Hot hot hot

Off to plant my sweetcorn.  Squashes went in last week.  Just have winter veg lined up at home now, waiting for beds to be dug ready for them.

Another scorching day in Wales... will it never end?  Yes, apparently on Wednesday, but the word is it's been the driest and sunniest May since records began.  So it's been all about watering and weeding for me on the allotment.  I go over nearly every day, usually in the evening, and between the watering and weeding now comes some harvesting too.  

The Red Russian kale I sowed is delicious and plentiful and is a great veggie barbecue addition mixed with onion, garlic, carrot, breadcrumbs and an egg to make kale burgers. 

The rocket has been plentiful, but is now going to seed already and the chard and spinach have been slow and a bit tougher than normal.  I think it's because it's been so dry.  None of the salad seems as tender as normal.  

I buy my lettuce seeds from Lidl at 29p a packet and they are always reliable and delicious.  These are no exception, but I've lost the packet so can't name the variety.  El Cheapo Lidl variety.  This year I'm going to be all over seed saving for next year.

Chard - plentiful and colourful, but slow and a bit tough. 

My mange tout are up and running.  Going to mulch them up when they've grown about a foot high, then let down the netting suspended from the polytunnel frame.

Runners are mostly up.  Glad I waited til after fear of frost, and thankful that it's such a dry time as there are very few slugs about to feast on them.

This lovely weather has meant that my strawberries are doing really well for the first time ever. There is nothing like the flavour of freshly picked strawberries.  Reminds me of when I was a kid in Hampshire, where there was lots of commercial strawberry growing.  We'd all go strawberry picking as an after school job.  We ate as many as we pcked.  It was always hot and they tasted like bliss.

How can this be?  Even now, when I haven't seen a slug hardly anywhere, when my sunflowers have not been eaten and my lettuce is untouched because it hasn't rained for weeks.... a tiny hole in the side of a strawberry reveals this little bugger when you cut it open.  HOW ANNOYING!!  I asked a lady I know who grows great strawberries and she says - pick them the minute they are ripe.  Go over your plot two or three times a day just to get to them before the slugs.  She's probably right.  But I'm never going to be that organised, so I guess we'll always be sharing our strawberries with the slugs.  Just have to plant more.

I waited til the sweetcorn was good and strong til planting in the middle of the courgette bed.  The weaker ones I've put in  with squashes.  Praying for fabulous weather to continue all summer to grow beautiful squashes and succulent sweetcorn.

This year I'm stepping up my winter veg provision.  As well as leeks, parsnips and purple sprouting broccoli, I'm also growing swede and cabbages and hopefully the kale will keep providing leaves.

Thrilled to see the peas have their first flowers, so now they'll race on as long as I can give them enough water.  Last year's peas were amazing, grown in a no-dig bed with really rough semi-rotted compost, and they loved it - I had an astonishing crop from the wild entanglement of peas.  This year I've tried to be a little more ordered about it, with rows and paths to walk between them.

What a miraculous difference a mow makes.  Still amazed by the joys of the petrol mower I inherited from my next door neighbour when he died last year, and mentally thank him from the bottom of my heart every time I mow the paths on the plot.  

Actually Oscar did it - he doesn't trust me to not destroy the mower!

My Beautiful Pond and Other Things

At last we are producing food!  Not alot, a few radishes, some rocket and some mixed salad leaves, but it's a start.

In the last couple of weeks we've had some right random weather - no rain at all since 1st May,  outrageously hot at times, and some shockingly cold nights.  I'm really glad I've held off from planting my delicate courgettes and squashes.  Lots of people lost early runner beans and potatoes.  Just when I thought it had adapted to life without a polytunnel, my grape vine copped it rather badly on the final freezing night.  It had had a fabulous growth spurt in all the hot weather, only for those delicate new sprouts and leaves to turn brown and curl up miserably in the cold.  At the same time I've been watering daily and filling up my water butts from the tap with the hose.

Now the night time temperatures have warmed up, I've sown mangetout, runner beans, and planted out some courgettes.  I'm still holding off on the squashes, as it's suddenly turned cold and windy, and there should be a warm settled period coming up.  

Making use of the plastic-free polytunnel.  Mangetout are sown on the outside edge with netting which I'll pull down once they are up.  Inside I'm using the centre long pole to attach long canes for runner beans.  

The outside bed of the polytunnel took forever to dig, as it hadn't really been used for years, and I've planted 40 leeks, like strands of green hair, leaving them in the holes made with a stick.  My leeks are always so disappointing in size, so this year I've also potted a number on and will plant elsewhere when they have reached a better size. I've also planted some cabbage seedlings in this bed, and potted more on ready for when I have prepared some more beds. 

Leeks like strands of hair and they never grow much thicker than spring onions, or chunky felt tips at best.  Seriously researching how to grow bigger ones is on my to do list. 

 
 

I've cautiously planted some courgettes, each in a big dollop of home made compost from kitchen scraps etc, into this lasagne bed which I've been layering with straw, horse manure and grass cuttings.  I've snuggled each one in a generous swathe of sheep wool, to detract slugs and snails, but also to give them a little extra protection from weather. 

I'm waiting for this sweetcorn to grow a bit bigger and stronger before I plant it out, but it's going in the middle of the courgette bed. where the plants can support each other and benefit from the shade casting courgettes leaves which will hopefully help to retain moisture in the bed

No Dig Beds 

I am currently using three beds which have been prepared using the no dig method, but I've had at least one on the go for the past couple of years.  

What I've learned about no dig beds:

1.  The cardboard needs to cover the ground TOTALLY.  One of the beds I'm using this year I covered in cardboard at the end of last year, and some of it had rotted away exposing the ground.  I started piling grass cuttings and seaweed and manure on it in the spring, and planted up in April.  With retrospect I should have covered it with more cardboard as the grass grows daily in among my seedlings.   

I hoe the grass every day I go over the plot, but can't get to the roots without disturbing my beetroot and lettuce seedlings.  It is a pain.  Should have watched more Charles Dowding videos first.... ah well, now I know.  DON'T SKIMP ON THE CARDBOARD!!

2.  Have an edge to the bed - leave some bare cardboard around the perimeter of the bed, so you can easily add more if the grass and weeds are creeping inwards.  I've found I can lift the cardboard edge up and slide more underneath, which seems so far to be really helpful. 

3.  Let the grass clippings etc have a chance to rot down a bit.  The above bed was almost hollow underneath when I sowed the seeds on the surface layer of compost.  Lots of seeds just fell through, and I resowed the empty patches, and the jury is still out on how root veg (beetroot in this case) will respond to growing in it's airy growth space. 

4.  Collect bags of compostable material wherever and whenever it's possible.  I've just missed out on loads of sacks of horse manure because I kept putting off having the smelly bags in my car.  Seaweed from a beach walk, leaves, other peoples grass cuttings - it'll all rot down and provide a nutritious layer on a no dig bed. 

The Pond!!

Plans are afoot for sheds and compost bins made from pallets, which my sons are in charge of building, as I have no practical skills whatsoever in terms of building stuff, and we were also talking ponds.  Surprise surprise the pond won!  

Hazel did some research and came up with some benefits of having (a small) pond.   

1.Water storage 

2. Attract wildlife/biodiversity 

3.Spread sunshine (reflecting on the water I think) 

4. Reduce environmental stress by temperature regulation 

5. Use of space (this is a good point as we've put it in a previously unused spot) 

6. Relaxation (also good, as previously the sitting area was round the bonfire site, which is mostly unlit and a big pile of burnables.  We were naturally attracted to the pond instantly and started using it as a focal point to sit around) 

7.Attract frogs to eat slugs 

We had a stressful afternoon of arguing about where the pond would be best situated and nothing got done, then I finally agreed to this unloved corner, and hey presto it was dug! 

Position of pond.  Previously chaos corner.  Was a dumping ground for old carpets and metal and rubbish - totally overgrown with brambles.  There is a little cherry tree in the foreground, but we'll keep it pruned to a manageable size and hopefully won't shade the pond too much.  It gets plenty of sun, but is in shade early in the morning and in the evening.

Pond consists of black plastic tub, about 3 feet across and 18 inches deep.  Oscar added stones to the bottom and then spent time carefully constructing a hedgehog ramp, so that any small animals will be able to get out should they fall in.  I placed the stones around the edge and searched for plants. 

More research from Hazel: 

The pond should have plenty of sun, also some shade. 

Avoid being too close to trees because of leaf drop  

Choose plants for inside and outside the water allowing frogs to hide 

Marginal plants  

Floating plants - low maintenance and give frogs a place to rest 

Chaos corner transformed!  I've not located any plants for the water yet, and transplanted bits of herbs and flowers from other parts of the allotment around the edge, as well as some ferns and I've put some tiny hollyhock seedlings at the back, which if they grow, will hide the fence and provide big leafy hiding places.  Oscar placed a bit of pottery pipe at the back as a safe space for critters too.

Much as I enjoy writing this blog - it takes ages (I'm a bit sloth-like - not fast at anything apart from drinking wine) and the sun is shining!  I'm off to plant my squashes!  (And hoe - endlessly hoe... Hoe hoe hoe in fact)