A taste of summer...

Well for a Bank Holiday weekend the weather has really played ball. Admittedly it wasn't 'Hotter than Spain' here in Nottingham, as some of the press suggested earlier in the week, but for the most part the sun shone warmly and we're now being treated to some showery rain. Perfect growing weather!

Down at the allotment things are progressing nicely. The warmer weather and the rain we had during the week have really pushed the plants forward and the site has now taken on its 'more green than brown' look - a beautiful view to greet you when entering the site through the top gates.

On my plot I've spent a good few hours weeding, planting and muck spreading in the past couple of days. Everything is now poised and ready for the tender summer crops to be released from their pots into the warm soil of my raised beds.

The first of such plants went in on Sunday - the various climbing beans. Many on the site had put them in several weeks ago, with many suffering and eventually giving up the ghost in the chilly evening breeze. However, temperatures of 20C and some rapidly growing beans overspilling their root trainers meant they were the first tender crop for the plot. The picture below shows how they currently look, and after only a couple of hours in their new home they were reaching for the sky and twining round their supports.

I've also finished planting the polytunnel now, with 14 tomato plants and 10 chillies/ peppers located snugly inside. The one remaining plant is the melon, to be grown up the trellis at the back, but which is still only at 2nd true leaf stage and about 2-3 weeks away from being ready. Here's how it looked yesterday.

The first earlies, broad beans and onions from seed are progressing well, especially after I weeeded the bed by hand today and removed the competing thistles and chickweed. The picture below shows the bed, which has overwintering onions at one end, the Kelsae giant onions from seed in the middle, and the broad beans at the other end. The second photo shows the rows of potatoes with the cordon apples and pears behind.

The final shot from this weekend is one of which I'm extremely proud, not for its photographic quality but more for what it shows. I've managed to nurture 5 apricot fruits to about walnut size so far and, with a bit of luck, I'll be tasting a home-grown, allotment ripened fruit some time in July.

Next week the courgettes, pumpkins and sweetcorn go in and then it's time to sit back and wait for the harvest!

Mid-May quick update

Not a great deal to report at the moment due to a number of factors limiting my time at the plot in recent days. The weather curtailed the bulk of the weekend's potential activity, although it has to be said the rain has been most welcome and I, for one, am not complaining!

The other main reason for lack of activity is that all my hardy veggies are now in the ground but I feel it's still a few weeks too early for the tender crops to be going outside, so there's not an awful lot to do. Most of my squashes, cucumbers, beans and sweetcorn are progressing nicely but they're still a fortnight or so away from being planted out.

I did visit the plot this afternoon, dodging steady drizzle and heavy showers, to make a start at planting the ploytunnel and the celeriac. It was quite pleasant in the polytunnel listening to the rain beat down on the plastic cover, whilst inside all was snug and relatively warm. The melons and chillies are nowhere near ready yet but a few of my early tomatoes have progressed well and are now in and ready to reach for the sky. The strongest plants are from the Red Cherry seeds I received free from Gardeners' World magazine, follwed by the beefsteak 'Faworyt'. I planted 8 plants of mixed varieties in total, with space for a further 6.

Outside, I have created a double staggered row to accommodate the 20 or so celeriac seedlings and also found space for my globe artichoke. This should hopefully establish well this year, come through the winter relatively unscathed, and start to produce for us next year. Having never cooked and eaten an artichoke it will hopefully be worth the wait...

The final, possibly controversial, piece of news is that I'm thinking of digging out the asparagus and using the space for squashes. I love the idea of fresh asparagus and when we do pick some it is really tasty. The problem is that from 10 crowns we get enough for about two or three small portions are year and the production is staggered so that some spears have gone over by the time others are ready. Given that the land is taken up 12 months of the year for a crop of no real note, the space is being somewhat wasted. I might consider lifting and relocating some of the crowns, but I think the days of a dedicated asparagus bed might be numbered.