Once again I have brought home a large bowl of strawberries and a couple of massive butterhead lettuces. I also managed to get enough potatoes Sharps Express for a meal tonight. The potatoes have been slow to grow as we had a cold start to the season followed by a very long dry period. The tops are looking green, lush and healthy but few potatoes up to now which is bad news in one way but good news for my belly because I can’t resist freshly dug potatoes.
Rob came and met me at the plot and we planted forty Leek plants. The long awaited rain came just as we were finishing. We use the popular method of planting Leeks which is just dibbing a good hole and dropping the plant in while pouring water in to settle the roots but not back filling with soil. We are fast running out of space and still have more leeks, onions, pumpkins and the Gardeners Delight tomatoes to plant.
Rob found this little fellow when he was on his walk delivering the post. He seemed in distress and so he was brought home for a little TLC. He is a Blue Tit and seems very young.
These are the parsnips that I chitted at home. They were a devil to transplant but look worth the effort now. The curds are forming in our first caulis of the season.
The flower bed is quite overcrowded and has been left more or less to its own devices but is doing its job in attracting the beneficial insects to the plot.
We had a massive thunder storm yesterday with torrential rain and so the plot got a really good soaking. I went down this morning for a couple of hours and put in some plants and did a bit of weeding and tying up. Everything is growing well now and we have brought home quite a few of the salad leaves and butterhead lettuce. The potatoes are looking good too with quite a few flowers appearing. I couldn’t wait and had to have a little feel around in the bags and bring home a small harvest of Sharps Express to put on our lamb chop dinner tonight. Jim gave us a lovely cabbage from his plot so that will also go on the plate tonight. Whilst I was weeding in the brassica tunnel I noticed small curds forming on the cauliflower plants so it wont be long before we shall be eating them. The warm wet weather is perfect for growing and it is very satisfying to see everything coming on so well.
I have put a Melon Sweetheart into the brassica tunnel today. I have placed it behind a row of lettuce which should be harvested soon and give a bit more room for the melon to grow.
Melon Sweetheart bears medium-sized fruits with grey-green skin and light orange flesh. One of the quickest to mature. RHS ‘Award of Garden Merit’ winner.
After all my effort this years trying to raise seedlings for cucumber I have had to give in and buy seedlings from the nursery. I chose two sturdy plants of Femspot an F1 hybrid which I am assured will be successful. I have planted both in the lean to and they tower over my little seedlings which although green and healthy are very small so far. Cucumber Femspot is an F1 Hybrid cucumber, one of the best selling varieties in the UK. The plants are really strong growing, earlier cropper than most other cucumbers. You can enjoy the bitter free, ribbed fruits all summer long. Ideal greenhouse crop, but can be grown outside too in a sunny, sheltered spot in the garden or in your allotment plot. Femspot has proved to be one of the best all female varieties for outdoor production.
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