The Good Life

Well it’s been a horrible time this month for Sheffield, Hull and just recently Gloucestershire. But not for us it hasn’t as can be seen in the accompanying pictures.

We’d been up a couple of times during July but the weather has been so bad that it’s not been feasible to do anything except pick and eat things – mainly radishes and onions and the rest of our potato crop – but luckily this weekend has been relatively dry and sunny so it was time to go and do some real work. Today we’ve done our first full day in probably 2 months.

The allotment had become quite overgrown while we’ve not been tending it so there was plenty of weeding to do, but our reward was a good haul of food and plenty more on the way.

A couple of weeks ago I planted some Endive, Rocket and red spring onions in the radish bed and they are just starting to poke through. Most of the lettuce are ready or nearing salad time and we are getting a constant handful of spring onions whenever we visit.

Robs ground dwelling tomato plants are almost at the ripening stage and the others are now developing flowers. If the sun stays out we may see some red ones later this week.

The courgettes are going bonkers. A quick scan of the internet reveals that they require a lot of beas in order to produce good crops. Thank you Moira.

Look out Rob.

The squash and cucumber are now finally growing and there are a few flowering shoots appearing. The sweetcorn are also going good with a couple producing flowering heads.

Our peas are almost ready, another week and there’ll be a tins worth. Our crop could have been a lot better if it wasn’t for my crap frame and the fact we didn’t give them much help in getting up off the ground, so we have quite a few plants not producing or they’ve been eaten. Ne mind, the country’s pea crop is down by 30% this year so we’re not alone.

Finally, the Brassicas. Looking good.

And our total haul for today:

It’s been the first dry day in a while so we biked up the allotment to check on our little charges. Plenty of weeds, but also plenty of food to eat.We’ve got onions, potatoes and a few radish ready to eat. The brassicas have picked up loads, the courgettes are well on their way and we have peas coming through.

The Rhubarb has also made a concerted effort to grow itself back to full strength. I saw 4 measly sticks of Rhubard in Sainsburies for £1.79 – I reckon we are sitting on a pretty penny here.

Rob’s picked a bag of blackcurrants to soak in vodka so not only do we get healthy, we get drunk.

We did a bit of weeding then headed off. I’ve just boiled some of the spuds and they are lovely – really creamy.

Some pics …

Our first pea.

Onions. Scale model for comparison: Rob’s head

 Potatoes …

Courgettes …

Onions and lettuce …

Due to the bad weather and me going to Glastonbury there’s not been too much to report the last couple of weeks. Rob was up last week and nothing much had changed except for a lot of weed growth. The brassicas were looking a bit sorry for themselves but everything else had put a bit of a spurt on. We have some tomatoes appearing on a few of our plants too!It’s been my turn to check this week while Rob is away biking and I’ve just got back from what looks like a paddy field. The whole allotment is like a marsh. The people at the bottom of the slopes are worst hit with veg sitting in huge pools of water.

Luckily due to the motte and bailey design of our plot we now have a moat and our plants are not drowning. Everything seems to be doing ok, even the brassicas look a bit more perky.

Once we have a dry day we are going to have to go and do some serious weeding though. Luckily everything we are growing is established enough not to be adversely affected by the weeds.

Ive picked a load of blackcurrants off our bush. Apparently they are the best berry for antioxidants but are not regularly available in the shops because 90% of them go into Ribena. Well hopefully a tub full will cleanse me of my glastonbury sins. Here’s some piccies.

The peas …

The potatoes …

 Our first tomatoes …

Brassicas looking a bit more perky …

 If slugs could only read …

  Now let us pray for sunshine …