End of May update

After a hot and dry April, May turned out to be increasingly different and definitely cooler and wetter.

It has been a great help for the allotment, both for the already planted crops and the newly sown seeds, so hopefully the final harvests won't be too badly affected by almost a month of drought conditions.

Most recently, the beans have all been planted out (dwarf and climbing varieties), and successional sowings of beetroot, radishes, carrots, chard. I've also sown two double rows of peas in the hope that finally we'll see some success. The pot grown seeds didn't germinate well enough so I bought new season peas and we'll hope for better with those.

The spinach and chard are growing well, the pak choi showing signs of something or other attacking it - probably flea beetle after checking on t'internet. I'll need to try some form of protection, as for the carrots once they germinate.

Quick update on Spring so far

It seems a long while since the last entry and we've had a good 4 weeks of very summer-like weather and virtually no rain until the past two evenings. It was certainly much needed and should give a boost to several things recently planted.

All the potatoes are growing well and hopefully the recent rain will help the tubers develop.

The broad beans seem more or less to have survived the early onslaught from bean weevils so now it's a case of being vigilant about black fly!

All 3 trees continue to thrive. They have been watered very regularly and although the almond tree is still lagging behind the other two a little it looks healthy.

Recent sowings of seed direct into the plot have all germinated, including beetroot, radish, spinach, chard and pak choi. The trick now is to keep up the successional sowings.

I transplanted the brussels sprouts plants into the cage and they will be followed in the next day or two by the spring cabbage plants.

The rhubarb is almost ready to pick, and will be followed in not too long by currants and strawberries. In due course the raspberries will develop - in summer, hopefully for a long season.

I'm hardening off some sweet corn plants which ought to be in the ground soon - fingers crossed we don't suddenly get hard frosts.

Two types of french beans and a runner beans are all growing well in pots and they should soon be sturdy enough to plant out as well.

3 grow bags are already planted up in the greenhouse with Alicante tomatoes and some Gardeners delight will follow soon. Likewise I'll be putting some chili plants into large pots to keep in the greenhouse.

Any spare tomatoes can go into the allotment plot but on past experience they have not been as successful as those grown in the greenhouse.

Potatoes all planted

By the last day of March I had managed to finish the planting of all our seed potatoes, and in a period of relatively mild weather too, although a little rain was much needed.

We have Casablanca (1st early), Charlotte (2nd early salad potatoes), Milva (1st main crop) and Valor (late main crop). If we have half the success of last year we'll have plenty of potatoes!

I've also dug in most of the green manure and will finish digging the rest of the plot in the coming week so that everything's ready for more seedlings and seeds direct into the plot.

Meanwhile buds on the apple and plum trees are slowly starting to open and hopefully the almond tree will not be far behind.

Good day at the allotment

In fine weather it was ideal today to continue the preparations of the ground at the allotment.

Mainly this involved digging over areas which had been planted with green manure, and digging it in, and tidying up the raspberry canes and putting some chicken manure around them.

The area for the First Early Casablanca potatoes is all set, as is the area for the transplanting of the red onion sets which have been started off in the greenhouse and which have now grown good roots.

I'll get the onion sets planted by the end of the weekend and take a 'rain check' for the potatoes but think they also should be planted by the end of the coming week.

So far, so good regarding the newly planted fruit trees - we just need to keep them watered until they really get established.

Finally, I'll try to deter further weed growth in the upper half of the allotment by using some safe, but powerful, Glyphosate weed killer. If we can keep the weeds and nettles down this will really open up the top end of the allotment and we'll see the orchard to full advantage!

More planting, trimming, tidying

After a lovely lunch and chat with Jan and Jane at Bantock Park the weather was still fine and warm so we both headed into the garden when we arrived back home.

Whilst Linda undertook major clearing up and trimming, I planted Leek Shelton and Sprouts Maximus in seed trays which will start indoors until after germination and then go into the greenhouse for growing on until such time as they are large enough to be taken up to the allotment.

Meanwhile, in the greenhouse, the red onion sets in pots are all starting to form roots and sprout so they will be ready to go to the allotment once weather conditions are suitable.

Also germinating are the later sowings of broad beans - Express - and some of the nasturtiums.

Fruit trees

The three fruit trees which we ordered from Sutton's arrived last Wednesday so it was important to get them planted as soon as possible. A couple of days 'storage' in the conservatory occasionally dipped in a trug of water made sure they remained hydrated and I finally got the three areas dug and prepared yesterday after Linda had come down with me to make sure they were going to be planted in the correct positions.

We now have an almond tree (Sweet Mandaline), plum tree (Victoria) and apple tree (Lord Lambourne) though to be honest, apart from the almond tree they do look more like twigs! Still, they come well-regarded and are at least 18 months old, feathered trees.

Time will tell but if they can get established this year I'm hoping we'll have blossom and fruit to look forward to in 2012.

More seed planting

Made a start on planting flower seeds today with 2 varieties of Sweet Peas: Giant Waved Mixed and Cupani. I think they were bought at last year's Gardeners' World. They'll be started off in the house.

I planted more Broad Bean seeds this morning - this time Express (supposedly one of the earliest varieties, 30 pods per plant and an excellent freezing variety) in pots in the greenhouse to speed up germination, after which I'll put them in the allotment.