{"id":26636,"date":"2024-06-02T09:31:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-02T08:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/?p=26636"},"modified":"2024-06-03T09:35:35","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T08:35:35","slug":"its-a-battlefield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/susan\/its-a-battlefield\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s a battlefield"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

When we first started allotmenting, it seemed to be a more peaceful way to spend time. We planted and, as long as we weeded and watered, things tended to grow. Tomatoes were grown outside but blight never affected them. As plots all around us were head-high with weeds maybe we had a protective barrier.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Whatever the reason, as allotments became more popular and plots filled up pests and diseases moved in.<\/p>

The number of wood pigeons has increased exponentially. There are few predators other than the occasional passing buzzard or a fox that comes across a bird not paying attention, and now we are plagued with them. The enormous leylandii ‘hedge’ along one side of the plot also provides masses of cover and nesting sites for them.<\/p>

Fruit has to be netted in good time and new plot holders soon learn that uncovered brassicas disappear overnight.<\/p>

This year the pigeons have upped their game and have turned their attention to newly emerged peas that they either pull up to uncover the seeds or browse on the tender shoots. We thought that our first sowing of peas had been decimated by weevils. The telltale notches had appeared but these usually don’t cause a problem.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

A closer inspection revealed the culprit. A neighboring plotholder had watched the birds uprooting his peas.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

A video of pea damage is here.<\/a><\/p>

Alliums must\u00a0be covered as the dreaded allium leaf miner has found us in its determined march up north.<\/span><\/p>

Carrots have to be covered to protect from carrot flies.<\/p>

The mesh covering the brassicas not only protects from the pigeons but also from the voracious cabbage white caterpillars that hatch from the eggs deposited by the butterflies. Even netting and mesh prove no barrier to determined individuals that will somehow find a way to breach our defenses.<\/p>

Then we have the ground attack from the squadrons of slugs and snails. We celebrated the success of a row of newly emerging carrot seedlings, only to find, the next day, gaps in the rows where molluscs had hoovered them up. Now why can’t they be useful and browse the plentiful supply of weed seedlings?<\/p>

Neting and mesh provide no protection from the underground army of various secretive species.<\/p>

On top of all that, there are diseases that we have lost the ability to combat, either due to products disappearing from the market or disease resistance increasing.<\/p>

If all that wasn’t enough, if we turn our backs, bindweed, goosegrass and their allies attempt to choke plants. Despite our best attempts to defeat them they soon recover to fight another day<\/p>

Despite all this, we carry on. Indeed we did carry on last week.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

As well as planting we did lots of weeding. Earlier sown peas were weeded but this time were recovered. We learned our lesson.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We planted the runner and climbing French beans.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

\u00a0At each end of the bed planted with the beans, we have planted courgettes.\"\"<\/p>

We planted leeks in a bed containing onions and carrots. This way they can all share a length of enviromesh. The seedlings are tiny but hopefully will grow. We create a ditch in the soil before making the holes in which to drop the seedlings. This way helps produce a longer white part of the shaft.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

We sowed more peas which will stay under protection until they are large enough for the pigeons to, hopefully, lose interest.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

We planted three lots of sweetcorn. One is a baby sweetcorn which is a first for us. Bizarrely it is always windy on the day that we plant sweetcorn and last week was no exception.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\"\"<\/p>

We planted some dahlias that, Martyn had grown from seed. Will the slugs leave them alone?<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Finally, we planted the last lot of tomato plants outside on the allotment.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

When I was weeding around the shallots I checked what was happening with the two shallots that I planted which were grown from seed sown last year. They are producing strong leaves and seem to be splitting to form a cluster.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

The plot has tentatively started to produce a harvest. Strawberries have suddenly started to ripen. The slugs noticed and some have been nibbled. A second battalion of ants had moved in to browse in the holes produced by the slugs so picking had to be done carefully \"\"<\/p>

Our second picking of the week was relatively undamaged.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

The over-wintered onions are still growing but I lifted one. We have run out of stored onions although I have some in the freezer to use in cooking.\u00a0 The problem is that they are of no use for making coleslaw. Our overwintered onions always seem to produce flower stems which means that the centre is of no use. Does anyone else have this problem? Fortunately, this doesn’t spoil the rest of the onion.<\/p>

The garlic planted in autumn has turned yellow. As it won’t grow anymore,\u00a0 I decided to harvest some. I’m disappointed with the size. I’m not sure what went wrong this year.\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

I picked a small posy of sweet peas and some sweet Williams which perfumed the car on the way home.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

We managed our afternoon at Nostell. The family of swans was hidden in the reeds around the nesting site so we couldn’t count the cygnets. As it was school holidays, Nostell was quite busy so maybe it was too noisy for them.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

The wildflower meadow has turned yellow.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

\u00a0The buttercups are as tall as Ruby. \"\"<\/p>

We still have lots of green beans in the freezer and I used some last week in a Thai curry<\/a> along with one of our remaining stored onions.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

That’s all my news for this week so as always stay safe and well.<\/p>

This week I am linking to Harvest Monday on Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog.<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we first started allotmenting, it seemed to be a more peaceful way to spend time. We planted and, as long as we weeded and watered, things tended to grow. Tomatoes were grown outside but blight never affected them. As plots all around us were head-high with weeds maybe we had a protective barrier. Whatever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_eb_attr":"","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"ocs-susans-post-sidebar","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-susan","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/IMG_E3245.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26636"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26785,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26636\/revisions\/26785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ossettweather.com\/gardening2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}