Friday 21 May 2010

Been a while

My goodness I can't believe it's been sooooo long since I posted anything.

So, a quick round up of what's been going on is in order.

I've planted lettuces - lots of lettuces - and they've come up well and gone into the planter outside with a second crop in the greenhouse. I've been a bit more sparing with the seeds in this second lot as the first batch was far too many!
Lettuces
Hmm, maybe too many lettuce seeds


Last year's sweetcorn did not do very well at all and I think I read somewhere that they don't like their roots being disturbed so this year I've planted them in the inner cardboard tubes from loo rolls. You then put the whole thing in the the soil when you plant it out.
Sweetcorn in toilet rolls
Sweetcorn, in toilet roll tubes


On the allotment front, the weeds and grass have been growing faster than I'd have thought possible - far faster than anything that I could grow myself!
I've been slowly digging out areas for planting, with this bed containing peas and runner beans. I've put mesh over the top to try and stop the birds having a free lunch.
Beans and peas
Peas and beans under mesh


After a couple of weeks the peas have made an appearance - nothing much of note from the beans though. It's been far to cold and dry. May seems to have been quite a rubbish month so far.
A young pea
The peas have come up despite the dry weather


The frost we had in early May has hit everyone's plants, potatoes especially. Luckily mine had not come up too much (they were planted on Easter Sunday) so the leaves they lost seem to have been replaced with new green growth. Hopefully they'll catch up. Somewhere I have a 'back-of-an-envelope' map of what varieties I planted where. I'll have to find it so I know what's what before too long.
Frostbitten potato
Frostbitten potatoes


I must update more often... I must update more often... I must update more often... I must update more often... I must update more often... ;-)