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Weekend 6 July
On the plot

Last year for the first time we gathered seed from our purple flowered broad beans. Previously we had always been a bit sceptical about collecting seed, however the seed gathering proved really successful. We are now harvesting the broad beans sown earlier in pots. This week we have sown some more broad bean seeds directly in the ground - these hopefully will provide us with seed for next year and maybe even some later beans to eat!

Lots of weeding this week - Pat took away two carrier bags of chickweed as she wanted to make some chickweed spray which she is convinced will put off whitefly. I'm not going to contradict her as it means when she wants more chickweed she comes and weeds our plot. Not only that but it may just work.

Sowed some more radish and spring onion seeds so we should have a supply through the season.

We also sowed some more peas - this time directly into the ground - maybe we will manage a later crop of garden peas.

We do try and avoid the use of any sprays etc - well not voluntarily - but last year our tomatoes were devastated by blight and our potatoes also succumbed. This year the conditions seem to point towards us having the same problem again and so we have sprayed to ward off blight.

We have continued to harvest delicious strawberries. One of our varieties Mae hasn't really done very well by Marshmello and Flamenco are doing well.

We have also gathered just a handful of tayberries and about three large punnets of redcurrants. There are some redcurrants still to pick but we don't seem to have any blackcurrants this year.

The blueberries are beginning to turn colour - last year it was a bit of a race to pick them before they drop off the bush. It seems that as soon as they are just ripe they drop.

Other crops harvested were broccoli, cabbage, radish, lettuce and other salad leaves, turnip, peas and broad beans.

The shrub roses are flowering well - some are so heavy with flower that the branches are in danger of breaking. One showed signs of black-spot and so I have snipped off the affected leaves in the hope that I can control its spread. They were taken home to the dustbin!

We also seem to be increasingly noticing song thrushes in site which is a good sign. The blackbirds too are much in evidence - I think the ones in our garden have passed on the message that we are a soft touch as they often appear when we are weeding and follow us along grabbing creepy crawlies.

We laid some paving slabs outside the greenhouse to produce a seating area. We had earlier bought a pop-up gazebo for hot summer days and summer came on Tuesday so we popped-up the gazebo and sat underneath it for a cup of coffee and a chat with the plot neighbours. I wonder if we will use it again.

In the garden

Perennial plants and annuals are really doing well. They like the fairly warm and wet weather far better than we do.

The philadelphus is in full flower and looking and smelling lovely. It has done really well this year.

Having created a small decking area last week,  this week it has been treated with decking stain and we managed to sit on it and enjoy a large bowl of strawberries on Friday.

Created another paved seating area under a pergola. This was to house the bench that used to be situated where the decking is now (it was a case of one thing leading to another really). So now we have another seating/relaxing area - just need some sitting/relaxing weather really now! Climbing close to both areas are honeysuckle as variegated jasmine which scents the air around them

The passion flowers that Joe gave us last year are doing really well and are now in flower.

In the garden pond some of our fish were more active than usual with their minds on things other than food - which in itself is unusual

In the greenhouses
Garden greenhouse:

Things are continuing to grow well. The greenhouse is filling up with plant growth.

Plot Greenhouse:

Equally things are flourishing in the plot greenhouse - mainly tomatoes but there are also a few tamarillos, a cucumber and a couple of melons. (the jury is our really on whether the melons are going to 'do anything'.

Spent quite a lot of time in the plot greenhouse sheltering from downpours and thunder and lightning!

Out and about

Poppies are adding a red glow to fields.

Really been too busy to notice much else

Weekend 13 July
On the plot

We are now at the stage where we are harvesting and weeding more than anything else really. There is lots and lots of weeding to do as they are revelling in this wet weather. The problem is that they are growing quicker but that we can’t get out there to weed due to heavy downpours. Even when the rain stops, weeding mud isn’t exactly an enjoyable pastime.

We have managed to gather lots of redcurrants due to keenly watching the weather forecast and choosing the predicted dry moments. The bushes are fairly old. We don’t exactly know how old as they were planted on the plot before we took it over but from what we can remember, the previous plot holders must have planted them at least 15 years ago. When he vacated the plot they disappeared under a weed/brambles etc until we decided to take on the plot and retrieve them. We pruned out some of the older trailing branches and since then they have served us well. Much of this years crop has been turned into redcurrant jelly but we have eaten some fresh and also frozen some for winter. We are a bit like high tech squirrels really aren’t we?

Other things that we have harvested are lots of delicious strawberries, cabbage, broccoli, turnip, broad beans, peas (purple podded, green, the mangetout have developed peas and so were podded), salad leaves, radish, onions, new potatoes and courgettes. Many of the gatherings have been eaten raw in various side salads and lots have been shared with relations and friends. Pat and Joe keep showing off with their cauliflowers and gave us one as ours are later and haven’t developed curds yet!

Jam has been made from some of the alpine strawberries and also some of the strawberries (not too many have been jammed though as they are just too delicious).

The rocket and giant red mustard seems to quickly flower and go to seed rather than producing tasty leaves to add to our salads – anyone any idea why? Also one of our onion beds seems to have suffered from the wet conditions – many bulbs are showing signs of rotting and many of the garlic plants have disappeared completely. Just one or two survivors are drying of in the greenhouse.

Peas sown directly into the soil are sprouting.

Planted out the last of the summer cabbage plants – Puma, kale – Nero di Toscana, winter cabbage – January King & Christmas Drumhead, red cabbage – Red Jewel & Kalibos and broccoli – Early Purple Sprouting & White Eye.

The sweet peas have started to produce flowers for cutting, they have really long stems but these tend to get shorter as the season progresses. The dahlias are also beginning to bud and we managed one flower to pop with the handful of sweet peas.

The lavender on the plot is looking good. It is in our nursery beds and growing on til it is allocated a more permanent position next year.

The gooseberry cuttings that Joe gave us last year are developing into good looking plants. The blackcurrant cuttings that I took at completely the wrong time and probably using the completely wrong technique are also progressing well – this is a good thing as our blackcurrants have maybe just a handful of berries between them. At least four of the whitecurrant cuttings that I took are also sprouting – again wrong time and technique but hey who said gardening was an exact science?

The sunflowers Bees Knees that are being grown for cut flowers are growing strongly which is more than can be said for my competition specimen – Karen actually thought it was a courgette or squash as it is trailing along the ground feeling sorry for itself! I think we will have a new category

In the garden

The perennials are all doing well but the annuals that I planted are just so slow to flower and many are succumbing to slug or snail attack. I think that the mesembryanthemums think there has been some sort of mistake they are almost shouting at me, “We’re sun lovers so where’s the sun?”

We need to keep an eagle eye on the plants growing on in the cold frame as the trays that are meant to stop the plants drying up in summer need constantly emptying out.

Raspberries gathered from the garden have been used to make raspberry vinegar – we haven’t tasted it yet (although the house did smell like a pickling factory for a while) so don’t know what t tasted like!

The Sambucus Nigra is growing quickly. It needs cutting back hard each year to keep it to its allocated space. Last year I just stuck the prunings in to see if they rooted and they did. Looks like the same will be happening again this year, although someone told me just how much the garden centres are charging for them so maybe the cuttings will end up on Ebay.

The hostas are flowering now and although some have been nibbled a bit by slugs or snails, they still look good.

In the greenhouses
Garden greenhouse

Just really a case of carry-on growing. Everything is looking lush and growing as it should be. Tomatoes, chilli and sweet peppers, cucumber are developing fruits. The bunches on the grapevine are swelling.

Plot greenhouse

Tomatoes are developing as are the tamarillos. Just a case of carry-on watering, oh and also hiding from the rain!

Out and about

Can someone explain global warming to me and why garden shows keep telling us that we will need to conserve water and grow drought tolerant plants? For the last two years it would have been more appropriate to develop bog gardens and start to grow rice on our plots.

This week has just been rain, rain and more rain – yet again. For goodness sake it is July midsummer!

Weekend 20 July
On the plot

Lots and lots and lots of weeding and then more weeding.

Planted three of our newish apple trees that have been living in pots since we bought them. They were going to be step-overs but when they arrived they were too tall and well developed so weren’t really suitable to train in this way so they will just have to be small trees.  Varieties are Fiesta, Bramley and Queen Cox.

The remaining tree had to wait for a patch of land to be prepared and rotavated which has now been done so next week it will move in to its new home.

The salad leaves, lettuce, rocket and mustard leaves seem to be going straight to seed. Not sure whether it is something that we are doing wrong or the weather!

The compost heap was treated to a turning – we are going to need some good quality compost as manure is now off the menu!

Also trimmed the laurel hedge that was given a severe ‘haircut’ earlier in the year. Another laurel nearby was shivering in its boots as it must know that soon it will be its turn for the big chop. We couldn’t do it earlier as it was full of nesting birds.

Made direct sowings of spring onions – Guardsman and Ishikuro

Lots of cropping – still managing to gather strawberries – and they are still delicious. It also looks as though the strawberry plants that we planted this year – a perpetual variety – will carry the cropping on too. So still more strawberries to look forward to. They have already developed some fruits and are flowering well. We have even had to make more strawberry jam and some alpine strawberry jam too.

We were thinking of leaving the rest of the redcurrants to the birds but then saw the price of them in the supermarkets – something like £13 per kilo!!! We have also gathered lots of tayberries.

The courgettes have started to provide us with a constant supply of dark green, light green and yellow fruits. Yes I do mean fruits. We have also harvested cabbage, broccoli, broad beans, turnip peas and all manner of salad crops.

One bed of onions and garlic look to be the worse casualties of the wet weather and the cardoons are being battered. Many of the garlic seem to have disappeared - rotted completely and the onions have soggy bottoms. Fortunately another bed of onions look more promising.

We now have six of the ten whitecurrant cuttings sprouting. The ones that were taken wrongly at the wrong time!!

The dahlias are now in bud - one or two have produced flowers. The sweet peas are flowering too. They have really long stems this year even though they are the same varieties as last year but they don't seem to have as many 'flags'.

In the garden

The fishpond was cleaned out. We actually managed a water lily flower for about two days too.

We have actually got two flowers on our mesembryanthemums

In the greenhouses
Garden greenhouse:

Sowed more salad leaves – Oriental Mixed, lettuce – Winter Density & Red and Green Salad Bowl & Yugoslavian Red and Spring Cabbage – Excel.

The garden greenhouse is looking really lush and has the added attraction of flowering pelargoniums (geraniums if you like) and streptocarpus (or should it be streptocarpi?)

The grapes are swelling nicely – they are a sweet eating variety also much loved by the blackbirds.

Plot greenhouse

It’s getting to be a bit like a jungle in the plot greenhouse – we have crammed as much in as we can. The tomatoes and tamarillos are thriving and more importantly producing fruit. We can just about find the cucumber and melon plants.

Out and about

Wind, wind and more wind. It has really battered the plants this week. What is worse wind and lots of rain.

The flowering plants of the moment are ragwort (not good news for those with horses) and hawkweed – a more dainty version of dandelions which mercifully are not in season and carpeting out allotment paths. Clover is also carpeting the grass.

Weekend 27 July
On the plot

Sowed French beans – Delinel & Berggold directly into the ground to try to get a bit of crop continuation. Also sowed more radish.

Planted out yellow chard and sorrel – Blood Veined.

Harvest the first carrots of the season which were enjoyed grated – even ate one on the plot just to test the taste. Why don’t shop carrots have any taste at all and yet people still buy them!

Lots of watering and weeding as usual for this time of year. Strange to think how dry the soil is after having had so much rain over the past months!

Plants fed with Miracle Gro

Lots and lots of harvesting really too many things to list – it’s the time for really enjoying the fruits (and veg of our labour!!) We have still managed to crop strawberries and it looks as though the perpetual variety that we planted this year is going to carry on where the other plants left off. The alpine strawberries are also coming into their own and producing fairly large strawberries. We harvested our first cucumber but as yet haven’t had a ripe tomato – next week maybe! The broccoli is doing really well and as usual the courgettes are prolific! It always seems that we need to plant more than we need as the plants look a bit shaky after being planted out and then their comes a point when they just take off!

Had our first bunch of dahlias – supplemented by some from Jan’s plot to give us a wider colour range and had masses and masses of sweet peas – they smell much better than air freshener.

We have lots of small brown butterflies that I think are meadow brown – they are mainly spiralling in pairs so no doubt are intent on egg laying. Fortunately their caterpillars feed on meadow grass and so are harmless to our crops unlike those of the whites which were also on the prowl this week.

In the garden

At last a bit of warmth and sunshine and the bedding plants are springing into flower – a bit late but better late than never!

In the greenhouses

Both greenhouse are looking more like jungles at the moment. Tomato leaves have needed thinning to let the light to the fruits and also prevent and rotting etc.

The grapes in the garden greenhouse are almost but not quite ready to eat!

Out and about

The hawkbit (I think) is really providing a carpet on the verges.

The conkers are also showing up on the horse chestnut trees.

Tractors in the fields along the motorway were baling hay.