Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Yesterday's main job was to deal with hedges. I'd wanted to remove the horsetail from under the hedges while going round the grass on Tuesday, but there was simply too much of it. I therefore set about it first thing and pulled all the horsetail I could get at, along with a bit of bindweed and couch grass. It will grow back very quickly but at least its done for now. I also went round trimming off long bits of hawthorn, blackthorn and bramble to tidy things up.

There were also lots of little bits of horsetail growing in the path alongside the tunnel, so I made a start on this from the raspberry end and got nearly half way along before I'd had enough. I harvested a cucumber and ate some raspberries, then went home for a break.

I knew there was rain in the forecast and I was keeping an eye on the radar to assess how much time I had. I wanted to get the hedge cut in the front garden as today is recycling day so I could save myself a trip to the tip with the trimmings. I could see that there appeared to be some erratically moving showers about, so I got on with it. The "showers" turned out to be swarms of flying ants, dense enough to trigger the radar.

I'd probably done enough for the day by the time I'd cleared up the trimmings, but I knew there were weeds and horsetail growing in the raised beds, so I went back to the plot and pulled them out. This leaves just the pea, bean and rhubarb end of the plot, plus the rest of the path next to the tunnel that have not been thoroughly weeded this week.

Another job I wanted to get done was plant out some beetroot seedlings that were looking a bit desperate. These went in the corner of the tunnel where the potatoes had been, and I mulched them with potato compost that was definitely the horse muck, not the home made compost. Last year I found that the parts of beetroot roots that were exposed to frost turned an unappetizing grey, whereas the bits underneath were fine, so I have planted these within the frame of a plastic cloche so I can cover them when it gets cold. They should then last the winter.

I'd noticed on my rounds that the cucumbers needed tying in and the tomatoes were developing sideshoots, so I dealt with these, then harvested a tub of raspberries, a couple of late strawberries, a summer leek, a bag of peas, some courgettes for my brother and a couple of beetroot. I also ate the first of the gooseberries, which had turned a lovely dark red. This variety (Captivator) is a sweet one and I chose it primarily because it was described as "thornless" (it isn't). The taste is lovely, but the skins are like leather and are very sour if chewed, so they need spitting out, which rather spoils things. It could be because I am growing the bush in a pot, so I might plant it near the fence for next year.

[Penellype]

Busy all day yesterday, which was a shame as it was a nice, dry day. I just had time to nip down to the plot first thing and collect the water from the overnight rain, and I pulled out the worst of the horsetail from under the peas. Some of these will be coming out soon which will make the job easier.

Today is forecast to be dry this morning then wet this afternoon. I looked at the radar when I got up and saw that the rain was about 10 miles away and heading in this direction. I therefore went straight down to the plot, watered the melons (under cover) and picked some peas, french beans, a beetroot and a tub of raspberries. That deals with everything urgent and gives me something to eat if it rains all day. It is now raining, which shows the value of the radar over the forecast.

[Penellype]

As I expected it rained on and off most of Friday and I only had time to collect the water.

Saturday was busy as usual, and the main job I got done was removing some of the peas that had finished. The Meteor are a bit of a pain in this respect as some of them form new shoots with flowers on and new pods appear before the older ones are finished. My experience with these is that most of the pods are either very small with only a couple of peas, or they are empty, but I find it hard to be ruthless and remove them. Therefore there are still peas growing in the first row, which was supposed to come out so I can dig out the horsetail.

I also harvested more peas, raspberries, a beetroot, some french beans and a small kohlrabi.

Sunday's job was to finish digging the path next to the tunnel. For some reason I didn't have much energy and found this very hard work. I got most of it done, as far as the road side of the hotbed, and also removed the earlier of the 2 sowings of Hurst Greenshaft peas, which has finished. These are better behaved than the Meteor, and when they have finished they die. I was then able to remove some of the horsetail from in amongst the peas that I couldn't get at before.

Finally I harvested more of the 2nd lot of peas and another tub full of raspberries and went home to freeze them.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was frustrating as I had workmen in the house all morning so apart from a quick dash down first thing to collect the water from overnight rain I couldn't get to the allotment while it was still fairly cool. It was after 1pm by the time I could escape.

There was at least a breeze, although it could hardly be described as cool. I opened the glass in the melon house as much as possible - this is in full sun and was getting very hot. There were a couple of female melon flowers open and I attempted to pollinate them with my paintbrush. The ones I have done so far are looking like they are turning yellow and dying, so I am clearly not a very good pollinator . The 2 plants themselves are doing well and have just about filled the 6ft by 2ft growhouse.

There was one job that I wanted to get done, and that was moving the water bin near the tunnel door. I've been using the water from it recently and I wanted to dig out horsetail that was growing underneath it. As we are forecast thunderstorms tonight that could produce a lot of rain and potentially fill the bins, this was becoming urgent. It isn't a nice place to dig as it is near enough to the hedge to be full of roots, but I got 3 large pieces of horsetail out before replacing the bin.

Once that was done I harvested the last 2 buckets of Nicola potatoes which were dying down fast. These were on a par with the others, producing 2kg and 2.25kg of nice potatoes. I now had 6 buckets of compost that potatoes had been grown in that I know from my experience in the tunnel will be absolutely full of weed seeds. I decided the best way to deal with this was to spread it out over the horse manure base of the potato bed and let the weeds grow, then hoe them off repeatedly. This should get rid of most of them this year (I hope) and I plan to grow the onions in this bed next year.

Next job was tying in the tomatoes. The Oh Happy Day in the hotbed are once again producing large plants with forked branches - it is impossible to tell which is a sideshoot and which is the main stem. These are much more like a semi-bush variety than a cordon - last year they never grew more than about 4ft tall. I spent some time tying string round the branches and securing it to the stakes, which I was glad I had used rather than canes. The Ferline also needed tying up, but these are much more conventional cordon plants.

After a quick walk round during which I pulled out a few bits of horsetail and ate some raspberries, I decided I was too hot to do anything else. I harvested a handful of french beans and went home. Despite the overnight rain I went down in the evening and gave the pots some water, which will hopefully keep them going through today's heat.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was forecast to be very hot so I went down as early as possible and spent about an hour weeding, digging horsetail out of the tunnel and harvesting raspberries, peas, beetroot, cucumber, a few gooseberries and the remains of the blackcurrants before things became unbearably hot. There is nowhere in the shade at the plot in the morning.

The best news is that I found a developing melon about the size of a golf ball, so I should get at least one melon to eat. There were 3 female flowers open so I had another go at pollinating them with my paintbrush.

I went back after lunch to water all the pots and tomatoes - the temperature was now in the high 20s and although I expected it to rain over night, I thought things might not last that long. It was too hot to do anything else and I went back home where I could do little jobs in the shade.

Thunderstorms were forecast over night and I could see them gathering in the south before I went to bed. It was far too hot to sleep so at around 2.30 I had a look at the radar and saw a frightening squall line of extremely heavy rain ahead of the main rain band heading this way. The lightning detector was showing that the squall line contained thunderstorms and I decided to retreat downstairs where it would possibly be fractionally less noisy, and also slightly less hot. The squall hit the windows like a jet wash which soon changed to a clattering of hailstones (the radar later showed that we had one of the heavier bits) but thankfully there were only about a dozen lightning flashes (which I find very scary after a nearby house was struck last summer) and the hail soon turned to more normal heavy rain.

This morning I went out to assess any damage and collect the water. At home the storm had brought down the fruit cage net (which has clips that release if there is too much force from wind, snow etc) and one of the cucumber plants had become detached from its mesh and needed tying up. There was also water in the garage from the drain between my garage and the neighbour's - a drainpipe from her roof drains into a french drain there, and it had clearly been overwhelmed and forced its way through the garage wall. I went to the plot with some anxiety, but as far as I could see nothing had suffered any damage. I collected a dustbin full of water from my lids and trays and bucketed another dustbin full across from the water butt as it was nearly full. By the time I had finished I was far too hot and retreated back home.

[Penellype]

Because of the heat yesterday I had planned to do very little - a bit of weeding in the tunnel and picking a few raspberries. I went down after lunch and weeded the brokali, then had a walk round to check everything, intending to go home and try to keep cool. It was at this point that everything went seriously pear shaped.

The onions, which had been growing really well, had started to bend over shortly after I removed their net for the raspberries. I was expecting this and was waiting for the greenery to die back before easing some out of the soil ready to harvest. I noticed a couple of the smaller ones had now died back, so I gave one a gentle pull. It came away without any force applied and when I look underneath I saw the roots had gone and there was white fluffy mould. I know what this is, it is white rot, and it is very bad news. It can persist in the soil for 15 years and affects all the alliums. Quite how I managed to grow 80 perfect onions last year I have no idea, the dry summer being the only credible explanation.

I went home to look up its biology to find out what, if anything, I could do. Unlike most moulds it does not reproduce via spores, but produces black "sclerotia" which form on the rotting bulbs and reinfect the soil. This at least means that I am unlikely to bring home invisible spores on my clothes, but I will need to be careful of muddy boots (I already am, having a separate pair for home). The onions are edible if they have not gone soft.

Back to the allotment with some carrier bags, and I set about pulling and sorting 100 onions. There were some that were still well rooted and showing no sign of white mould and I put these to one side. Then I began the job of cutting off the foliage, peeling the outer skins off and cutting off the roots, back to healthy white onion. Most of the onions were as big as or bigger than a tennis ball, and believe me, this is not the sort of job you want to be doing in the blazing sun at 30 degrees when you have had almost no sleep the night before. I'd peeled only about 10 onions by the time I'd had enough, so I set off back home with a bag of peeled onions in one hand and a bag of the peelings etc plus the rotten ones in the other - these went in the bin, not in the compost - I didn't even dare use the hotbin.

The next half hour was spent chopping onions for the freezer - I did 4 and filled a 1 litre ice cream tub, then chopped another to use for tea. Then it was back to the allotment for more of the same.

By the end of yesterday I had dealt with all of the onions that were showing signs of white mould. There were another 28 that so far appeared to be healthy. I left these and some of the peeled ones and most of the foliage at the allotment over night as I was simply too tired to deal with them.

I was up at 6 this morning and headed to the plot before breakfast to bring back the remainder. It took me 3 journeys, and then I had to find somewhere to put the onions. I constructed some shelves from a blow away greenhouse in the garage and put the undamaged onions in there - these still have their foliage but I have cut off the roots (which is how the disease enters the onion) so I might be lucky and have some that will keep. The rest have no chance of keeping as they are peeled and have had the basal plate removed, so they will have to be used soon.

In addition to this, I harvested 3 large courgettes, 4 cucumbers, 2 beetroot, a bag of peas, a bag of french beans and some raspberries, some of which is for my family. All this also had to be carried home, and by the time I had finished at about 9.45am the thermometer was reading 30C.

[Penellype]

I didn't get back to the allotment yesterday, as it was far too hot, and I was also trying to get the lawns cut at home (but my battery ran out half way through the front one).

Today was forecast to be dry until late afternoon but as early as 8am it was quite clear that was wrong. I had an appointment at 9am and couldn't get to the plot until after 10, by which time it was already showery but still very hot (I'd spent a sleepless night on the sitting room floor, which was cooler than the 31C in my bedroom but still much too hot). I wanted to pick some peas and raspberries today as a minimum.

I picked the peas then went and stood looking at the raspberries. I was very tired and very hot, and my tolerance of anything difficult was about zero. A lot of the raspberries were damaged and I think what has happened is that a combination of raspberry beetle and rain (and me leaving over-ripe fruit because it is hard to reach under the net) has resulted in rotting fruit that has attracted flies and wasps. The whole row was buzzing with insects eating the fruit and I did not feel in the least inclined to put my hand inside the net. I went home feeling very sorry for myself - only a couple of days ago I was delighted with my lovely raspberries and now look at them! After the recent onion problems this was just too much.

After a coffee and a stern word with myself I went back and took the net off the raspberries as the insects were doing far more damage than the birds had done. This took some time, but I managed it without getting stung. After a change of scenery cutting down the finished Meteor peas and pulling the horsetail out of the onion bed, I went back and cut off some of the damaged fruit and put it in the compost bin. I managed to find about half a dozen edible raspberries, which I ate, before my tolerance of wasps ran out. In any case it was starting to rain so I picked 4 cucumbers for the charity table as I have far too many, and went home. I was glad I did, as I had not been home long when we had a thunderstorm with some very heavy rain.

The net really needed to come off the raspberries anyway, as some of the new canes were tall enough to be starting to grow through the net.

While I was writing this I remembered I hadn't been to the plot to collect the water from the thunderstorm. I went straight down before it got dark and collected a decent bucketful from the bin lids. I really must be tired to forget that, especially when most of the bins are empty!

[Penellype]

Today was always going to be all about rain. There was a torrential shower first thing that dropped about 12mm rain according to the local weather station. I went down to the plot as soon as it stopped and found the lowest part under about an inch of water. I filled 2 dustbins with water from the bin lids and trays and by scooping it up from the weed matting on the paths before it started to rain again and I retreated back home.

I went back after lunch in another dry slot and collected another dustbin full of water after more heavy rain during the morning (another 4mm). The path was still flooded but not as deep as earlier. Again I had to stop because it started to rain again, and anyway I was half way through making some soup (trying to use up the onions) so I couldn't stay too long.

Back again just now to collect a more normal bucketful as it hasn't rained that much this afternoon. The flooding has gone down and there were just a few puddles left. I picked a couple of raspberries and had a look around, and the best news is that there are now at least 6 developing melons. Now all we need is enough warmth and sun for them to ripen, which may be a challenge given the forecasts that I have seen recently for August. Time will tell.

[Penellype]

Sunday was a much drier day, the rain band having moved to the west. I went down early and collected the water from some overnight rain - only about a bucketful.

The raspberries were looking rather worse for wear and a lot of leaves and some partly eaten fruit had fallen on the floor. This all needs clearing up so that any beetle grubs on it don't pupate in the soil. Lots more leaves are going yellow or brown on the older canes, which is to be expected. I cleared most of one side of the row and cut off some of the branches that had finished fruiting before it was time to go to the stables.

By the time I got back in the afternoon the raspberries were buzzing with wasps, which hadn't been so bad first thing. I spent some time nipping bits of hawthorn, brambles and nettles off the hedges, then cut off a few of the low hanging elderberry branches which were weighed down with fruit and water. More needs doing but I like to be able to cut up and dispose of everything I cut off rather than create a pile to deal with later. I then went round the hedges again pulling out horsetail and a bit of bindweed.

I'd brought tubs for fruit with me, so now it was time to tackle the raspberries again. I cut off more branches that had finished, plus some with only red fruit on. A lot of this was damaged or beetle infested but I managed to harvest about 20 edible raspberries before I had had more than enough of the wasps. I then picked some gooseberries and a few blueberries (most are not ready yet) and checked round everything. The first of the melons is already larger than a tennis ball, and I adjusted the net under it to make sure it wasn't restricting growth. I also supported another 2 golf ball sized melons. These are very difficult to find as the whole of the growhouse is rapidly filling up with foliage, but I'm not complaining!

Finally I harvested some peas and french beans for tea and went home.

[Penellype]

I was aware that yesterday could be the only dry day I could make use of until Friday. I therefore wanted to make the most of it.

There had been a little rain over night which I collected first thing. This was a nuisance as I wanted to cut the grass and it was now wet. I trimmed some more finished branches and fruit off the raspberries, but soon had to stop as it was time for my weekly Monday morning meeting. By the time I got back to the plot the wasps were out in force and I abandoned raspberries in favour of pulling out horsetail.

I went round all of the raised beds removing horsetail and weeds as well as some dead rhubarb leaves, then dug all the horsetail I could find out of the tunnel and the path next to the tunnel. I weeded the peas and beans and pulled horsetail out from under the hawthorn hedge. I then went home for lunch with 4 cucumbers (3 of which I later took to the stables as the charity table wasn't there).

There was quite a bit of weeding and deadheading to do at home so I got on with that in the afternoon, and went back to the plot at about 5.00 to cut the grass. I managed to get some of the long edges cut as well, but ran out of time and energy before I had finished.

The intention this morning was to get up and go to the plot early if the weather was ok, but I didn't manage to wake up until nearly 8.30 - I must have been tired! Looking at the radar picture it had clearly been very showery so I wouldn't have gone to the allotment anyway.

The showers cleared by about 10am and I went down and weeded the tunnel, as this wasn't done yesterday. There were a lot of little seedlings so I concentrated on the beds where things were growing and the bigger weeds in the paths. I was very aware that the thunderstorm warning for today had been extended east to cover York, and I kept an eye on the sky. There were a lot of big clouds but nothing that looked too threatening.

At 11am I stopped weeding and took home a cucumber, some peas and some french beans. I then took the horsetail to the tip as my trugs were getting full. I also wanted to put the carrier bag full of onion peelings into the landfill skip as they were becoming a nuisance, and I needed to go shopping.

After lunch it was still dry and I managed another hour at the plot trimming the grass edges along the ends of the raised beds and alongside the hawthorn hedge. By the time I had finished it was clearly going to rain and that was the end of that. We've had some very heavy showers and a couple of thunderstorms this afternoon, so I will go down when there is a decent gap in the rain to collect the water.

[Penellype]

I was expecting yesterday to be a write-off as rain was forecast all day, but although there were some showers there were a few dry intervals too. I managed 3 trips down to collect water and harvested a few raspberries from in amongst the wasps. I also pulled out some weeds from around the place and dug out some horsetail from the pea bed. I was aware that thunderstorms were possible and there were plenty of lumpy clouds about so I didn't stay long on any of the visits. We didn't actually get any thunder, which was a relief.

Busy as usual today but I did have time to go to the plot this morning to harvest some courgettes, beetroot, french beans, leeks and the first 2 runner beans. A few of the pink blueberries were turning pink and I ate one of them - they taste quite different to the blue ones, and I can see why they are called "Pink Lemonade". I also took some photos as it was 1st of the month.



Melons in the growhouse (the red is a net round one of the melons), french beans in front. The tomatoes in the hotbed are growing well, beetroot this end. Romanesco under the white net are getting quite big.



Runner beans are doing well - the first 2 were ready to harvest as small beans today. The last lot of peas have nearly finished.



A better view of the peas and tomato plants.



The empty potato bed with the huge courgette plants behind.



Summer leeks, beetroot (nearly finished) and parsnips under the green net with the empty onion bed behind and more tomatoes in the bed in front of the growhouse.

The leeks seem perfectly healthy, yet they are in the bed right next to the one where the onions had white rot and there was no difference in the way the beds were prepared. I'm puzzled, but not complaining!

More photos to follow shortly.

[Penellype]

From the tunnel door - strawberries with runners rooting on the left, cucumbers and late peas in the middle, carrots, beetroot, leeks and romanseco on the right.



My poor gooseberry has been almost defoliated by sawflies, but is still producing fruit. PSB behind and kohlrabi on the left.



The view from the far end of the tunnel - brokali bottom right and more strawberries on the shelves, some of which are producing a few late fruit.



A better view of the carrots (Autumn King) in the tunnel, which look great above ground. No idea whether they will be any good to eat though - time will tell. The combination of copper tape around a plastic edge to the bed plus slug gone sprinkled over the seed bed has kept the slugs off enough for the plants to have a chance to grow. More beetroot near the tunnel door, with a frame ready for a plastic cover when the weather gets cold.



The cherry tree is looking happy enough in its pot. The blueberry is covered in fruit although they are rather small. The pink blueberry is huge and has some ripening fruit.

[Penellype]

A few close ups:



Pink blueberry.



Wholesale destruction of the raspberries by flies and wasps - all 3 of these fruit were covered in them although they are hard to see in the photo.



The biggest of the melons.



The new Chilean Guava plant, potted up yesterday.

[Penellype]

I was hoping for a dry day yesterday but it was rather showery. I managed a couple of visits to the plot in between and cut some more off the raspberries and also some low hanging branches off the elderberries in the hedge. I dug various bits of horsetail out of the tunnel and harvested a leek, peas, a courgette and some french and runner beans plus one ripe strawberry from the 2nd flush of flowers.

Today was much better, but being a weekend there were horses and my friend's garden to see to. I made further progress with the raspberries - first thing in the morning is definitely the best time from the wasp point of view. I also hoed the potato bed which was starting to grow hundreds of tiny weeds from the compost I put on it a while ago.

I went back after lunch and dug the horsetail out of the onion bed, then cut down some more elderberry branches - there is more to do but I like to be able to clear everything up, and I was running out of time so I called it a day. I harvested a couple of cucumbers and another ripe strawberry.

[Penellype]

There was a thunderstorm warning for Sunday afternoon, which meant I was pushed for time. I did about an hour before I went to the stables, mostly cutting off raspberry branches that had finished fruiting - a couple of the canes had completely finished and I cut these down. Its getting to the point where I need to start tying in the new canes so that they don't get blown over if it gets windy.

After a very early lunch I went back and carefully picked up all of the fallen raspberries and leaves that I could get at. There seemed to be fewer wasps around so hopefully having removed a lot of the damaged fruit they will lose interest. That done, I had another go at the elderberries, cutting down several more overhanging branches. I've nearly done all I can reach now. I also nipped a few brambles off that were emerging from the hedge and pulled some horsetail that was already reappearing along the hedge line.

The Hurst Greenshaft peas have finished so I picked the last few pods and cut down the plants. By the time I had done this the sky was starting to look threatening so I picked some french beans and more peas from the Terrain in the tunnel, which are just starting to be ready to eat, and went home.

We had a couple of heavy showers during the afternoon so I went back and collected the water so that the lids and trays were empty, then went to see to the horses early as I could see the storms brewing on the radar. I was glad I had as by my usual time for horses (about 6.30) there were ominous clouds around and rumbles of thunder. We had quite a bit of rain and one huge deluge for about 5 minutes, but I think we probably got off lightly as big storms passed either side of York during the evening as well as the one that went over us. I was heartily sick of it by the time the storms retreated north, but it was dark by then so I had to leave investigating the allotment until this morning.

By morning there was no sign that the allotment had been flooded, although the grass was unsurprisingly rather squelchy and the bin lids were almost full. I collected about 1/2 a bin full of water - at this rate my bins will soon be full and I will be putting the trays away as there will be nowhere to store any more!