Midsummer midweek bliss

Have been going down the allotment to water and weed some evenings this week and last, while the days are long. I don't get back from work till well past 7 most nights, so it's not long but it is relaxing to get completely away from the office!

Father's Day at RHS Wisley

Had our first strawberries this week. Dad's made his own frame to net them off against the birds.



We went to RHS Wisley for Father's Day. Took lots of photos of the incredible flowers and went to have a look at the model vegetable plots. I went down the plot to water things afterwards.

RHS Model plot


My Plot

Moving Marigolds and Weed Excavations

Despite the weather forecast was a nice day to go down the plot. Took some pics to start with. The runner beans coming along well and the spinach and lettuce have really recovered since the rabbit proof fencing went up!



First job of the day was to weed around the spinach and beetroot. Then I decided to excavate my carrots before they went the way of my parsnips and got throttled by weeds. Took a long time of careful plucking to clear the patch but they look satisfyingly good now (see below).


Next major operation was to continue clearing weeds in order to extend my broccoli bird net. Separated out the rogue marigolds from the weeds and moved them into a spot by the fennel. They look stunning at the moment! I finally cleared enough space to move the posts and re-tie the netting.


Henry came down at lunchtime and dug out another patch of weeds and couch grass to plant out his courgettes. Then he went for a BBQ with Steph and I shot off for a party in Guildford.

Making cages - to keep da wabbits out!

Hard work in the scorching sun today. The plot has really come to life. Happy to see a lot of plants that have been struggling looking good. Tomatoes are still alive but something is still chomping through the beetroot and even my broccoli which has been under netting.


The answer appeared in a flash of grey fur when I approached the compost heap - a rabbit! He shot off down the other end of the plot to hide in the weeds.


I spent most of the day pulling out grass and other weeds that are going to seed. Cut back a lot of the overgrown areas. Was pleased to see a lot of Marigolds, Poppies and Comfrey in amongst the weeds. Have pretty much given up hope for my parsnips though - they were swamped by weeds before they'd even got started.


I ended up making a cage for the beetroot and spinach with chicken wire - easier than fixing the whole fence.


By the time I got round to the main order of the day - building a net frame to keep the birds (and rabbits) off my broccoli, it was almost dark. Dad came down to give me a hand watering everything, which was nice of him. As we were packing up I found an altogether more welcome visitor to the compost heap - a small toad. Must be having a field day with all the slugs!

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Ladbird vs. Blackfly in The Battle of the Beans

Didn't get down the plot till late today. Chronically hung over all morning and afternoon but had a nice sleep by the river surrounded by dragonfly.


Discovered that my Broad Beans have a serious black fly problem. On the plus side there were a lot of ladybirds about. I read recently that if beneficial bugs are at work it can be best to take no action and let things re-balance on their own. So, instead of spraying with soapy solution I decided to let the little red bugs keep munching.


*Edit 8 June - The blackfly are now gone, but they have completely decimated the beans. Waiting to see if they'll recover.

Night of the May Bugs

Every year there are a few major ascension dates in the garden calendar. The first of these took place last night with the May Bugs. These beetle or cockroach like insects with Norman Lamont eyebrow style feelers spend most of the year underground as grubs. I often find them while I'm digging. Then for one night of the year they all crawl out to buzz around, frantically bumping into things and mating. Our house has been under assault. Every time you open a window or turn on a light they buzz in like fat carapaced daddy long legs (You can see one on my sleeve - he got stuck behind my hi-fi). They can be quite intimidating...


Yesterday I dug over the new patch in my back garden, which has been moved to where we had a giant overgrown conifer down. (You can see the old patch in the background - the yellow flowers are a sprout gone to seed). It meant digging and tugging out old roots whilst dripping with sweat and covered in dust. Then this morning I bought some landscape fabric and planted the strawberries out into slits and also in a pot.



On the allotment I built a frame for my mange tout peas, and a makeshift wire cover for my broccoli which both seem to have been pecked at by hungry birds. After some heavy weeding I also planted out the first of the wilted toms.

Baked or steamed to death?

Well I got home in a mood to do some gardening, glad to get out in the good weather and bounced out to my plastic greenhouse only to discover that *shock horror* I'd forgotten to unzip the bloody door this morning. All my tomatoes, peppers and broccoli wilted to death in a great seedling massacre. Thankfully a few survived in the shadier shelves and my lettuce at the bottom wasn't too badly scorched, but it feels like I'm back to square one...


On a plus point, the calabrese I planted out on Saturday is still alive down the plot and I have my first broad beans flowers appearing!

Little helpers

Rosie got dropped off by her Mum to come and help me today. They brought Trampus and Bramble with them who immediately charged onto the plot next door to take a leak on Jim's leeks. Little terrors...


Rosie did a good job sowing some beetroot, onions and parsnips for me.



The first onions are now up, as are the broad beans...

Plastic mini-greenhouse is down

So much for bricks in the bottom of the greenhouse. It was completely trashed by the gale force storm. Compost everywhere. Devastation. Should have waited a few more days before putting it up!


At least the tom's are all right in the bathroom...

Mutant Parsnips

I dug up the first of my parsnips just in time for Christmas dinner. Most of them weren't that big but I did find this for legged mutant whopper!

Unfortunately the sprouts are nowhere near ready. Should have planted them much earlier. Making slow progress on the allotment digging but at least I'm getting somewhere...

Moving in to Plot 18

Today we officially moved into our plot. I cycled down earlier this afternoon to have another look at what we've got to sort out. Unlike some people I know who have taken over new plots recently, ours isn't too overgrown. It's currently arranged into overgrown beds with overgrown carpet paths in between them all.


We're probably going to pull most of it up, make bigger beds, re-lay some carpet covered in wood chippings and put down some horse manure and/or a green manure over the winter.


While having a look I found some left over veg from the previous tenant. It felt a bit like a post mortem on someone else's growing season. Found dried French beans, Carrots, loads of Fennel, two pumpkins, a butternut squash, some knobbly cucumbers and some bush runner beans.

Tomatoes doing good - at last!

Well at last my tomatoes have come good! (at leat those that survived) I've had sweet juicy cherry Gardeners Delight in my lunch box every day this week, with these Harbringers (above) ripenening up quickly too. I think it's all the dry weather doing them good. I've had to do a lot of watering lately though, seems very dry for September after such a wet July.

We've also been eating loads of runner beans lately too. Definately the biggest success so far, theres some to pick almost every day!


The bad news is that I'm fearing the worst for my Broccoli, which have been completely descimated by baby slugs. The Sprouts are hanging on in. Time will tell.