A couple of my potato plants don't look well. I posted a photo on facebook and the hive wisdom says lack of water. I am pleased that it's not something that will spread to other tubers.
I picked some more nice crunchy radishes. They seem to be ready in groups of five.
I got a new phone so this is the first time I've been able to blog live from my plot. It's too hot for hard work but i'm sitting in what passes for shade on my plot and listening to Ella Fitzgerald.
It's also my first day of harvesting broad beans. It's a lovely job sitting in sun shelling beans. This already beats the sum total of last year's bean harvest.
Tonight we'll be eating primavera minestrone and tomorrow paella as it's a favourite in our household. Beans will be rashioned out between the two.
I'm gonna need to make an effort to water more often in this heat. We've not had weather like this since i worked shifts and it was easier to find time for the plot. Went mid week as well as weekend last week but i'm going to up the frequency to every other day. I'll save adding dried fertilizer till the weekend watering though.
The summer was slow to start this year but now it's here it looks like it will be a good harvest. I'm already on second planting of radishes. I've been more proactive against slugs and snails and so far they've only been eating the squashes.
It took one long weekend but for the first year in a long while i'm starting the year feeling like i'm not already chasing my tail.
Debate on the plots around whether it's still too cold for potatoes. I've decided to wait a week or two but the broad beans are in, carrots, parsnips and radishes. I'm not that optimistic about the roots though as i think i planted them too deeply.
I always regard the Easter break as the start of the gardening season which makes sense given the pagan origins of the festival. Yesterday i went to the homebase garden centre and purchased some supplies for the year and today i got down to work. I turned my compost and riddled the finished stuff into one of my raised beds. I planted broad beans, set slug traps and set in sticks to protect from birds. I also finished hacking down a blackcurrant bush and various entangled branches of something with thorns that i don't know what it is. I'm sore and tired now but pleased to have got off to a good start.
Today was sunny and warm. It filled me with enthusiasm for the plot. I spent an hour digging over my raised beds and adding in some chicken manure. I also got on with sawing off branches and cutting back bushes and overgrowing ivy.
We had a visitor from a different allotment site who came to talk about composting. It was quite poorly attended and i didn't learn much that i didn't already know. I always feel good about meeting other plotholders and feeling part of the community so it was still worth while.
