Growth spurt

I managed to get a good six hours on the plot today, weeding, strimming and planting. The raised beds continue to do well, as do the courgettes, herbs, beans and brassica, but the onions are taking a long time to recover from the intense warmth and lack of water over the last few weeks, and many of the raspberries have dried up in the heat. The potatoes look fantastic though, and today I was able to harvest lettuce, French beans, beetroot, potatoes (early crop), courgette, some raspberries and gooseberries.

Whilst Plot 129 warmly welcomes most wildlife (the lavender for the bees seems to have gone down very well) an unwanted recent visitor has been digging holes everywhere, and has also dug up about half the carrots in the raised bed. Badgers do dig up carrots looking for carrot fly larvae, but the carrots didn't show any sign of badger investigations. Tempting though it is to blame Plot 129's black-and-white nemesis, the jury is still out on the culprit...

Carrot devastation

 In other wildlife news, I was very happy to see many more butterflies on the plot today than I've seen in ages. The most apparent species were Red Admirals, with Cabbage Whites an unsurprising second.

Jerusalem artichoke

The five Jerusalem artichoke corms that I purchased this spring have yielded just the one plant, leaving me with half an unplanted bed. With various seed packets due to expire this year, I thought I'd experiment with planting squash a little late in the spare ground. Fingers crossed they sprout! I've also filled in the bean beds with a mixture of nearly-expired left-over bean and pea seeds, in case they are still viable, and filled in the dead onion areas with a new sowing of mixed raddishes.

The lovely colours of Chard

Sweetcorn

Tomatoes

Bergamot

Sunflowers, with my neighbour's beans (much better than mine!) in the background

Lettuce profusion

July Heatwave

It's been three weeks since I was able to visit the plot properly, and during this time the UK has been experiencing a lengthy heatwave. I suspected that a barren, dried-up wasteland awaited me, but much to my surprise many plants have coped extremely well - none more so than those in the raised beds, despite my fears that they would have been amongst the first areas to dry out. The beds were filled with a mixture of soil and heavy recycled compost, and it seems as though this was an ideal mixture for retaining the water. The lettuce looked fantastic, and I was able to pick my first crop of baby beetroot from one of the beds.

Beetroot, purple raddish and yellow courgette

The ground-level hyssop-edged bed, planted with cabbages and cauliflower, also seem to have thrived in the heat, as have the sweetcorn, beans and herbs (especially the mint, pictured left). The courgette plants look healthy, although they probably needed more water to fruit successfully - I was able to pick a couple of courgettes, and there are plenty more coming. The onions seem to have struggled with the dry spell, however, not competing well with the weeds for water, and the potatoes are showing signs of wilting too.

As you probably know, there's no water source at the allotments, other than the river, and what we can collect in water butts from shed roofs. I've also sunk an old, cracked water butt to create a mini well, which is great for the spring but absolutely no use at this time of year, when the water table drops. This may have been a blessing in disguise, however, as we've recently had news that diesel has leaked into the groundwater from a nearby building site, and elevated levels of hydrocarbons have been found in the wells. The building site has kindly put in a tap for us with mains water so that we're not reliant on ground water, and I'm happy to report that the tap has been sited exactly opposite the entrance to plot 129! so I spent a happy and soggy hour or two collecting buckets of lovely fresh water and liberally watering all the surviving plants!

Clematis

Cut-and-come-again lettuce, looking wonderful despite the intense heat

The very surprising raised beds

Shallots, with yellow courgettes to the rear

Today has been a good day - lots of weeding, lots of planting, and lots of harvesting! We left the plot with bunches of raddish, lettuce and herbs, enough to keep us occupied with cooking tomorrow.

Weatherwise, we've had nearly everything except hail and snow today. Temperatures averaged out at about 16 degrees during the day, but the wind was strong enough to bend the radish stalks over, and the rain heavy enough to  knock gooseberries off the bush. A beautiful double rainbow made us feel a lot better about the soakings we sustained.

Although its still a little early I planted out the sweetcorn this afternoon. I'm  off walking Hadrian's Wall for the next couple of weekends, and so now is the last opportunity before mid-July to get them in the ground. They haven't hardened off, but they have been planted under a mesh polytunnel, which should keep off insects, and the worst of the weather. Last year the badgers took all my sweetcorn, and so this year I'm hedging my bets - some will go into the new raised beds, and some have been planted in the ground, nearly as far from the garden entrance as possible. I also planted out some kale, having also grown them from seed in the greenhouse. My neighbour Victor gave me a top tip which I'm trying out this year - planting the new seedlings with toilet roll cores around them to prevent slug attacks. I'm really hoping this works as my cabbages and cauliflowers have been decimated by slugs this year.

In other news, most of the onions are doing well, the potatoes look great (the earlies should be ready to harvest once I'm back from the trek), but the beans are doing terribly - only about four of the thirty-six bean seeds have sprouted. I've a few runner beans growing on in the greenhouse so I can supplement the canes a little, but I suspect this year is going to be a Bean Failure.

The raised beds are the success of the year so far, sneaking top spot from the clematis, which really seem to have enjoyed the cooler weather. Other highlights are the Red Hot Pokers, and the marigolds, which are adding beautiful splashes of colour already. Thanks to Ewan for the pics...

 Lettuce bonanza

 Proto carrots...

 Bee central.

Well this, as Firefox might say, is embarrassing! It appears that a whole year has elapsed since the Plot 129 blog was updated. A combination of appalling weather to close 2012's growing season, equally awful weather to start 2013's,  plus technical difficulties put the gardener off reflecting on progress, and only the produce picked today has cheered her up enough to begin posting again:
Raddishes!

So what's new since June 2012? Well, Plot 129 now has a well - desperation at the constant need to cycle water two miles from home and the dearth of water butts (now resolved, I'm happy to say!) persuaded me to sink an old, cracked water butt as far down as possible. Down by the Thames, its not hard to reach the water table, and so this has been more effective than you might think. The addition of heavy stones on the lid to stop animals falling in has made it a perfect resource. We also have two wonderful new raised beds (4'x6'x2') that have made all the difference to root vegetable planting - for the first time in five years Plot 129 is well on the way to producing edible crops of carrots, parsnips and lettuce (not, of course, a root vegetable, but also vulnerable to ground predators). We're also trying some new varieties this year - Jerusalem artichokes went in about three weeks ago, and we have cucumelons, aubergine and lots of sweetcorn growing on in the greenhouse.

As of today, we also have early and late potatoes (King Edward) growing successfully, plus lots of onions (Centurion, Red Baron and Stuttgart Giant), mild shallotts, green and yellow courgettes, spinach, rocket and garden peas happily in the ground. The cabbages and cauliflowers met an early and catastrophic slug attack, but appear to be making a fine recovery, and have been planted round with Cabbage-White-butterfly-defying Hyssop. The 2012 Hyssop plants overwintered well, and have been supplemented with another 10, so Plot 129 is crossing its green fingers that the plants continue to deter the pests.

Other pest-control measures this year include the enthusiastic planting of marigolds around the vegetable plots. I'm not at all sure if they work, but they look very nice.

If I were to fill in the details of all the changes and planting that have taken place this year, this would be a very long post! So instead I shall try to blog a little, often, and keep a better record of Plot 129 in 2013! Happy gardening, all!

Excuses

Excuses...
The older you get the quicker time flies - it is June already! I haven't posted much recently because there have been Exams, and when I haven't been revising I've been on the allotment. I've popped down at least once a week, watering the seedlings, doing a spot of weeding and planting new seeds. Now that the exams are over and the bank holiday is here, I'm hoping to spend a lot more time on the plot!

Update...
The plot has really benefited from plenty of rain and a few good warm days recently - the beans are all up, the beetroot is going well, and the sugar snap peas are almost ready to pick. The thyme plants have really enjoyed the good weather - the citrus and woolly thymes are a mass of delicate pink flowers, and are attracting a variety of bee species.

We've had a few casualties in the rain though - the two clematis that were added to the new arch didn't cope with the sudden onset of cold weather, and so were dug up and temporarily rehomed in the greenhouse tent, where they are now both recovering. They've been replaced by two much sturdier specimens, who seem to be making the most of the arch and sending out a lot of tendrils. The arch has also had a couple of climbing strawberries planted close by - they're looking healthy, but so far showing no inclination to climb.

The two garlic plantations are also showing distinct differences - those planted in the shadow of the damson trees are looking beautiful. At two feet tall, their leaves are a strong healthy green, and are showing the promise of good bulbs. Those planted in the unshaded strip at the front of the plot look entirely different - thin stalks and yellowing leaves are a clear indication they are not finding it easy to grow. Next year, I'll be planting that area quite differently!

The transplanted asparagus and artichokes have taken well to their new raised beds, and are looking healthy. I haven't picked any asparagus this year - it seemed a good idea to give it twelve months to get established.

Something unexpected...
I've had quite a bit of company on the plot recently, and not just from the wildlife (shed eviction day for the mouse family was very sad, but it had to be done). The allotments are built on, or with, the contents of a Victorian rubbish dump - a perfect hunting ground for unfussy or amateur archaeologists! Giles and Lisa have uncovered a variety of antique domestic refuse, from the quite dreadful Asiatic Pheasant dinner service (we easily understood why that had been discarded) to a range of poison bottles and other chemist's products. It's great that the stuff is out of my soil, and quite astonishing to see so much come up whole out of the ground.

One of the nicest things about gardening for me is the direct link between effort and reward. You work all spring, and then in summer and autumn you literally reap the benefits of that effort. I don't always want to have to wait until summer though - so hurrah for winter vegetables, rhubarb and... cider :) A relaxing glass at the end of a hard day's work can't be beaten...

Today was my first day at the plot for three weeks. We've had huge amounts of rain recently - apparently April 2012 was the wettest April we've had for 100 years - so I haven't been down to the plot for a while. I imagined ark conditions, but it wasn't too bad - the soil is heavy and damp, but not flooded, and the cool temperatures have inhibited growth of both weeds and vegetables. The fruit trees look as though they have very much enjoyed the rain, as do the shallots and onions. The first few broad beans have poked through, and more asparagus has come up too. Still no sign of the other beans or beetroot. 

A bit of emergency strimming reduced the main paths to slightly more respectable lengths, and the recut thoroughfares were enjoyed by sparrows and waddling pigeons during the afternoon. I planted (rather late!) a set of chitted Maris Piper potatoes, in five potato bags - a new venture for me. I also built my second little raised bed for the artichokes, this time much more quickly with the invaluable help of a battery operated drill - so much easier! I'm still plundering an old compost heap for the soil - it's good stuff but probably full of seeds. It'll be interesting to see what comes up with the artichokes...

Digging out the artichokes was a surprising experience - their root systems seem to be as extensive and alien-looking as the asparagus; they might have been trees from their appearance. A good deal of tussling later, they were up, out, and waiting to be reburied in their new home. Not before time too, I had planted them much too close to my neighbour's fence four years ago, and they were threatening to invade. They were one of the first things I ever planted on plot 129 - gifts from my neighbour on the other side.

So all in all, I reckon I deserved that cider! Cheers!

There was plenty of traditional spring weather on the plot today - sun, wind and rain, and the occasional spot of snow! It was quite chilly when the clouds went in, so today I mostly dug out dandelions and, when I couldn't face another yellow flower, comfrey too. There's plenty on the plot to use as organic fertiliser and there was a massive plant just in front of the new arch - so it had to go. I suspect it will have the last laugh though, as comfrey roots are very deep, and very difficult to get out.

My plans for growing Chioggia beetroot and green manure have received a temporary setback, as a mouse seems to have got into my shed and feasted on seed packets. I've blocked up the one potential access point I could spot, so hopefully that is the last visit I'll have, but I shall be keeping an eye out (and my seeds in a tin!).

Does anyone have any good tips for (vegan!) ways to discourage mice?