Pink Fir Apple

A strange name for this delicious potato, another plot holder gave me some left over seed potatoes, I planted them in a few containers. This crop came from three seed potatoes planted in a recycled black 25ltr container.

Another wooden container contains two squash plants. The variety is F1 Polo, it is forming several attractive looking squash.

I have a dozen Courgette plants dotted around the plot, these are cropping really well, there are several of the normal green ones, a couple of very dark green ones called Black beauty, and several yellow ones.

I harvested several cabbages yesterday, a variety of Primo which forms good sized hard heads.

 A quarter of one lightly steamed, made a splendid accompaniment to Chilli.

Tomorrow it'll be the turn of some Broccoli heads which are nearly ready.

Almost the end of the month

And things continue to go well on the plots, the warm weather has been a mixed blessing, everything is growing really fast, but masses of watering needed.

The globe artichokes are forming nice big flower heads

 The Runners continue to crop well, with masses of flowers

 The Tomatoes are going well, with loads of fruit, some of the trusses are so heavy I've had to tie them up to stop the branches from breaking

January king, Savoy and Primo cabbages

 A row of French climbing beans called Blue lake

 The front of our lottie showing our remaining Potatoes in containers, in the middle distance is a tub of Basil, beyond than a container with a Courgette

The Tommy house showing the French marigolds, planted to help keep whitefly away

 The general view for the end of the month picture

 Pictured here are Kale, Broccoli, Pak choi, Hispi, Mooli, Lettuce, and Carrots

 Leeks and Sweet corn

 Parsnips, a long term crop which will be ready in Autumn/winter

 Two rows of Spring cabbage planted today, a variety called hispi, fast maturing with a lovely sweet nutty flavour

 The sweet peas have been fantastic, have lost count of the bunches we've picked

Allotment progress

Things continue to go well on our plots, with only one or two irritating problems.
Blackfly have reared their heads on a few of the plants, notably on the Globe artichokes, have managed to keep them under control by rubbing them off and blasting them with a water jet.

The onions grown from sets are a bit disappointing, with some of the red ones bolting and a few with Onion rot.

Everything else is cropping really well.
Picked the first of our Mange tout today along with some Runners which are smothered in flower so we are expecting a bumper crop!

The last of the potatoes grown in the ground drying in the sun. These are Desiree.

Heres a few shots of the plot, showing a huge difference from last months photos.

While digging the plots earlier in the year, I dug up a rusty old hoe head, after looking for a while in various hardware/gardening shops, I managed to find a handle that fitted, I cleaned the head which was very rusty and I now have a functioning digging hoe.It just remains  to put an edge on it with a file.

Vegetable bonanza

So many of the veg are now starting to ripen. We are regularly eating Radish, Lettuce, Spring onion, New potatoes, Carrots, Beetroot and Strawberries.

Home grown Beetroot, Spinach, boiled pots and parsley sauce.

Carrot thinnings

Just a bit bigger than a golf ball, they are so tasty.

Just coming in are Spring greens, Courgettes, yellow and green..... hot on their heels are an assortment of beans.....Dwarf green, Runners, Broad and climbing french.

The Rhubarb we planted in early spring continues to grow well and should give us some nice sticks next spring.
Latest addition to our soft fruit is a Morello cherry tree, this will be kept in a 40 litre pot to keep it dwarfed. I made a wooden planter box to cover the pot and improve its appearance.

The Cucumbers and Tomatoes are all setting fruit well, it just a matter of time before we'll be eating them.

Heres a few shots showing the plots from different angles

Today I dug some 2nd early potatoes, a variety called Kestral, this made space for some  more seed sowing. A row of Radish called Mooli a new one for me with white roots, Lettuce..a red oak leave variety and some Chinese Pak choi.

The latest project is a wooden trough, mostly made with recycled wood, not sure what I'm going to plant in it yet. Obviously it needs to be filled, rubbed down and painted .