Reading through many allotment and gardening blogs during May, it appears that most gardeners have been busy sowing planting and doing the various gardening jobs associated with this time of the year, despite the vast local differences in weather conditions from one end of the U.K. to the other. The end of May Bank Holiday here, consisted of 3 days of glorious sunshine, ideal weather for gardening and the first real sunny spell of the year. As I spent 2 and a half days since last Friday visiting family in Hampshire I missed the sunshine here in Somerset. Arriving back on Sunday evening the sun was still shining and I ventured down to my plots to check on things. The temperature in the poly tunnel was just short of 40 degrees C and most of the plants in there needed watering. Since the beginning of last month I have emptied 2 and a half large water butts and the large water tank I keep on N1 Plot, with the water being mainly used to "water in" seeds and refresh a variety of seedlings. Not enough rain has fallen to re-fill the butts and tank as yet and many areas of ground on the plots are currently drying out rapidly. Although all my vegetable seeds sown outside have now germinated, (with the exception of the Parsnips), I am still keeping Cucumbers, French climbing beans, Pumpkins and some squashes protected inside my poly tunnel, with Sweetcorn and Runner bean plants as back ups against any early JUNE frosts?? Last night the air temperatures dropped yet again with a mild frost still in evidence at 5-30 a.m. this morning.
I was privileged to have a Lesser spotted woodpecker visit my back garden early this morning, he landed for a very few seconds before flying off again. I've heard Woodpeckers tapping away on trees some distance from my house for quite a few years now, but this was the first time one has landed in my garden. My resident Blackbird "Chalky" and his mate are currently nesting in the Clematis on my patio again, this year, having chased away the pair of Robins which were nesting there earlier in the year. A pair of Goldfinches have set up home in the bushes growing alongside my back fence, so the garden is quite busy with bird activity at the moment Sorry no photographs as yet, because I don't want to disturb the nesting birds.
Californian Lilac Flowering in My Back Garden These are Excellent Plants for Attracting Bees
I am still continuing the re-designing work on my front garden, spending many hours, last week, bagging up and transporting more top-soil down to my plots. I decided that tipping the topsoil along my Potato ranks was an easier way to earth them up than hoeing/raking the original dry soil up into ridges around the spuds. Many of the annual weeds growing in the Potato bed were pulled up and then buried under the soil as I went along each rank. I found this method easier than the usual methods of earthing up. Hopefully the buried weeds will produce some extra nutrients for the Potatoes as they develop.
Topsoil Dug Out Front of House
Topsoil Being Removed to My Allotments
Stones, Hardcore & Rubble Removed from the Topsoil
Well I started writing this post last night mentioning the lack of rain here for some time. Since the mention it's been raining steadily for most of the time. I visited my plots late this morning and the first job was to deposit more top-soil onto the Potato bed. I then planted out 2 Butternut Squashes into the lower corner of the L-shaped bed on N1 Plot, sowed half a dozen Watermelon seeds into a large pot, hopefully they will eventually germinate and grow, protected in the poly tunnel. One of the small beds on N2 Plot was hoed and weeded, using a walking board to stand on, due to the damp soil, after which I dispatched a handful of slugs to their afterlife, I then re-shot the allotment tour video (Take 7) which is currently uploading to YouTube. As the rain was now getting heavier and yet again the temperature becoming colder, I called it a day and left for home.
Allotment Tour Video ABOVE Replacing the Last Effort
