My Urban Oasis: July 2009

Although I've been to the plot several times each week this month, there's not that much to update in terms of new activity. After the hard work of spring, the plot is now in its mid summer lull, with most of my time there spent picking crops, such as runner beans and courgettes, and weeding in between the rows.

I've picked more beans already this season than the whole of last year and there's plenty more to come, with the Painted Lady runner beans both prolific and pretty with their red and white flowers. The Borlotti beans are slower this year but I noticed yesterday that the first flowers are forming. I've also picked some fantastic Boltardy and Burpee's Golden beetroot - taking little and often I've been able to thin the rows to allow others to grow larger and have managed the crop so that I won't be left with a massive glut for pickle in the autumn.

The last of the summer raspberries are still ripening and they'll soon be replaced by the first of the autumn crop. Having moved and thinned the raspberry canes in February to create room for my cordon apple and pear trees, this year's harvest of summer raspberries has been a pleasant bonus and there are now plenty of sturdy new shoots forming to carry next year's crop. Seemingly earlier every year, there is now also a steady supply of ripening blackberries, although the major harvest should come in August when I hope to make some type of jam or preserve from them.

Given the lack of action at the moment, I've used the last couple of weekends to get out and about and visit some gardens. A trip to Garden Organic, in Ryton near Coventry, was a fantastic afternoon's stroll around formal and informal vegetable, fruit and ornamental organic gardens. I've taken plenty away from this visit, such as companion planting and techniques to get the best out of organic growing systems and it was also pleasing to see that many of the techniques I use were exemplified as good practice. One thing I'll definitely be trying is green manure on fallow beds, helping to lock in nutrients and providing some back to the soil when they are worked in.

The other trip was a day at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. The house and grounds were impressive but I was most interested in their large kitchen garden. Again it was pleasing to see that many of the techniques and growing styles were similar to my allotment, although of course on a much grander scale. They were growing a wide range of crops, some in orderly rows and others in smaller, mixed bed systems - similar to my experiment of old and new growing techinques this year. It was disappointing not to be able to enter the vine houses but a view through the glass revealed some very impressive bunches indeed - one to consider for next year maybe..!

The plot has been left a bit to its own devices recently, with only fleeting visits to pick and to keep on top of weeding. It's amazing how everything has responded to the warm weather of late, none more so that the plethora of weeds which tries to engulf everything as soon as my back is turned. I'm keeping on top of the pernicious perennial weeds as soon as they appear, such as the dreaded bindweed, but some of the annual weeds manage to get a foothold until they are either hoed off on a dry day or pulled when it's rained. The recent monsoon has thoroughly soaked the soil and so such weeding is almost a pleasure!

It's not just the weeds that have taken off recently though. Below there are a few pictures I took around the plot on Sunday 5th July and you'll see the extent to which things have grown since I last took some pictures in mid June. I am eagerly anticipating the first of my Painted Lady runner beans, the first of the courgettes have been picked and fried, the broad beans are groaning under the weight of pods and the salad potatoes have provided enough to feed a small army. Add to that a regular supply of raspberries, some tayberries kindly offered from my neighbour's plot, huge (well, I think so anyway!) gooseberries and a helping of red and blackcurrants, it really is a time of plenty - and long may it continue.

Sweetcorn reaching for the sky!