harvesting and watering have been the 2 main priorities, trying to keep different fruits and vegetables correctly watered has been challenging due to the heavy clay drying out very rapidly. Most of the watering has been carried out during late evenings, hopefully giving the plants time to absorb the water before the heat of the following day. At the moment it is 9-30 p.m. and temperatures are still around 20 degrees C. here.

Even The Robust Raspberry Doesn't Like the Lack of Water

Yesterday I harvested another 6 Kg of Strawberries, probably the last flush. Lettuce is growing and being harvested in abundance and the first 4 Kg of Garden peas (Hurst greenshaft) were also picked yesterday. I lifted my first batch of Onions (sown from seed last October) a couple of days ago. They are currently drying out in my greenhouse. Due to their good quality and excessive size I am considering sowing overwintering onions, only, in future. The Red currants and Gooseberries harvested this morning have not been weighed yet. Attracted by the recent warm and sunny weather more bees and butterflies have been visiting the plots but I have still to get a sighting of a honeybee.

Potatoes Earthed Up With Compost/Soil

This Mornings Harvest

There's Always Tomorrow!!

22 - Love

Although I'm not a keen tennis fan its noticeable that Wimbledon hasn't had many mentions on the gardening blogs I've read recently. Since my last post I've been too busy to watch T.V. except for a few highlights at Wimbledon on an evening. After 2 weeks of scoffing Strawberries and ice-cream, after tea, (22 large punnets picked so far), the Wimbledon atmosphere was apparent, if not the tournament favorites. Anyway good luck to Andy Murray.

Deuce

Since my last post I've visited my plots fairly regularly, although last week, yesterday and today, has been spent supplying my builder with refreshments whilst he carried out the final stage of my front garden project. During breaks from the tea, coffee and bacon butty making I have been busy paying some attention to my back garden, which has been suffering from neglect for the past year or so. The borders have been tidied, weeds removed, shrubs and trees pruned, some fencing repaired and the oodles of top soil from the front garden project, spread evenly around the borders. The lawn has been re-edged and cut which just leaves one border to complete.

Front Garden Partially Finished (Mid-week Last Week)

 Down the plot things are growing steadily if not quickly, although some plants such as Runner beans, French beans, Kohl-rabi and Lettuce have speeded up their growth since the first reasonable amount of rain fell, last Thursday, for many weeks. Since my last post (apart from last Thursday and today) the weather has been hot dry and sunny throughout. Again watering has been required for most of the crops and the ground is still drying out quickly helped by recurring breezes. The weekend before last was to have seen me doing some more seed sowing but the whole weekend was too windy to do so. During the week I made more sowings of Lettuce Kohl-rabi and Cabbages. My Brussels sprouts were thinned out. 2 bunches of the thinnings were given away to 2 of my fellow plot holders for re-planting. 2 more water butts have had taps added to them before the next rain comes along. Construction of the final raised bed on N2 plot is underway and the last load of turf from my front garden has been re-stacked inside the framework of the final raised bed. The compost heap where the turf was rotting down on N2 Plot, (3 meters by 2 meters), is currently being cleared out, with the well rotted compost transferred to the compost heap on N1 Plot. Any unwanted vegetation or other unwanted items in the heap are being disposed of as each barrow load is sifted through. My intention when the heap is finally cleared out is to re-position my poly tunnel into the space. This will enable me to dig and clean out the final large bed, (more b****y Dandelions), on N2 Plot, where the poly tunnel is currently sited. Mental note here to re-draw the allotment plans!!

Tomatoes and Friend in My Greenhouse

Between My Sheds

Sweetcorn N1 Plot

Clearing Out Compost Heap N2 Plot

Final Raised Bed Constructed (Left of Picture)

Cucumbers Between Sweetcorn N2 Plot Planted Out From Poly Tunnel

  In my last post I mentioned that my Parsnips had failed to germinate this year. After the rain last Thursday, lo and behold, the Parsnips finally decided to seek daylight. Well patience is a virtue, as they were sown on the 13th of April. Lets see if the second sowing makes an appearance after the next rain shower. Not more Parsnips!!



There's always tomorrow!!