24 June

Went up Sunday afternoon and did a load of weeding. Cleared youngest daughter's bed and put in the spare Rudbeckia and she threw a few wild flower seeds about and made a mud pie

Sweetcorn looks like something has eaten it - hopefully it'll survive.

Sowed some more peas - first lot aren't brilliant - ate a few.

Picked a punnet of strawberries - it's started - woo hoo!

Managed to lock the keys for the shed and the allotment in the shed and my father has the spare set and he's in France - aaarrgghh!

19 June

Quick visit to water the squash/courgette/pumpkin.

Also did the beans and the peppers.

Dug up a couple more earlies - not so many this time but slightly bigger.

Loads of strawberries coming now - grabbed a couple hiding under the weeds! Still need to cover them up with the wondermesh soon to keep the birds off!

17 June

Went up on my bike on a sunny father's day, got to the plot for 08:15.

Had a load of weeds to start tackling.

Hoed for ages round the squash, pumpkins and courgettes and removed the fleece barrier. It seems to have done the trick as they look ok apart from a few yellowish leaves.

Then spent a while hoeing around the main crop potatoes and raking up the ridges.

Hand weeded round the fennel, onions, parsnips and beetroot but there's loads more to do. Had a quick hoe round the second earlies at the far end of the plot but didn't have time to ridge them up or remove the chopped off weeds.

On the bottom allotment, daughter's area is a bit of a jungle - I'll have to tackle this soon!

Picked a few broad beans - had these in an omelette for lunch with some stored red onions and free range eggs (donated by some friends).

Also picked some spicy salad leaves and radish which we had later on with some new potatoes when both fathers (and mothers!) came round for a meal.

I felt like I'd achieved quite a lot in the 3 hours I was on the plot on Sunday.

12 June

First visit last night since coming back off holiday. Managed about 45 minutes. No watering duties were required by my parents while we were away!

There's quite a few weeds round the main crop potaotes on the top allotment.

Managed to hoe round the courgette, squash and pumpkins.

On the bottom allotment I dug up my first 2 roots of early potatoes (Rocket) and got 14 decent sized spuds although not as many as last year.

The first broad beans have formed:

The peppers haven't done much yet but look healthy enough:

unlike the ones in the greenhouse at home which are fruiting well:

The second earlies look good:

as do the radish and spicy salad leaves although the peas aren't great (as usual for me!):

The cabbage bed needs weeding but they look a bit behind. Need to take wondermesh off and sort it out:

Carrots doing ok - relatively weed free:

Celeriac growing well - foliage looks much thicker:

Plenty of strawberries coming too, will have to cover them up with the wondermesh soon:

Plenty still to do and a fair bit of weeding required on next visit.

6 June 2012

Made it to New York but missed a last visit to the plot on Sunday as it didn't stop raining from 10 o'clock on Saturday night, through the whole of Sunday. Anyway, I managed 3 trips last week and managed to get rid of most of the weeds. All the potatoes are showing now, earthed some of them up and ate the tops of the broad beans - delicious! I reseeded the carrots that failed on the top allotment and planted 21 pepper plants in one of the raised beds on the bottom allotment. Planted the replacement Cobra and Runner beans and 5 spare tomato plants. In the greenhouse at home the tomatoes have 2 sets, the cucumbers are swelling and the peppers are approaching golf ball size.