Yes, I know – autumn is early this year but though we are saying goodbye to summer produce, the autumn goodies are coming along nicely. Here are our squashes (though we have utterly failed to get any courgettes, strangely…):
Our very first cabbages are doing well in spite of being nibbled all the time, and even look like cabbages, well gosh.
The yacon is happy:
And I think the lettuces look really cute – so frilly!
We also have our first major crop of autumn raspberries, which this year include red ones as well as the yellow ones. The birds have ignored them so we are getting the whole crop which is great news.
Meanwhile the sunflowers just keep on going:
Here is this week’s harvest which includes one marrow and a crazy amount of French & runner beans:
Just back from 10 days’ holiday this week so we had a lot of catching up to do at the allotment, which was basically weed city! Here are some pics of what’s going on.
The alstroemeria are coming back:
And the gladioli are rallying after the winds and rain the UK has had (not that we noticed as we were sailing up the Danube and ambling round Budapest in a mega heatwave, LOL!!).
Our cabbages are now starting to look like actual cabbages though something is getting in the netting and chewing them, wicked creatures!
The lettuces have also done well in our absence:
But what is this stray sweetcorn plant doing in the gladioli bed??!! We never planted it there! I blame the squirrels …
A couple of harvest shots this week:
As you can see in the picture above, both the red and yellow autumn raspberries are starting to fruit now, so this is our first (mini!) harvest.
Here are various vases:
The BIG news of the week however is our Allotment Show. We weren’t sure we were going to have much for it as we’d only returned to the UK a couple of days before, but here are pics of what we entered into the show:
Above are our entries for the 5 beans class, the largest marrow (which ended up being the smallest, LOl!), 3 trimmed onions, 3 stems and the flower arrangement for A Day at the Allotment. I used a small watering can though it’s hard to see in the shots.
Here is a pic of all the flower arrangement entries (the one on the right deservedly won 1st prize and best in show!):
Here are the certificates we gained!
I have to admit, however, that there was only one entry in the 3 stems class and that was mine, LOL (for which I gained the 1st prize!) and there were only 3 entries in the flower arrangement class and I got 3rd for that! Still, awards of any kind are not to be sniffed at, LOL!!
And here is the amazing Helen who was best in show for her amazing flower arrangement!
This is definitely the week for the squashes in our life. Here are the two pumpkins we have, both of which are growing well:
And here is one of the marrows – this is the largest:
On the minus side, however, our lettuce has bolted – can you tell, LOL!
The beetroot is also growing high, so I’ve cut the tops off those while I was thinking about it.
The flowers are doing very well in this weather though. Here is the second flush of our gorgeous scented lilies – the smell is amazing!
And here are the alstroemeria and the echinacea, both of which are definitely enjoying the climate.
This week’s harvest is a scattering of green and black French climbing beans (the first of our black ones harvested today), plus the lilies, alstroemerias, echinaceas, dahlias, gladioli, sweet williams, carnations and assorted sweet peas:
The Allotment Wife 