Well, it’s been a while since our last post and so much has happened.  The school holidays have come and (almost) gone but there’s so much still going on down at the plot.

Here’s a pictorial view from the last six weeks.

I was getting a bit concerned by the strawberries.  Every other plot holder was enjoying their strawberries and ours still hadn’t produced – until now!!  Good sized, nicely formed and full of flavour.  Not sure why they were later than everyone else’s.  Last autumn, I transplanted them into another bed and their growth has been astounding.  The leaves, and a lot of the fruit,  are at least 12-14 inches off of the ground.   Does anyone else have strawberries this tall?  We had a bit of a frost just after they had started to flower and I’m wondering if this slowed them down a bit.   On the other hand, the jostaberries are about a month early.  I picked 3-4lbs yesterday – still probably 20-30lbs to pick.  Rory, our nearly 3 year old has decided he likes jostaberries just as much as he likes strawberries.  I caught him putting his finger through the mesh and hooking off the fruit!  I decided to put him inside the netting so that he could pick for all of us, but all he did was pick and eat.

In their infinite wisdom, the Town Council are considering a proposal to build a HQ for the local Mountain Rescue Team over part of our plot.  The project will mean taking down our shed and greenhouses, as well as taking away part of the plot and throwing the rest in shade – and to think that I and many of the other plot holders elected this bunch of reprobates!!

So the Wood Pigeons have an accomplice in the form of a rabbit.  I was cutting some lettuce when, from under the raspberries, it popped out and bolted for the allotment gate.  No doubt it’ll be back – getting the nets on is even more important now. 

I’ve managed to string up a few onions.  I’ve never tried this before- mainly because we’ve never had enough onions to make it worthwhile.  It’s not difficult, and there are plenty of tips on how to do it on many of the allotment websites.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulled the first of the beetroot.

It seems the damage to our Pak Choi was caused by Wood Pigeons.  One of the other plot holders told me that he saw 4 or 5 of them tucking in to it.  It seems that we’re going to have to net up most of the beds from now on -  a bit of a pain really but it’s better to do that than lose another 150 or so oriental leaf plants!!

Last year our jostaberries were stripped by birds.  To prevent this happening again this year, I’ve managed to erect a cage so protecting our jam supply – I hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, I went to the plot at about 9am and the greenhouses were so hot that I couldn’t go into them – don’t often say that here in West Yorkshire.  In the afternoon, we harvested the remainder of out over-wintering onions – the over-wintering shallots look ready to come out as well. 

We’ve got a few reasonable-sized cucumbers in the greenhouse – Marketmores, if I remember rightly. Also the melon plants in the cold frame are putting on a bit of a spurt.  We’ve never grown melons before, so we really don’t know what to expect.

Went to the plot this evening and found the Pak Choi, Tatsoi and Senposai completely decimated.  To say that I’m unhappy is an understatement.  Against my better nature we have to use slug pellets otherwise we wouldn’t get anything.  However, I don’t think this is slug damage.  Any ideas anyone? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a better note, I harvested one of our shallot plants – 13 shallots on one plant.  Fantastic!!!

We had our first raspberries of the season this weekend – lovely.  Needless to say that the few dozen that were picked never made it beyond the allotment gates – they were eaten by Jack, Rebecca and Rory!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also harvested some of the garlic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hungarian Wax chillies are also starting to produce.  Hopefully, these are not too hot!!  We’re still waiting for the Jalapenos and the Scotch Bonnets.

I pulled about 60 onions yesterday.  It’s the first time that we’ve grown over-wintering onions and we’re pretty pleased with the crop.  There’s still another 50-60 to pull, but these have yet to fall over.  This year, we started our summer onions and shallots in modules in the greenhouse before planting them out – a tip I’d seen on Gardeners World.  Well, the results have been fantastic.  The shallots are strong and they look fabulous.   Can’t wait to try them!!!

Welcome to The Martins Plot blog.

This is just a small insight into the workings of our small, family plot in Meltham, West Yorkshire.

Please feel free to say “hello”.