Revival

Plot has received minimal attention over the last couple of months, although a bit more than this blog has.

For the winter, I have eleven purple sprouting broccoli plants, some chard, and a few beetroot - all grown from seed.  Yesterday I put in Japanese overwintering onions and lots of garlic - Messidrome again.  I also cleared out the courgette beds - there were still a few cornflowers in bloom - and the French bean bed, managing to save a few beans for sowing next year.  I picked the one big squash that made it to a decent size, and had the unexpected treat of a few tiny artichokes, presumably due to the incredibly mild weather.  For the same reason, the summer-fruiting raspberries are having a last hurrah as well.

The Jerusalem artichokes are looking a bit sad and blackened but this seems to be normal according to Joy Larkcom; I should be able to lift some soon. The apple tree produced four small but very tasty red apples.

The last bit of sowing to do is the broad beans, in a couple of weeks' time, and until early next year it will be just tidying up and continuing to do battle against the snails and weeds.

Midsummer sowings

Today was time to sow the endive and cima di rape again, since midsummer is past and the danger of them bolting should have gone with it.  I dug up the garlic to make room for them; I grew a softneck variety this year and some of the stems had indeed rotted off at the neck, with the result that the skin had not formed properly around the bulb.  I now have a jar of garlic and olive oil puree in the fridge, since the bulbs looked edible (and taste marvellous) but didn't look like they would store well.

Another row of first early potatoes came up - the Arran Pilot this time, a white potato, which I'm looking forward to trying.  The rocket has finally started to show some vigour, the chervil is doing well, and I came home with a few broad beans from the Sciabola Verde.  I put in more rocket and chervil seeds, although I think I'll have to save some of the chervil seed for next year - the packet had 800 seeds.

The salsola has come up in a couple of places, which is very exciting, although there is very little for the amount of seed sown.  Also putting in an appearance are a few flowers from the summer flowering bulbs - I've forgotten what they are, but the colour is welcome.  A row of cornflowers is also about to start to bloom.  The French beans are well and truly up, although I'm not sure if the climbing ones have germinated - nothing is shinning up the poles as yet.  No sign of the love-in-a-mist I sowed, but the weeds are really fighting back along the back edge of the plot, and may have choked it.

Finished up by hoeing and watering, and wondering why it is that I can't seem to buy a hose.

Finally ...

... some rain.  It poured down last Sunday, we've had a few showers since and more is forecast for this weekend.  Hurrah.

My courgette plants went in this week, and I've sown more seed, mainly rocket and salad.  One bed of broad beans was cleared, and seeds for PSB and cavolo nero have gone in.  I have a big stock of oldish seed to use up this year so have been sowing fairly indiscriminately; if half of it comes up, I will be happy.

The salad leaves and coriander sown earlier this year have come up rather slowly, although there is about enough to cut now.  The strawberries are ripe, and I'm starting to get some raspberries too.  The French beans are up, although still quite small.  I think that perhaps one of the salsola seeds has germinated - but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for.  The first early potatoes should be ready about now, and I'll dig up the first plant this weekend.

Perennials

Inspired by Mark Diacono - I have his book A Taste of the Unexpected and he was on the Food Programme a couple of weeks ago - I have put in more perennial crops.  This week it is globe artichokes; three baby plants have gone in at the end of a bed.  I hope they make it.  Other plots around me have healthy artichoke plants, so I'm hoping they will settle and produce.  Of my existing perennials, only the gooseberry is showing a crop at the moment - eight tiny gooseberries.  It is only about a foot high. I am investigating other perennials to minimise labour and help fill the hungry gap.  The stony bed which currently houses the first early potatoes is probably a good place to put in some more fruit bushes; I could sieve it until the end of time and still it would be full of lumps of chalk.

I've harvested most of the Aquadulce Claudia beans now, and will be able to lift the garlic soon, I think.  The jerusalem artichokes are definitely up, and some of the leaves and herbs are showing signs of life.  Some of the first early potatoes are in flower and should yield a crop soon.  I picked a lot of mint, which rampages around the compost boxes, and am enjoying a cup of mint tea while I write this.

Shed!

Finally, finally I got sufficiently organised to order a shed, book a van and find a willing friend to help me (thank you Matthew!)  There was a nasty moment in B&Q when it seemed like my order had not been processed, and another one in the car park when we thought it might not fit in the van, but about three hours later it was up and ready to house my meagre collection of tools.  I still have to paint it as it is a terrible glaring orange at the moment; I have sorted inside, however, and there are nails and hooks for tools, a table, and - most important of all - a folding chair.  I can now go up to the plot to eat my lunch in comfort.

Shed ownership has spurred me on to buy more garden tools.  I bought one of the Wolf tool handles, and the hoe attachment; a Burgon and Ball Japanese razor hoe, which is a marvellous thing; and the fairly hilarious weeding finger - ideal for getting at the weeds that come up around the raised beds.  I immediately overdid it with the razor hoe, and gave myself a strained shoulder for a week.  However, the plot looks much tidier.

This week I harvested the last of the PSB, and started to pick the Aquadulce Claudia broad beans.  The jerusalem artichokes are up, as are the Sciabola Verde broad beans; the second early potatoes are also now up, and I've had to earth up the first earlies.  Salad leaves are just starting to come through as tiny seedlings; I've sown several rows of coriander, some lovage, chervil, pak choi, marigolds and nasturtiums; I've also sown an italian vegetable called Salsola (liscari sativa) which can be eaten raw or cooked, and looks a bit like samphire.  Today I put in some French beans - a climbing variety called Blue Lake, and a dwarf variety, Barlotta Lingua di Fuoca.  Tongue of Fire is not really an obvious association with French beans.

The summer bulbs are starting to come up in dribs and drabs; however last year's forget-me-nots came back with added vigour.  I've just sown love-in-a-mist and alyssum which I hope will compete with the weeds.  One weed I'll be keeping is the one on the right; I'm not sure what it is, but it is absolutely lovely.  It was coming up when I put in the various summer bulbs, so I'm fairly certain I didn't plant it.  The borage-like plant next to it is also very pretty and popular with the bees, so I always leave that to thrive when it reappears.

Renewal

The allotment hasn't been quite as neglected as this blog - although you wouldn't think I'd paid it any attention at all, going by the huge numbers of dandelions now in flower.

The Aquadulce Claudia broad beans survived the snow, as did the cavolo nero, which kept us in winter greens until about February.  The radicchio worked really well as a cut and come again crop; a month ago I cut it all down to the roots, and it has bounced right back with another crop.  The chard looked dead after the cold weather but also had a last hurrah.  However, the broccoli raab and red russian kale didn't do all that much.  The purple sprouting broccoli is now beginning to yield.  The asparagus is up, but I have to leave it for another year before harvesting.

Over the winter I've put in a plum tree - there is no blossom yet, but it might be too much to expect in its first year.  The apple tree is compensating and is covered with blossom.  Last month the first early potatoes went in - Red Duke of York and Arran Pilot.  Jerusalem artichoke also went in one bed - I'm hoping these will do well.  I also attempted to get ahead on the weeding, with little success.

This morning I dug over the last patch of plot still uncultivated, pulled out a bushel of nettle roots, rehomed several slowworms under the rhubarb leaves, and put in the second earlies - very late.  Charlotte, which I grew last year I think, and a red variety called Raeburn Gregor Cups.  I also sowed Sciabola Verde broad beans and some salad leaves.  Fetching water for the seeds, I nearly drowned a green lizard that was hiding in a watering can.  It pulled itself onto the rim, gasping, and I let it dry in the sun for a bit before trying to help it out.  Unfortunately my first efforts simply knocked it back in again, but I managed to tip it out into some weeds.