Plot 36

Went to see what damage the winter had wrought on plot 36 yesterday. The two bay trees were worst hit with frost damage on all the leaves. The garlic that I’d planted before Christmas is now up as too the daffodils and tulips. The brussel sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli are nearly ready to harvest but yesterday the only thing we took away was chard.

The afternoon was spent mainly digging and weeding. Chard is rampant and competing with the spring bulbs and my experiment in green manure seemed to be an abject failure as the only things in the bed were weed related.

The good news is that the soil, despite being quite heavy, is much easier to turn and there are definitely more worms and fewer perennial weeds such as blackberry and bindweed.

There isn’t much that we can plant until the weather warms up so it’s a good time to improve the soil and tidy up. Next week there’ll be burning and beans.

Having caught up on the chores post holiday I’ve started to take stock of this year’s work. The last three beds are now in action, the weeds are declining and the last of the veggies and fruit are on their way. So it’s been a good year for getting things done. But I’ve noticed that the plants seem to be struggling leaves are yellowy/green rather than rich green and, despite all the water and fine weather, they generally seem shorter or later to flower than my neighbours. I’ve read that the soil also needs to be in good condition with at least 10 worms per spadeful of soil. I doubt I’ve got that so I suppose a soil improvement programme is next on the to do list.

The pests are having fun. Following from the black aphid attack on the broad beans the raspberries have now been hit by beetles. The beetles look really pretty but they lay their eggs in the fruit which seems to stunt the fruit’s development. A spritz of organic pest control might do the trick or just encourage them further.

The sweetcorn and squashes are doing brilliantly with some cobs being formed and the first squashes emerging. The parsnips are persevering which I’m very pleased about given my total failure last year and I think that some carrots and beetroot have finally germinated. The first of the tomatoes are nearly ripe which is a bit earlier than last year the aubergines are also developing though I’m not sure the first will be edible as they look a bit scratched and beaten. We’ll see.

Back from holiday and the allotment has been put through its paces. Everything looked a bit tired and dried out but the worst hit were the shallots (my fault) and broad beans (aphid attack).

A good 1.5 hours weeding and the plot looked more presentable. The Summer raspberries are just about over, the Autumn raspberries just coming into fruit. The sweetcorn is doing magnificently – much better than last year’s futile effort. I’ll stick with F1 hybrid seed in future. The brassicas need a net and the beans need canes to climb up. The tomatoes are now flowering and fruiting but the carrots and beetroot have failed to do anything at all – it’s just a patch of bare ground.

In terms of harvest. I dug up the remaining garlic and shallots. I wished I’d done it before I went away as I’ve lost about half the crop; it rotted. The first of the potatoes have also been harvested. They haven’t done so well this year. It could be that I crammed too many into the bed or that I didn’t add compost or they haven’t had enough water. I’ve asked, but they’re not telling me. Some of the potatoes look healthier than others so I really don’t know what it might be.