And there's another thing

I forgot to say actually, I mixed up some foliar feed for the cucumbers, see previous posts regarding the cucumber issues. We'll see how this works out. As it happens I picked 2 cucumbers which are perfectly ripened, so I'm not too worried about the plant itself. Having quizzed Mairead about all this she looked upon our cucs as a roaring success adding that they are usually difficult plants to grow. Not so on plot 10!
Once the nutterbut squashes were in the ground I immediately watered them in with Epsom salts, a magnesium feed. As you can see, yellow spots are appearing on the leaves so I'll give the Epsom a go.
And lastly I did spend a few minutes trying to encourage the beans to climb the wig-wam. Hopefully the selection of ties that Roy brought us should do the trick!

Squashy Decisions

Been down to the plot today, needed watering etc. I noticed the Butternut Squash, which we inherited from Stuart and which you may have seen in pots in the greenhouse in previous pictures, had outgrown their pots really and were trailing along the floor. Mairead, a nice Irish lady who keeps a more than professional allotment, advised me to plant them out in manure rich ground. I spent my time today wheelbarrowing manure, of the ten tonnes or so of which there was not a lot left, and piled it into the bed subsequently raked over some soil and hey presto we had a bed ready.
It didn't take long so the rest of the time I spent gawking at her pristine plot, drinking tea and listening to her day by day account of her recent visit to China... which actually took longer than everything else I had to do today. Anyway before I skedaddled when the heavens opened, I snapped up a PlotCam.

PlotCam 24

The Nutterbut Squash	Short but sweet - it's PlotCam

And my take on the day...

My highlights of the day:

* A rather excellent picnic, which I tucked into not that long after arriving (I'd pulled up about 3 weeds) and finished just before we left, as the biscuits had melted so I thought it was only fair to put them out of their gooey misery.

* Finding lashings of salad, including spinach so big it looks genetically modified.

* Getting all the weeding done, and leaving the plot looking like something from Tatton Flower Show.

* Playing with the rather excellent sprayer, but managing not to spray anyone with any chemicals.

* Being mature enough to resist Si's attempts at starting a water fight (or, realising that he had the hose pipe so I would never win).

* Being overrun with ladybirds, which I duly ferried to the greenhouse, where they will be most productive.

* Si's regular battle with the green beans to get them to grow up the relevant canes. Despite a lot of (one-sided) arguing, the beans won. Again.

* Finding lots of mushrooms, which have for some reason started springing up. We weren't sure if they were edible, poisonous or magic, so we cooked them for tea to find out. We still aren't sure, but the pink unicorn who joined us for dinner said they were the best he'd ever tasted.

* The weather, which was gorgeous! Again!

B xxx

Some Handy Help

Well hello, it's been a little while. I've been more or less appearing in picture format so here I am again textually. Today Beccy's grandparents, Mary and Roy, came for a plot visit, their advice is invaluable as I believe I have previously eluded to.
Firstly we are having problems with the Alliaceae class of crops, specifically those planted nearer to the back. The first two rows in the plot are just the bog standard Allium cepa, normal cooking onions, and they are doing great! But the Allium fistulosum and Allium ampeloprasum, the spring onions and leeks, are not doing at all well. In fact about 60-80% of the crops have failed - it isn't all success having an allotment you know. After a bit of investigation it seems that some of the manure which we treated the back section of the allotment may have contained too much alkaline. Still not sure. Perhaps the organic content of the soil might be too low and we might need to add some well rotted compost, but seeing as how we'll probably only have the plot for the next few months I don't think the compost will be fully ready, and it might be a bit late for the present crop.
The next problem is the location of the cucumber in the greenhouse. It is too far away from the door leading to a lack of ventilation and the leaves, especially the older ones, are covered in a white powdery mildew. The treatment for this is a sulphur spray, apparently. Moreover I can't control the watering of the greenhouse inhabitants as close as I'd like; I'm not there everyday. The weather has been warm and fairly humid, perfect for tomatoes, but this also compounds the mildew issue. It also causes the next issue...
...withering of young cucumber fruits. To be honest I think this is a way of the plant naturally thinning the fruits out, however it is caused by non periodic watering and dry soil in between times. I'm not too worried about this as it has about another three partially ripe fruits and about another dozen or so young fruits. I even harvested a fully ripe (maybe a bit too ripe) cuc today.
Lastly we have to mention the blight issue since I think the site has it again. Roy has bought us a particularly spiffing pump operated spray can machine into which one can pour any liquid concoction which is required to be delivered onto surfaces in a fine spray. We've fully sprayed blight sensitive crops with Dithane using the afore mentioned gadget. Those crops include the tomatoes, which on an interesting note, are fairly closely related to potatoes. So far the crops are blight free touch wood and we're taking full precautions.

PlotCam 23

Today we have some helpers whose expertise is invaluable.
Some serious weeding is going on here.	Look; the peppers are fruiting, how exciting.
Tomato fruits; definitely growing.	A hive of activity is more accurate a description than you'd think.
The beans are growing strongly, but not up the canes.	And the lettuces are show quality!
That's PlotCam!

PlotCam 22

First things first, have a brew
A view from the bench	Inside the Greenhouse
Fruits
Preparing the seed bed for the salads
Watering the seeds (this picture is not posed!)	This is my tweaking face
And that's PlotCam

PlotCam 21

The tomatoes are fruiting.	The bush tomatoes are definately on their way.
We now have an assortment of beans growing	And royal chanteney carrots.
The Beetroot are bushy,	But the Salad are bushier.
There's PLOTCAM!

PlotCam 20.5

Simon conducting urgent business, whilst tending the lettuces. Who says men can't multi-task?
What's inside the greenhouse...	...that's right, it's tomatoes

Produce!

Hurrah! Our first produce. Yesterday we harvested the first of the spinach leaves. This was doubly exciting, as it was our first ever home-grown spinach. Last year, despite spinach reportedly being ridiculously easy to grow (it was suggested it was actually harder not to grow it), we completely failed. Absolutely no shoots whatsoever. This year, we just can't stop it. It must just be one of those random things. (It appears to be quite similar to car insurance. Last year, Diamond were by far the cheapest, this year, definitely one of the most expensive. I tell you this not because it is relevant to the plot, but it also cropped up yesterday and the whole spinach situation reminded me of it). Anyway, the spinach will be served at our rugby party this afternoon. The lettuces were almost ready, but we are giving them an extra couple of days.

It was also my first chance to see the new greenhouse and tomatoes in their new home. The greenhouse is all spinty and new, and has a shelving system. We are growing the tomatoes in grow bags to see how this affects them, and I have to say the whole things looks a lot tidier than last year (this being one of our "plot aims" this season). There are also some excellent support/watering systems which you can see in the photos, which are working very well indeed. 

It was a rather brief visit, as it started pouring down (of the "thunder, lightning, very, very frightening" variety), so we retreated to the Quays for spinach. There was some thinning out of the lettuces and general pottering, and the compost pile was updated. We are getting a very interesting little eco system in the compost bin. Composting is currently one of the highlights of my life, I can't stop talking about it. If composting was made illegal and Radio 4 closed down, I would literally have no conversation topics left. 

Photos to follow after the rugby party!

Beccy x