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The Summer Allotments (July 2012)

balcony

By balcony

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The Summer Allotments (July 2012)

This is the 2nd blog on the Summer Allotments. This time I will show you some of the things growing during the 7th month of the year on Gerry’s allotment.

Amaryllis

Everybody on here has seen my Amaryllis in flower but not many will have seen them during the summer months when I take them down to the allotment. So here are a couple of pictures:

Cucumber ‘Marketmore’

The Cucumbers ‘Marketmore’ I sowed a few months ago in the greenhouse have now started to yield their first fruits! Here is a couple of of photos of the first fruit to be picked:

They look quite cheerful when in flower in the greenhouse, as you can see here:

Garlic

I lifted these Garlic bulbs earlier than I had originally planned on doing as they were infected with Alluim Rust & with all the wet weather we were having I thought they might not last in the soil & also to stop the Rust from spreading into the bulbs:

Last year I lifted some Garlic bulbs from a different part of the plot but I didn’t realize at the time that I’d left a couple of heads in the ground! When I noticed them growing again that had been growing for some time. So I left them to grow! Here then is the result:

A fellow allotmenteer gave me some Leek seedlings he had left over last year. As I had no place to put them at that time he said it would be alright to just heel them in for a few weeks, which I did – only the weeks turned into months! Now you can see them here in flower!:

Lettuce ‘Paris Island Cos’

Here is a photo of the Lettuce ‘Paris Island Cos’, which I started off a few weeks earlier in the greenhouse, just planted out on the plot:

Just a few weeks later & look how they have grown!:

Onions ‘Sturon’ from sets

When my brother was here with us during March he helped me on the allotment & one of the first things we planted were these Onions ‘Sturon’ which we planted from sets in a bed in front of the greenhouse:

Pinto beans

The Pinto beans I planted in this bed have now put out their true leaves, these will grow till about the end of September when they will have dried enough to harvest:

Potatoes

Potatoes: ‘Arran Pilot’ & Gerry’s unknown variety

In the middle of March my brother & I planted out several bags of new potatoes, mine & Gerry’s. This photo shows Gerry’s unknown variety, though he says he thinks it maybe ‘Picaso’, on the right, & my ‘Arran Pilot’, on the left:

Here you can see just how well the new potatoes, ‘Rocket’, were doing at the beginning of the month:

At the end of the month we harvested them as blight was rampant on the allotments field & practically everybody’s potatoes had been affected:

Tomatoes

Gerry brought these Tomato plants down to the allotment from his greenhouse at home during June & I planted them out for him at one end of the bed that he had 3/4 filled with Sweetcorn plants. He didn’t have enough plants to fill the bed so I put his tomatoes in the remaining space. Here they are a few weeks later when I had finished tying them onto the bamboo canes.

Just a few weeks later they had died from blight!

All the tomatoes I’d planted on my own plot also died, except for two plants which have resisted the blight. So no tomatoes for either of us this year from the allotments! This is the third year for me on the allotments & the first that I haven’t been able to harvested any tomatoes!

Sweetcorn Swift F1

Gerry brought the plants down to the allotment after starting them off at home in his greenhouse & planted them out.

Now you can see the first flowers beginning to form:

Pumpkins at top of plot

I was given two Pumpkin plants by a fellow allotmenteer who said he had more than enough for his needs. I planted them out at the top of Gerry’s plot:

1st flower:

First fruit forming:

Runner beans White seeded

I don’t know where the seeds for these plants came from! They may have come from the plants that were growing on my allotment when I took it over from the previous tenant in September 2011.

Now they are flowering:

Sunflowers

This the very first of the self-sown Sunflowers to show its colour!

This self-sown one has multiple heads, the secondary flowers make excellent cut flowers. The main head is too big & heavy but these are just right!

Sweetpeas

I loved these Sweetpeas Royal Family from the day the first blooms started to open! I brought a big bunch home so my wife could arrange them in our living room & they had a wonderful perfume for days on end!

These self-sown Sweetpeas come from seed that must have dropped off the plants I had in the same place last year. They are absolutely lovely!

Unfortunately the Royal Family Sweetpeas became rather abandoned due to lots of work on other parts of both allotments & here is the result:

I shall save some seeds to grow in the autumn & overwinter for early flowers in 2013!

As I have no photo of the view along the plot from the shed this month I’m showing you some of the flowers that have come into bloom & make the cold, wet British summer a bright, cheery place, to end this month’s blog

Calendula Art Shades

These lovely compact Calendulas were planted at the top of the plot along with a few other flowers to add some colour & to attract bees & butterflies. They were very cheery especially when we had such cold, rainy weather for three months

Self sown Sunflowers

Further above I showed you the first of the Sunflowers to start blooming this year – well here are some more a few weeks later:

I notice that there are lots more flowers in this blog than usual! It was quite unintentional but on the other hand they serve to brighten our spirits during this awful summer of 2012.

See you all next month!

More blog posts by balcony

Previous post: Blue/green fungus on beans

Next post: Summer ending & autumn beginning



Comments

 

always a real pleasure to read your blogs & look at how things have grown over the months.
Im still picking cucumbers from the greenhouse & raspberries from the fuit cage. Squash have done well from seed saved last xmas, Courgettes & runner beans producing well. Good crop of onions & potatoes, all lifted & stored. Garlic not so good this year but saved a dozen bulbs out of a potential 40 (too wet at the wrong time).
Tomatoes/peppers/chillies very abundant in the greenhouse & the tastiest beetroot.
Not a bad growing year apart from the fact that 5 different apple trees, two different pear trees,one peach a cherry & a plum all failed. Last year was excellent so next year should be good.

6 Oct, 2012

 

Lovely to see your allotment, always a good blog, lets hope for a better 2013.

6 Oct, 2012

 

Most interesting especially for us allotment gardeners who suffered complete loss due to the wash-out summer and slug infestation, in this area, plus Tomato Blight.
I wont use slug bait because the birds eat the dead slugs and die. A whole wheelie bin full of bags of soot was washed through the soil.
A friend's Early Potatoes were just mush, they were unable to eat them. Mine have to be checked almost weekly because of damage. Its awful.
Must remember to grow all my plants in the greenhouse next year.
I have some 'Christmas New Potatoes' growing in old polystyrene boxes, to keep them warm.
Hoping the weather is kinder to us all in 2013, we deserve it.

7 Oct, 2012

 

Always so interesting Balcony, I feel tired just looking at the pictures, there's a lot of work there.

7 Oct, 2012

 

what an amazing allotment u have there Balcony....:-)

7 Oct, 2012

 

Good record their Balcony, getting a few cucumbers myself out of the polytunnel, my garlics were washed out but will use most of the bulbs for next year. i lost my potatoes under a bed of weeds in the rains but managed to dig some out yesterday, more there somewhere!

7 Oct, 2012

 

Lovely! Love your sunflowers - mine didn't germinate this year!! :o(

8 Oct, 2012

 

Thank you for your comments :-))

Bampy, it seems you have had a very good growing year! :-))

Thanks, Drc726, we can always hope for better growing seasons!

We haven't had much of a problem with snails & slugs, Diane, on our allotments. There is a little damage here & there but nothing to worry about.

Sorry, Valadel, that it made you tired out! It is a lot of work but really only as much as you are willing, or able, to put in.

Thank you, Sandra. I'm glad you think it is good!

Stevie, glad to hear of your Cukes - ours have now finished in the GH & the plants removed. If you found some potatoes the rest will be awaiting your attention!

It's strange, Nariz, that your Sunflowers didn't germinate! Were they perhaps too dry where you sowed them? On the allotment they germinate like Mustard & Cress- they become right weeds! I'm forever pulling them out! I only let those grow that I don't expect to get in the way of my plans for the beds.

I did plant 2 beds of Sunflower seeds & had to weed out every 4th or 5th seedling as they were too many even though I did my best to sow them well spaced! Try planting just 1 seed every 50cm! (when you have a fistful!)

8 Oct, 2012

 

I think you're right, Balcony - too dry!

8 Oct, 2012

 

You´ll have to make sure that next year they don´t dry out!

8 Oct, 2012

 

You grow such a lot on your allotment ... It must be very satisfying :o)

8 Oct, 2012

 

It is, Hywel, but can be frustrating when I can't get down there or don't have enough time!

8 Oct, 2012

 

always enjoy seeing the allotment Balcony and even though im not a veggie gardener i love seeing it do well and am sad when it doesnt, love the poppies, sunflowers and sweetpeas, wonderfull and great flowers on your leeks to, not seen them before :o)))

10 Oct, 2012

 

Thanks, Sandra :-)) At heart I'm still a flower gardener rather than a veg gardener! All the Poppies & the majority of the Sunflowers, as well as some of the Sweetpeas, are self-sown! The Leeks went to flower because I forgot to move them from what at first was only a temporary position! The bees love them! Like they also love some Onions that Gerry planted in front of the door to the greenhouse on the allotment several years ago. These flower each year & the bees cover them! I don't know what sort of onion they are but they don't form individual bulbs like the culinary onions but grow in clumps.

For me it was a first seeing Leeks in flower! I may sow some of the seeds - if I get any!

11 Oct, 2012

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