Withering July

We go in withering July

To ply the hard incessant hoe;

Panting beneath the brazen sky

We sweat and grumble, but we go.

We were certainly sweating and grumbling as we struggled to keep the patch watered and weeded during the hot weeks of early July, but we seem to have been rewarded for efforts.

We have had a terrific crop of Garlic Solent Wight, as shown in the picture below. In the cage on the left, our Cauliflowers Candid Charm are coming along nicely. On the right are my 'prize' Onions The Kelsae with Beetroot Moneta alongside.

In the picture below from left to right : Onions Sweet White Spanish, Leeks Bleau de Solaise and Oarsman, Shallots Banana, Parsnips Avonresistor and then some mixed plantings of Rocket, Coriander and other salad leaves. The shallots and onions were grown from seed and were looking good up until the dry spell, when a few have withered and died. The leeks seem to be thriving, though !

Our 'Three Sisters' bed is growing wildly. There are five stations with Pole Beans Cherokee Trail of Tears trailing around Sweetcorn Zuccherino. Around these are our Squash : Avalon, Festival, Sweet Dumpling and Uchiki Kuri.

The harvest of early potatoes (Nadine and Maris Piper) has been poor because of the dry conditions, but our maincrop (Golden Wonder) are looking very good and we should get good yields once a bit of rain falls and helps swell the tubers.

Heather's flower bed is now predominantly Cosmos and Calendula, but there are some Dahlias growing in there that we hope will develop to provide a show in late-Summer.

Where are our peas going ?

We are now getting a good harvest from the peas and broad beans we sowed last Autumn... and no sign of Pea Moth yet !

A lot of our Summer sown pea and broad bean and french bean seeds have been dug up from their beds by unknown critters and we have had to re-sow and protect the beds to prevent any further theft from these pesky varmints.

As a general precaution for our Autumn sown peas and beans, we will sow double quantities of seeds and ensure that they fully protected over the Winter months.

Long Days, Short Nights

We have been working hard down on the patch these last few weeks as the lack of rain means we have to water our crops by hand.

We are harvesting the early Broad Beans, Peas, Autumn planted Onions (Senshyu Yellow & Radar) and Beetroot. There are also plenty of Strawberries for us to pick.

We are eating much of this immediately, but Heather has been freezing the Peas & Beans and pickling the Beetroot.

Autumn planted Onions are not good keepers, so we are using the Radar for general cooking and I have used the Senshyu Yellow to make 7 jars of Golden Sweet Pickled Onion Rings.

The brassicas (Red & Savoy Cabbage, Calabrese, Kale, Brussels Sprouts, Cauliflower and Purple Sprouting Broccoli) have all been transplanted and are caged to protect them from both Pigeons and Butterflies.

The leeks have also been transplanted into the prepared bed to provide one row of Bleau de Solaise and one row of Oarsman.

May Days

May drifts into June and we are being kept busy down at the patch.

The picture below shows some of what we are growing at the lower end of our allotment :

In the foreground are our potatoes Golden Wonder and hidden behind the low willow hurdle we are growing turnip Purple Top Milan and kohl rabi Purple Delicacy. Lower down on the left are our onions Senshyu Yellow, garlic Solent Wight, shallots Griselle and autumn-sown peas Early Onward.

Looking across to the right-hand beds the same picture shows where we have replanted seedling shallots Banana and onions Sweet White Spanish. Then we have spring-sown peas Kelvedon Wonder and the bed where we are growing squash, sweetcorn and climbing beans. Following down we are growing two rows of onions The Kelsae with a row of beetroot Moneta in between, more garlic and our nursery beds where the leeks and brassicas are under frames to protect them from the pigeons.

The next picture shows our broad beans Aquadulce, onions Radar (which we are already harvesting) bunching onions Ishikura and spinach Fiorana.

The final picture shows the top of the patch opposite our 'ut.

From left to right we have raspberries, gooseberries, currants and strawberries. Next we have the asparagus bed with a young rhubarb at the front end and a dwarf cherry at the other. The bed is bordered with our step-cordon apples and a row of beetroot growing in front.

I'll be seeing you in apple blossom time

The blossom on our apple cordons has been fantastic this year... apparently it may have something to do with the hard winter we have experienced.

If you look closely at the picture you can see the new season asparagus emerging in the bed behind. More of this later !

It's May and it's wet !

We went down to the allotment this morning in the hope that we could get some work done while it was drizzling. Alas, the drizzle turned to rain and the rain got heavier as Heather was picking asparagus and purple sprouting broccoli. We called it a day and came home.

Heather has been using the broccoli and blue cheese to make some fantastic quiches. See below.

I have found a recipe for crab and asparagus quiche and that will be next on Heather's list.

Scorzonera

We are going to try some different root crops this year : Some to eat as Summer vegetables and some that will be able to stand in the ground over the Winter months.

For the Winter it will be Swede Brora and Scorzonera Maxima.

Scorzonera is an interesting vegetable that is a member of the Daisy family. It is easy to grow, untroubled by pests and will stand in the ground over the Winter to be pulled for the table as and when required.