We are bamboozled by how yellow and sad our allotment sweet peas are in both areas where we have planted them …
I’m really not sure what is going on – we protect them against slugs and we certainly mulched before we planted – but the colour of these is totally different from the lovely lush green ones we have at home. It’s a mystery, hey ho …
In better news, however, more gladioli shoots are coming up and I planted two more rows today as well.
The lilies are also strutting their stuff:
I’m also happy to say that the autumn raspberry bed is looking very good indeed (see below pic), so here’s hoping we get a good crop. (In other news, the gooseberry cage is doing a great job at keeping the birds away, so we actually still have gooseberries this week!).
And there’s enough asparagus on the plot to last us several meals:
Today’s harvest is a couple of spare tulips, the first of the verbascum (hurrah!), two alliums, and the asparagus:
Goodness me, we have the first of our gooseberries forming already so, rather than lose them all this week as the birds get in there first, we have put the cage up – we hope it works!
The rhubarb is doing okay, and there was enough to make rhubarb crumble for Sunday lunch, yum!
The gladioli are continuing to sprout:
And the lilies are getting larger. Plus we have one allium in bloom as well.
Whilst at the plot, we planted some rows of sunflower seeds and also a few rows of peas. We’ve protected the peas with plastic to deter the mice.
No flowers this week, but we have a harvest of asparagus and rhubarb:
Yes, it’s that time of year once more and we have planted some sunflowers. Here they are before and after we tied them to canes:
I also planted another 20 gladioli in 2 rows of ten. I really need some more for succession planting but I suspect I might be too late for this now! Anyway, here are some we planted earlier:
The lilies are also going for it so I gave them a good spray today so the dreaded lily-beetle can’t get in there:
We also have a few verbascums on their way but I won’t be picking them till at least next week:
Meanwhile, a few alliums have come up unexpectedly next to the lettuce – so a nice surprise there. I’m planning to take them up and plant at home later.
There are plenty of asparagus spears today so that’s Sunday lunch veg sorted.
The young beetroot plants are coming along too, and I have put slug pellets down to keep them safe.
The mangetouts have started to climb which is brilliant news:
Not such great news with the sweet peas however – they’ve done nothing for a couple of weeks or so, sadly. So we have bought some more and hope to plant them elsewhere on the allotment to see if they do any better. It’s a shame really as for a couple of years the sweet peas did so well – I wonder if it’s because they don’t like the pine needle compost we’ve been using there … Something to ponder …
At least the potatoes look happy!
And here is the rhubarb which, again, isn’t doing brilliantly now but I still managed to get a few stalks for Sunday pudding.
The spring onions and shallots are now putting on a growth spurt – but don’t ask me which is which in the photo as I’ve already forgotten what K told me! I think the shallots are the taller ones? But I could be wrong …
And the sweetcorn has survived one week already, hurrah!
I thought I’d also add in a view of the allotment so you can see how things are getting along as a whole:
Here is the tiny harvest of alliums, asparagus and rhubarb:
We’re having another go at sweetcorn this year – it wasn’t very successful last year but we’re hopeful! Here’s hoping the squirrels don’t find it all first …
We’ve also planted two marrows and two pumpkins, and we’re hoping they might be big enough for the allotment show in August, so fingers crossed.
There is more asparagus in the bed this week so that’s good news:
I did weed that bed after taking the shot – honest!… I also weeded the beetroots, though had to be a lot more careful there and did most of it by hand:
The lettuces and mangetouts are continuing to do well:
Sadly, the sweet peas aren’t doing much, but it’s early days. As a total contrast, both sets of lilies are really getting tall now:
Oh, and the carnation mound is also looking good:
And the gladioli are coming along:
The rhubarb is also okay and I managed to get a few stalks to add to the apple crumble I’m planning for tomorrow’s lunch:
Here is our mini harvest for today, including the last two tulips, asparagus and one lone potato! I also remembered to harvest the rhubarb at the last minute, but it’s not in the shot today:
Lots of the little narcissi tete-a-tete on the allotment today – very cute indeed, if tiny.
There are other taller daffodils coming along too, but they’re not ready yet!
Maybe next week, eh, LOL!
The tulip bed is looking grand and I’m really excited about that one. Can’t wait to see them in bloom.
We were also surprised to see some of the alliums I planted on the off chance are on their way too, which is great. I do love alliums.
No great changes in the autumn raspberry & summer soft fruit area, but I’m sure the rhubarb is coming along:
Can’t wait for the first rhubarb crumble of the season, but I don’t think it’s going to be soon.
Our harvest today has been the leeks (which haven’t done very well but smell amazing) and those narcissi (which look really lost in that tea towel …):
However, at home, I found a tiny glass and now think the narcissi look pretty good in it – I’ve put this vase on the dining room table to brighten up mealtimes.
A quick hoe round the allotment this morning, plus I sprayed the lilies and put slug pellets down (no organic gardening here – well, I am a farmer’s daughter after all!…) while K  planted up some more beetroot:
We’re growing rather fond of beetroot – so wonderful that you can eat all the plant and nothing’s wasted, hurrah. So we picked a couple of the older beetroots and also some of the lovely geums, and the smaller alliums:
I did think the smaller alliums (as in my earlier post) were a mistake, but I thought I’d try floating them in one of our ramekins (look how posh we are – we have ramekins! – not bad for an Essex Gal, eh …) and actually it really works.
I’ve put the geums in with some of our chive flowers from the garden and they look pretty good too.
Here they both are together, to give you a sense of perspective:
In other flower news on the allotment, the lilies and sweet williams look like they’re going to bloom fairly soon so I’m looking forward to that. And we are letting the rest of the asparagus go to seed to give it a chance to get sorted for next year – so our asparagus season is now over, but we’ve thoroughly enjoyed the crop. Also, I think that with a bit of luck and if the wind is in the right direction, we might get a second flush of rhubarb too.
The Allotment Wife 