Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

The rest of the raised beds



2 of the romanesco are starting to produce heads. The smaller one is doing something I've seen before, with lots of very small flower spikes surrounded by leaves. It may or may not be edible. The other is producing a more conventional head. I've had terrible problems with grey cabbage aphid at home, which has made the first crop of calabrese completely inedible. I'm hoping that these have not suffered the same fate, but I won't know until I start to harvest them.



Melons! These have been nothing short of staggering this year. There are 2 plants, both Emir, and I have already harvested 8 large melons, including the one in this photo, which was ripe yesterday afternoon. There are 2 more large ones (although not as big as that), 4 smaller ones, 2 of which are in this picture, and any number of small developing fruit. I have cut off all the long foliage that had no fruit on it to allow more light in and stop the plant from producing more flowers, and hopefully I will be eating melons for a while longer.



The watermelon in the hotbed next to the melons has produced 2 small fruit. One of them is sitting on top of the mesh shelf, the other is hanging down in the picture below.


Quite a lot of the weed matting on the paths is wearing into holes. It has been there for nearly 8 years and needs replacing, which I hope to do sometime soon.



The french beans at the road end are looking rather tired. I will leave some of the pods on to dry for seed.

[Penellype]

Last lot of photos for this month



The pink blueberry has produced very few fruit and has quite a few dead branches. Whether this is due to drought or that it doesn't like the soil remains to be seen. I have not watered any of the fruit bushes during the summer as this end of the allotment tends to be damp and is quite shady.



The chilean guava has some fruit forming.



The rhubarb in the bucket has had some water and clearly likes it here. The gooseberry and blackcurrant are looking tired.



Courgette Defender in the compost bin has been a bit battered by the wind but is still producing plenty of fruit.



The blueberry is starting to look autumnal and the hollyhocks have finished flowering and have been cut down.

[Penellype]

To give an idea of the size of the large melon, this is half of it on a 10 inch plate

[Nicos]

Very impressive Pen!

[Penellype]

For a while I have been wondering what to do with the leaf mould, which was in black dustbin sacks near the compost bins (see the last photo in post 1487). Yesterday I was chatting to one of the people who lives on the way to the allotment and he mentioned that he had a compost bin that he wanted to get rid of. It turned out to be exactly what I needed and I carried it down to the allotment and put all the leaves in it. The only problem is that it is currently where I intended to put the small blueberry bush, but I will deal with that when I have to.

[Andraste]

Nice one

[Penellype]

October - a very damp allotment.

Not so many photos this month as it was raining.




I keep cutting bits off the hedge to try to take it back a bit - more to do. The runner beans are leaning towards the camera - I am doubtful that they will survive this weekend's storm.



The melons are just about dead, but there is still a little green and the fruit are starting to turn yellow. Romanesco behind is ready to eat.



The enormous Honeycomb tomato is producing huge quantities of fruit. I am keeping an eye on it for signs of blight.



Beetroot under the green net is slowly being eaten, and 3 PSB plants have been planted in the middle of the bed where the peas were. The last bucket of potatoes behind has been harvested. Early crop yields were good, maincrop have been the worst since I started growing Desiree at the allotment in 2019. I blame the dry weather.




The courgettes have mildew - Sure Thing on the right is affected more than Fireze on the left. Both still have courgettes on, although Firenze has more. Some of the glass has been put back on the grownhouse to protect the Oh Happy Day tomatoes from the cold and rain. One of the 2 plants does not look at all happy, but the fruit is still ripening slowly.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel.




All the peas have now been removed. The PSB has formed nice big plants, but the one nearest the tunnel has grey cabbage aphid, which i have been removing every day. I am trying spraying it with a solution of garlic and a little washing up liquid, but it is difficult to cover the whole of the plats. I am using a horse dosing syringe to fire it at the leaves. The cucumber on the left is looking worse for wear but still producing some fruit.



Similar comments apply to the cucumbers in the cold frame. The strawberries could do with a trim.



Parsnips are growing well and putting on noticeable new growth since it started raining.



The kohlrabi in the centre bed is ready to eat. The spinach at the shed end (below) is growing well.

[Penellype]

More in the tunnel



The PSB plant that is being damaged by aphids.



Kohlrabi.



Beetroot Lutz Green Leaf.



Tomato Garden Pearl is doing its best to ripen.



Cucumber Cucino still producing small cucumbers.

[Penellype]

More photos



The tomatoes outside the tunnel door are ripening very slowly - Crimson Crush is doing better than Oh Happy Day here, but it was planted rather earlier.



The blueberries are looking very autumnal. Just behind them is the new compost bin that I am using for leaf mould. The courgette in the compost bin is still trying to produce fruit, but several have not set.



The tomatoes in the growhouse (Oh Happy Day). I have had about 20 large fruit off these so far.



The romanesco is ready to eat, but is an unappetizing brown colour and rather coarse textured. I'm not sure if this is the variety or if the drought is responsible.



The runner beans still have plenty of green foliage, but only one small bean and a couple of flowers. The french beans next to them and in the tunnel have finished and I have left some pods on to dry if possible.

[Penellype]

Final lot for this month



The spinach near the raspberries is growing well and some leaves have been eaten. I am not sure if it is going to bolt or not - it has that look about it.



The Sungold tomato, which is nowhere near as big as Honeycomb, is producing plenty of fruit. The watermelon, which was in the next bed, has died down having produced a small fruit slightly bigger than a tennis ball and a bigger one about 6 inches across. Both fell off in my hand when I touched them, and I have eaten them. The small one wasn't ripe, but still tasted ok, the bigger one was nearly ripe and very nice.




Yellow beetroot behind the Sungold tomato is doing well.



Older beetroot and young PSB in the pea bed.




Courgette Firenze suffering from mildew but still producing plenty of small fruit.

[Containergardener]

Still plenty producing Pen.
Good thought about the runners, might try and get mine cut down beforw the winds. Not many left on mine now.

[Penellype]

November



Beans have been cut down to stop them blowing over.



The melons have finished - they have been fabulous this year. The romanesco behind is slowly being eaten.



Watermelons and the big cherry tomato plants have also gone so everything looks rather empty at this end.



The older beetroot is being eaten and the PSB is growing slowly. So far, touch wood, there is no sign of aphids on these plants.



The Firenze courgette survived much longer than Sure Thing and there was still a 4 inch fruit which I was going to eat yesterday, but the slugs got there first. The plant now needs removing. The tomatoes in the growhouse are ripening very slowly.

[Penellype]

In the tunnel



The PSB is growing well and the central heads will soon be ready to eat. There is a constant battle with grey cabbage aphid and I am spraying them every day with a dilute solution of washing up liquid. It does kill them, but the plants are so big and there are so many crevices they can hide in that I haven't the slightest chance of eradicating them completely. All I can hope for is to keep the numbers down and that they haven't got inside the flower heads, which would make them inedible, just as happened with my summer calabrese at home.



The french beans, tomatoes and cucumbers have been removed. These all did well this year. The strawberries need trimming.



Parsnips look ok but I haven't yet harvested any. The kohl rabi is ready to eat.



Beetroot Lutz green leaf in the middle is doing ok if rather variable.



The spinach has a lot of slug damage but I have had a couple of good picks off it and I'm hopeful it will last until spring.

[Penellype]

PSB in the tunnel nearly ready to eat.



Beetroot in the tunnel.



The Crimson Crush tomatoes are still ripening slowly, Oh Happy Day is rather behind, but was planted later. No blight on these yet.



Spinach near the raspberries has less slug damage than the plants in the tunnel.



Yellow beetroot has a bit more light now the tomatoes have gone.