Flaming June

June continues to be an excellent growing month with warm sunshine and showers. Not had to water the palnts too much this week with heavy showers on Tuesday evening and Sunday afternoon. Continuing to dig up salad potatoes. Because some of the varieties are maincrop i can leave them in longer and eat them full size. I think i planted too many this year taking up too many beds. The ones grown in containers did really well with better quality spuds with no scab or pest damage. Slowly moving some of the Sprouting Broccolis into where the potatoes were though some of them are sprouting now. Not sure if it's the warm weather or because i sowed them too early. Anyway I will eat then now before they go to flower. The Dwarf Kale Has been especially good to eat, just picking off a few leaves per plant then i will leave them to overwinter.

On Monday I made Aloo Saag with potatoes and spinach from Karol Kliens recipe book. I think the secrect to growing is also knowing how to cook things and what they can be used for as there is a tendancy for gluts of food and the inevitable over facing of the same veg!

On Tuesday I took cutting from shrubs, Hebe, Buddleja, Honeysuckle, Fuchia and Willow.

The rest of the week is picking and eating salad, radish, beetroot, baby carrots, tidy up and weeding. Potted up some chillies and peppers and pricked out the artichokes. As the summer holidays approach quickly i need to make sure all plants in pots are planted out and settled in before going away. Not a good time of year to go with so much going on in the allotment but I need, we all need a good rest. Ronnie on the next allotment has agreed to look after things and pick the veg and fruit thats ready. Millies also will keep an eye on things as well. Always exciting coming back from hols to see whats grow etc.

On Saturday planted out the last of the peas 'kelvendon' and 'meteor' and beans 'valour'. Then got soaked with the heaviest downpour i have seen for ages. Did the plants and duck good though.

Sunday was a lovely day, warm and humid, too hot to work so some friend came to visit us which was a real treat. Good to have friends that appreciate what we do. Hopefully we can all do it together soon!

Had a little barbeque just for the kids and us. Two fresh Trout, new potatoes and salad with marshmellows to finish. Perfect end to perfect day.

to busy to take any photos i think this week. will sort some out for next blog

Friday and Saturday was rain so very little done. On Sunday I divided up some primroses, potted up a couple of cayenne and peppadew chillies and a bit of weeding. Weather gone sunny again. Too tired to do too much, sal and kids went to the farm to go horse riding and i read up on taking cuttings and had a nap in the pen house. I took some photo's to show the progress so far and dug up some 'Dunluce' first early potatoes. As you can see from the pic's, not very big plants but some nice big spuds. They were a little floury and broke up when boiled but still very tasty.

Next are some pictures of broad bean 'bunyard exhibition' and 'pea meteor'. The three sisters bed with sweetcorn, bean and pumpkin (and courgette) Chillies , tomatoes and basil in the greenhouse. THe kids raised beds and finally the herb bed

Another nice weekend with warm and sunny weather. I finally finished tidying up the large conifer next to my shed. It does take up quite a bit of space but provides shade for the salad beds and partially hides the shed from the roadside. Beacause of the dry weather everything needs watering, sometimes twice a day! Some of the mizuna and pak choi in pots i have planted out to give them a better chance. Sunday was another hot and sunny day, too hot to work too hard so i sowed some fresh poppy seeds, pricked out the echinaea seedlings and put up some netting for the kids peas. then it was a rare time to put my feet up and have a snooze in the sun.

All the trees and plants attrct a variety of wildlife from insects, birds, frogs, toads and even rats! They come through from the chicken pens. I dont mind them too much but they do make you jump. There are plenty of birds nesting and feeding nearby. This baby coal tit was taking a rest in the trees

You can never have enough pictures of clouds and sunsets. Nothing more to say. Let the picture speak for itself

Finally, these are 'charlotte' potatoes that were grown in pop up bags. These were planted 8/3, three seed potatoes per bag on 4" of compost and covered with 2" they slowly filled up as the shoots grew. I was very impressed by how many were in the bag when i emptied out though i did notice the soil was very dry. So even with good watering they didn't rot and they grew well.

Charlotte

On Tuesday i emptied the bag of 'Nicola' potatoes and these gave a similar result, 1 1/2- 2lbs of new potatoes. On Wednesday it was 'Juliette' potatoes. The weather turned very wet and windy and they were in danger of damage, well thats my excuse anyway. I love new potatoes! The weather stayed cool and cloudy for Thursday but managed to plant out lupins into nursury bed, fennel and chard next to the peas. Harvested spinach, spring onions, turnips and radich for salads. I needed to build some kind of windbreak around the asparagus as they were in danger of damaging the crowns. The next to be tried was the 'Belle de Fontenay' of all the varieties tried so far these are my favourite. They have a nice old fashioned taste and hold their shape well quite sweet too.

Juliette

Belle de Fontenay

Hot June continues for the beginning of the month. Picked up some more gardening work which is always a joy. Wednesday (3rd) was a lovely day with me and the kids staying up the allotment until 8 o'clock. Still a lot of watering to do but the crops are doing ok. The strawberries are coming on now so i have put some straw under the fruit to protect them. On Thursday we had the first strawberry of the season, an 'aromel' everbearing variety, very sweet and juicy. All the plants were fed with liquid seaweed to give them a little boost. Some of the beans still not looking too good and a couple of the courgette plants dont look like they will survive much longer.

Very pleased with the turnips 'oasis'. These were sown 2/3 seeds per module and planted out without thinning. As you can see in the picture, as they grow they push each other apart. This may not do too well if they were left to grow full size but they recommend you pick them about the size of a golf ball. I have to say i prefer them raw than cooked. Nice sweet taste when raw and more to them than radish.

At the weekend the weather turned cooler and eventually rained which was good for the plants but not much to be done. I did pot up the chillies at home, pricked out and potted up the lupins, sowed a salad tray in modules, some more peas and beans and finally some green primrose seeds. On Gardeners World Carol Klein demonstrated how to grow primrose from green seed, worth a try.

Through the week the wethaer has picked up again, not as hot as before but a good mixture of sunshine and showers. A busy week of gardening but well worth it. Below is a little tray of pickings. Turnip, radish and spring onions for salads, rhubarb for dessert and chinese cabbage for soup. The cabbages have done really well with not pest damage and little attention. These were sown on the 14/4 so are pretty quick to mature.

On Thursday I dug up first if the salad potatoes 'belle de fontenay' with my little helper Elisabeth. We both had great fun finding all the little potatoes in the soil. Despite the rain recently the ground is still very dry. For one plant we collected 1 1/2 lb of potatoes. They had a lovely sweet taste especially with a little butter and salt. They were planted on the 22/3.

Clematis 'Markham Pink' . Despite many seeds sow only one germinated but i am very pleased with its growth so far. This is an early variety with profuse pink flowers. I'm not sure what the variety is in front of the green house but this always puts on a spectacular display each year. The bottom photo is of the grapevine inside the green house. This does well also with small sweet black grapes.

Hot June

Another hot weekend which looks like holding out for a while This is good for growing and some of the plants put out too early are starting to recover. It does mean more watering, especially newly planted crops and those in containers. The salad crops under the cloche are doing really well and unless the weather turns bad it can come off completly until autumn to extend the season. The largder plants are turnip 'oasis' which were sown in modules to grow as a cluster. These are now about the size of a golf ball, very tasty raw but not too sure about cooked! Other crops are spring onion, chinese cabbage, beetroot, cutting celery, radish and carrot. The first sowing of radish have been pulled and a new row sown.

A second row of peas have been sown here with dwarf beans in between. At the front are some fennel which were sown early. I have another batch to go in shortly. Just out of camera is a ring of runner beans to be supported by a wigwam of canes. The rest of the pictures show how the crops and plants are coming on despite the dry weather.

Garden Plot in June

These are a series of photo's taken over the first weekend in June. So far this month it has been very hot which means lots of watering. Some beds are quite shady so they dont need to much watering but the south and west facing beds are drying up and the newer plants need watering well to allow them to establish.

As the spring plants begin to lose their flowers its time to tidy them up and put the flowers on the compost heap. Now it leaves gaps which can be filled in with annuals and repositioning with perennials. The big house and the kids house have now been painted which will keep them lasting longer and looking better. The 'toilet' was in a small shed but has now been moved to a my bigger tool shed! When the weather is nice there is no better place to be with my family. Now that most of the jobs are done their is a little more time to relax. But i cant resist just tweaking here and there when i see something that needs either staking, pulling or replanting. I guess its the nature of gardening.

The grass is growing well and is a good place for the kids to play and for the adults to sunbath. I am always tempted to make the beds bigger as i keep growing too many plants each year and need somewhere to go!

My favourite part at the moment is the newest part next to the pond under the pear and buddleja trees. I have tried to make the ground good for shade and moisture loving plants and so far they are doing well. There are hostas, hucheras and a gunnera.