Tag Archives: allotment

Runner and climbing beans, Squashes

plant out day: Squashes and beans

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With the end of May, being the closing of our frost window; today was plant out day. This was the result of plants being hardened off over the last week or so in quiet anticipation. Plus the plants were starting to get a bit too big to be stashed in the 4TB.

First thing first, three of the metre square beds had to be filled up, these were filled with well decayed farmyard manure. Then, sixteen squash plants, yes, sixteen, have been sunk. There’s half and half split, with some being plugged into raised beds, with the others being plugged into open ground. These were the seeds sown the second time around as the first batch had become cold and damp. Compared to what squashes have looked like at the same time in previous years, they are a bit smaller. I haven’t managed to sow and germinate pumpkins or butternut squashes, so this may be a jet episode.

Next came the beans. We had about thirty plants. These were the traditional scarlet emperor runner bean, as well as cobra and blue lake french climbing bean. All of these three varieties have in the past been very productive. I have another tray sat on the window sill germinating, so I may need to make some more wig wams at somepoint.

Soft fruit

soft fruit flowers

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pears raspberryfloower

The fruit trees were positively frilly with blossom. The blossom has long since disappeared with the wind, and it is now possible to see whether or not the fruit has set. The concorde pear tree, which has til now had not a lot going for it; does appear have set something. Not many nobbly bits are visible on the otherwise quite leafy tree. But they are there. The braeburn, falstaff and worcester pearmain are also showing signs of fruit setting.

Then there are the raspberries. Now, we have a number of different varieties, which span the growing season. What you see is the first flower on the summer fruiting canes. Not many of the all season collection have sent out green shoots and runners. So it was a surprise to see a white bloom. I know that the canes have to be so old before they send out shoots and runners. All of the canes are what I believe to be two years old.

The varieties that I have are:

  • Tulameen
  • Malling Jewel
  • Glen Cova
  • fall gold
  • Autumn bliss

The latter two are the autumnal ones. Sadly, I can’t remember which bed had which other summer raspberries in. I have also seen the autumn raspberries start to develop white blooms. A bit early, but I won’t argue with mother nature. I remember last year that the autumn bliss were really an abundant cropper, even with two single canes.

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Something about a flower show?

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Apparently, somewhere in London, there is some kind of flower and garden show going on. People have been working hard to create exhibition gardens, that even Her Majesty The Queen has visited with her family. The general public will also be in attendance.

You know. gardening and horticulture is no longe the enclave of the old as the hills flat capped fella. If you see the twitterati photos, the fellas are younger, prettier, and wearing rather nice suits. Didn’t see many ladies though, strangely, though they do exist in this particular world.

I have to confess though, I have no watched the television coverage. I have yet to watch anything like that on the box. Whilst I was quite happy to watch the big allotment series, I don’t even watch whatsitcalled, Gardener’s world. It simply doesn’t speak to me.

The garden’s are epic, there has been alot of work done; alot of crafting. You cannot doubt that. There was even some drama and contraversy, with one company flying in a bloom. I won’t wade into that, personall I’d try and grow my own. I cannot imagine the hardwork and of course money, that goes into such a scheme. I did suggest to the British Psychological Society (they are very good at listening to their members, I got a quick response and a fair hearin), that there could be a Psychology garden-now that would be fairly fabulous-but funding would be an issue. This saddens me, tha money always talks.

I do believe Thrive were there, they work like titans to promote horticultural therapy. So there is a definitely a link between horticulture and talking therapies. It is just not in the public domain in the heavy weight way it could be.

 

Soft fruit

soft fruit flowers

Are my autumnal raspberries meant be flowering, or are they like me, a tad confused?

There over forty canes sunk on the plot. Thirty two of them, are the typical pink ones, the others are yellow. This particular variety, is the fall gold autumnal raspberries that were sunk early this spring. I was not expecting to see an awful lot a this stage. Even then, I had expected the pink all season raspberries to be further on compared to where they are. Not many are green and leafy; they are largely still brown and sticky. There are still very few green runners visible.

So I am little surprised to see the flowers.

The unknown variety of redcurrant appears to have some fruit. This particular plant. is one of two, bought from pound land about four years ago. It is only just getting leafy, and as you can see, having blossom that is fruiting.

aubergine analogue 2015

Aubergines surviving…for now

IMG_4452

With the aubergines sending out their first set of true leaves, it’s time to pot them up. They have been removed from the cold propogater, potted up and placed onto a warm window sill. They are tiny, compared to the tomatoes to whom they are related. Then again, I did sow them a lot later. The plants themselves are delicate looking, and it’s probably going to be a while before they end up in the poly tunnel. All being well, they will get a wiggle on, get a bit taller and stronger.

tomatoes

Tomato transfer time again

Window sill shuffle is happening once more. The tomato plants, the first batch, had been sat in the four tier blowaway for some time. They have largely been growing quite vigorously, were becoming quite large for the small green house. There is a second, more diminutive batch remaining. The larger ones have now been transferred to the wendy house, the larger green house on the plot. They are still fleeced, as I really don’t want to take any chances at all. They are eventually going to go into the poly tunnel, once the red duke of york potatoes have been dug up. That might not be too long, since the leafy red and green foliage is quite rampant at the moment.

Five of the remaining habanero plants that are at home, have now taken the place of the larger tomatoes. There are still about half a dozen smaller tomato plants, that have yet to get a wriggle on.

cabbages and brassicas

Caging cabbages once more

One of the plot neighbours kindly gave us some cabbages today. Naturally, we had to sink them, and this became Ma’s project. She had already moved around some self seeded kale, so these went it with that. Didn’t lime them, or pop cabbage collars, so fingers crossed they will be okay. They were however netted over, to stop flying foes.