Blighted potatoes and lilies galore

Sad potato news from the allotment this week – we have blight, oh the horror. Still, we have managed to salvage some of the crop so at least that’s something. Oh well.

Our sweetcorn is also still being nibbled (is it mice?) so we have strengthened the netting around them and also raised it as plants get bigger.

The French beans are starting to go up the sticks and I tied some of them in just to give them a helping hint – last year, some of them simply grew along the ground but it’s much easy if they go up rather than sideways!

The mangetouts have gone insane and we harvested a totally enormous crop. At home, K looked up mangetouts recipes – and one of these is frying mangetouts with spring onions very briefly and then adding mint – we already have all the ingredients (though the spring onions are bought) so will definitely have to try that one.

We also found space for a couple of yakons (Peruvian ground apple) by removing some of the sweet williams which aren’t really doing so well. The other couple of yakons we have will be planted at home.

K also mulched the rhubarb this week – I really do love a mulched bed. We used compost from the allotment so there won’t be many nutrients in it but it will do for now.

Turning to flower news, the cosmos and pelargoniums are doing well.

And there are now a couple of flower spray buds on the gladioli, hurrah!

However the lilies are simply the stars of this week’s show and look totally amazing – they’re just so tall and such a glorious colour!

Plus we have the first of the sweet peas in bloom, which is grand.

I also took a view of the allotment as it is right now, as I think it looks pretty good.

So, today’s harvest is lilies, the first of the dahlias (hurrah!), verbascum, carnations (still going strong …), cosmos, pelargoniums, sweet williams, sweet peas, and the mangetouts and rescued potatoes.

Here are the amazing lilies at home:

And here are the vases all together:

Have a great Sunday, everyone.

Anne Brooke Books

Fighting back on the sweetcorn front!

Yet more sweetcorn has gone missing this week, sob:

But we are determined to fight back(!) so I planted some new ones and K netted the area. We hope that will be enough to deter the evil sweetcorn nibbler, but who can tell …

In other news the asparagus forest is on its way – as we’re leaving it to do its thing now as the season is basically over.

The lettuces are doing amazingly well and I also planted a couple of others just to lengthen the season – if they don’t get eaten!

Fresh from netting the sweetcorn, K has also today built a netting pod for the currants to protect them from the greedy birds (who have already taken the gooseberry crop in total, double sob!). As you can see it’s a home-made effort and we’ve secured it down with stones from the plot, bits of wood and also hooked nails made from old hangers from home. The ultimate recycling creation!

The lilies are doing very well:

And the pelargoniums and cosmos are trying their best:

The sweet williams are struggling a bit – which is a total contrast from last year – but the beetroot behind them are doing well. I have pinched the tops off the beetroot as I thought they were getting a bit straggly, and we want the energy to go into the crop rather than the leaf.

Today’s harvest is one lettuce, mangetouts, verbascums, carnations, pelargoniums, sweet williams, cosmos and lilies:

Here are the vases at home.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone. Oh, and happy birthday to me – I turned 55 (gosh!) on 21 June.

Anne Brooke Books

The Allotment Snake Whisperer!

Never say allotment life is dull! I managed to rescue a female grass snake who was totally tangled up in some fruit netting on the allotments today. Luckily, I LOVE snakes and this was one absolutely beautiful. It took me about 5 mins or so to cut her free and then, after K had taken a quick snap, I let her go in the hedge. She slithered away quite happily. Just call me the Allotment Snake Whisperer, LOL!

In more normal allotment news, everything is growing fairly well, probably due to the whole week of rain that we’ve just had. However, some wicked creature has eaten all my lovely coreopsis, sob! I suspect a rabbit or a pheasant, but either way I’m not impressed …

However, the carnations have survived the onslaught, as have the cosmos and the verbascum.

There are more lilies in bloom this week, and the sunflowers have grown taller, hurrah!

The autumn raspberry area has now grown so thick that I can’t get in to weed any more. I just have to rely on spotting any tall weeds and pulling them out if I can reach them.

The lettuces are doing well and the mangetouts have exploded!

This week, we planted cabbages – which we’ve never grown before so this will be a voyage of discovery for us. We netted them which should keep off the butterflies and pigeons, we hope …

We’ve also planted out two courgettes – a green one and a round yellow one (which is already in flower!):

We brought leeks to plant but there is no room! So we have planted them under the climbing beans for the time being – though I suspect it will be too shady later on for them, so we may have to rethink it.

Here is the harvest of mangetouts, verbascum, lilies and carnations:

And here are the vases at home:

Have a lovely Sunday, and watch out for snakes, LOL!

Anne Brooke Books

 

 

 

 

Nibbly Creatures

Lots of nibbly creatures both on and off the allotment this week … here is the sweetcorn section where the middle is all but missing. Pigeons? Mice? Who knows. But we are not amused!

We also struggled with lettuce planting last week as the pigeons (or mice!) had had a good go at them before we even arrived at the allotment – you can just about see them here, still hanging on – just – at the bottom left of the really lovely lettuces (hurrah!):

Anyway, the beetroot section is doing well, and we even have one or two mangetouts lurking amongst the leaves, well gosh:

The autumn raspberries are growing well:

And the flower crops are doing well too. We have the first of the lilies out:

The carnations are still being totally amazing and I picked 128 of them – which is only about half of what I picked last week!

The verbascum is still blooming:

And the sweet peas we thought were a goner near the shed have a sudden lease of life:

Today, I planted the rest of the gladioli bulbs so that’s filled up a bed nicely. I also planted some coreopsis (which I picked flowers from before taking it to the allotment). They are a type called Golden Sphere:

Plus I thought I’d plant some annual flowers for the first time so here are four new pelargoniums – which again I picked before planting. I’m astonished about how beautiful the flowers are in a vase (see later) so will definitely do this again:

Here is the harvest of three mangetouts(!), verbascum, lilies and carnations:

And here are the vases at home. The pelargonium flowers are on the right between the carnations and the verbascum – I think they’re gorgeous. And the coreopsis are on the left.

Have a lovely weekend.

Anne Brooke Books