Mid June update

Another warm and sunny weekend here in Nottingham, so more time was spent lazing in my back garden than down at the plot. I headed there once it had cooled down a bit late on Sunday afternoon, namely to dig some more potatoes for tea but also to plant my Cobnut squash. As is always the way I found several other jobs to do and also took a few pictures to gauge progress.

Here is the inside of the poly tunnel, with the first flower trusses formed on the larger cherry tomatoes and chillies.

The next picture is a closer shot of my two melon plants. The one to the left I bought from a nursery, the one to the right I have nurtured from seed and is currently progressing well.

The final picture is across the plot from the other side to the poly tunnel, showing how things are progressing.

I have a heavy work schedule for the next couple of weeks so time at the plot will be limited. It was pleasing to see on Sunday that the first raspberries were ripening, the gooseberries were swelling nicely, and many crops seemed to be progressing towards at least a small harvest in the not too distant future. Given some rain and sunshine I hope to report back towards the very end of June with positive news and a wealth of fresh fruit and vegetables for the table.

First potatoes of the year!

I finished work slightly early today so I nipped to the plot for a spot of weeding and tidying. I also thought it was an opportune moment to see how the potato crop was progressing. It's 11 weeks since they were planted, and the conventional wisdom is that the first earlies should be ready for lifting from 12 weeks onwards. At my plot the Charlottes, second earlies, have been in flower for a week or so now, with the Pentland Javelin showing no signs of flowers just yet. As flowering is also viewed as a sign that potatoes are nearing readiness, I thought I'd stick the fork into the row of Charlottes and see what I found. Up came a dozen or so small to medium sized potatoes, followed by a similar amount from the next plant. Small, and perfectly formed, they were fantastic lightly steamed with flat leaf parsley and melted butter for tea!

Judging by what came out of the ground the crop still has a week or two to go before there are a large number of decent sized spuds, but this first rummage is always the most exciting of the year. I'm also aiming to take 'little and often' this year, as opposed to lifting them all at the same time and wondering what an earth to do with kilos of potatoes, so I'm happy to sacrifice a couple of plants in the name of early gratification for my stomach!!!

Some welcome rain

After the heat of last weekend and early this week it's been a steady decline temperature wise over the past few days, culminating in two decidely chilly weekend days more reminiscent of October that early June. Although it's meant time at the plot has been severely limited this weekend, and the tomatoes and other tender crops will no doubt sulk, the copious amounts of rain that have fallen over the past 48 hours were desperately needed and will have done the plot a world of good.

It always seems strange to friends of mine when I look to the skies and hope for rain, but that's what happens when you become a gardener and allotment holder. The ground has been needing a thorough soaking for a few weeks now and there's plenty of time to wish for long, hot summer days. The problem in the past two years has been too much rain when we needed sunshine and warmth to ripen fruits, so I'll gladly take a washout weekend in early June in exchange for a dry, warm July and August...

On Saturday afternoon the clouds parted enough for me to get out for a couple of hours. The soil was perfect for weeding so I spent some time removing a range of annual weeds that were obscuring the neat rows of parsnips, carrots, scorzonera and beetroot. This accomplished, I also managed to plant some leeks - a new variety to me called Pancho. In the past I've always grown Musselburgh but this year I'm trying two different varieties. Pancho should put on some good fast growth and provide slender leeks from late summer onwards. For overwintering I've chosen a variety called Toledo, which will be planted after the early potatoes are lifted and will sit in the ground all winter to be taken when required.

Having played around with my water butts last weekend, in anticipation of some rain, I now have three of them linked together and being fed by guttering on each side of the shed roof. By the end of Saturday the first butt was full and today's rain should have gone some way to filling the next. I doubt I'll manage to get all three full this summer but it should provide me with enough water for those plants that need extra help in the coming months. The winter rains should them fill all three and mean I'll be self-sufficient in water, which is an important consideration on a site with no access to water whatsoever.

I was hoping to get the remaining pumpkins and squashes in this weekend but the cold and damp means they'll stay in the safety of my greenhouse for another week yet. Once they're in, all the first round of crops will have been planted and the next step will be to start harvesting the early potatoes and thinking about the autumn and winter crops that are going to replace them.