​It is with a guilty conscience I realise I have not posted anything on the blog for over six weeks. I have been rushed off my feet trying to complete the work around the cabin, prepare for the show, entertain visiting grandchildren and coping with the wife falling and injuring herself! Back in July I wrote a post for a week's work but then didn't actually post it so it may  appear in the near future if I can locate the appropriate photos.
This week I have tried to get some work done as, while the grandkids were here, they needed supervising with harvesting and so nothing extra was completed. 

Now I struggle to keep up with the harvesting on my own and don't have time for anything else it seems.
WORK
I decided on my visit on Saturday the only way was to ignore harvesting initially and concentrate on one of the many tasks in my list. I focused on the peas as the most mature row had started growing through the netting. Teasing the plants from the netting as gently as I could, I only pulled a few out of the ground and there was only a handful of peas that needed collecting to take home. It looks as if there will be quite a harvest of peas in a week or so.

​I then moved the wire arched decorative fencing that I used to support the first crop over to the last row of peas I have sown which are just a few inches high. The netting was left as I need some stakes from the Trading Hut if I am to avoid the problem I had just dealt with!

Then I got my hoe out and hoed between the peas and beans hoping, vainly, that it wouldn't rain.
​I also hoed between the seedlings hoping to reduce the number of weeds that threaten to swamp the crops.
Sunday's rain probably negated all my efforts!















​HARVESTING
Both Runner and French beans are producing prodigiously; a carrier bag full at each visit! Offering them to friends and neighbours only works if they aren't growing their own! On Friday I stripped the Runner beans of all the older, tougher, beans and threw them on the compost. The next day I picked the rest for consumption. Even then there were some that were too big to be at their best so we extracted the beans for later use. (I may go back to the compost heap to recover those thrown away to harvest the beans as well.)
When I looked at the French beans they seemed ok - until I started picking when there were hundreds of them! One full carrier bag despite me disposing of anything a bit over developed.

​I checked out the dwarf French beans that are growing extremely well. I collected a handful of very young beans to take home from the first three plants in the row. There will be huge amounts to harvest in a few days.
After that I sorted out some shallow pots and began collecting raspberries. I needed two pots even though I have only half a row of Polka raspberries producing as all the others are newly planted and won't fruit this year.
Then I moved on to the blackberries. I have two plants running along the fence on either side of my plot absolutely covered in fruit. Again I filled two pots but rather deeper - with the result there was juices running out of the bottom by the time I got home. - and that from was only one plant as I ran out of time!
OTHER CHORES
I had finally remembered to bring down the kitchen waste bin and emptied it onto the compost. Fortunately I also had a dustbin full of grass cuttings from a neighbour to cover it with as the kitchen waste was very smelly. Even so the chap on the next door plot commented on the smell so I collected some weeds to further contain things. At least that meant the path was cleared of the heaps of weeds I'm always collecting.
Hopefully next week I will be able to tick off a few more tasks from my long list!

The posting of this entry was delayed because I wrote it while away planning to take a couple of photos to insert. It has taken that long for me to get things together enough to do that!
​Friday 13th July
I am writing this sitting in my caravan in the Midlands visiting family but realise I've been very lax inn recording my daily visits so I plan a report at roughly weekly intervals from now on. So here goes!
Watering.
​Like most of my neighbours I have been watering much more than i normally do. My seedlings and newly sown seeds get watered most days whenever I can, preferably in the evenings as they stay moist all night and part of the next day. I also shade them, when I can, with one of my net tunnel cloches.

However when I have used them all I have used my walking planks that I normally used to avoid walking on the soil too much. I found laying then flat kept everything nice and moist underneath but the seedlings came up drawn and yellow reaching for the light.



Instead this week I used two planks propped at an angle on each side of the row to form a long tent with a gap at the top. That way I can water through the gap at the top, there is good shade but light gets in. Hopefully that will be better.







Watering seeds and seedlings is the only time I use a spray or rose on the watering can and even then if it is large seed, say peas, I can pour water on through the net tunnel and the net sprays it over the seed bed. I have two huge watering cans of 15 litres each, so big I cannot carry one any distance as I need a balanced load on both arms with that much water. I find I can pour water along the base of any growing plants in sufficient quantities to need a depression to ensure it stays close to the plant or row to soak in. Otherwise water runs away all over the place! That's why most of my plants are placed in a shallow depression and rows of seeds, peas particularly, are in a shallow trench.​
When using a hose I use my 'watering stick'. It was the handle of an extended window cleaning brush, a hollow aluminium tube with a Hoselock connector screwed into where the brush was originally screwed in to connect it to the end of the hose. It enables me to deliver a fairly gentle stream of water direct at the base of any plant or into one of my depressions. I hasten to add the idea came from a French friend who was a farmer's son and his 'allotment' at the bottom of his garden in the middle of France where the last few weeks weather would be normal for him.
I have also, rather tardily, set up the old plastic water tank (I have inherited from somewhere) on a flat surface near my shed. I will fill it with rainwater when I can and from the tap when necessary so I don't have to carry my two huge watering cans too far.

In addition to watering, and developing my watering system, this week I have been planting and sowing trying to catch up.
Sowing and planting.
In the second (late) brassica tunnel I  planted five brassicas, curly kale I think - though it may be purple sprouting! (This is the danger of not labelling!) Each was planted in a 4 inch deep depression to aid watering and to allow for earthing up later.
I also sowed a row of early peas (a mixture of Kelvedon Wonder, Mistry and Terrain), now that the last row of maincrop peas (Hurst Greenshaft) is a few inches high and needs is support setting up, releasing the net tunnel to shade the new sowing.
Additionally I have sown a row of French beans, Florence Fennel and Swiss Chard, all set in a shallow trench to aid watering. Each row has been sheltered from the sun by a net tunnel or planks. Unfortunately the fennel, under the planks, came through thin and drawn and will need the net tunnel to harden up while being sheltered. The chard I then sheltered with two planks propped into a tent shape with a gap between the top edges to allow watering.

​My sweet corn plants were finally numerous and large enough to plant out, again in individual depressions in the same way as the brassicas for the same reasons. Around the sweet corn I planted outdoor cucumbers and melons, the melons in a row to allow for a cloche to give them a warm sheltered environment later.
Elsewhere I planted a marrow and two green courgette plants of of different varieties, though my yellow courgette seeds failed to germinate.
Harvesting.
During the week I harvested my first peas, a few normal peas but quite a picking of sugar snap peas, some of which were big enough to shell too add to the normal ones. My Loganberry also started fruiting. The gooseberry bushes are holding a mass of lovely sweet eating fruit, some of which will cook nicely.
We also ate the thinnings from the beetroot and the turnips.
Having finished my first early potatoes I started lifting my Charlotte second earlies. The haulms went brown and yellow so I removed them just in case it was Blight!
My onions, almost all of which have gone to seed and therefore will not store were eased from the soil, left on the top to start drying and then taken home to completely dry. One or two may be suitable to put in the show but the bulk will have to be chopped up and frozen.
As already mentioned, all this was interspersed with watering copiously, concentrating on the seeds and seedlings - more than I have ever done before - but then I cannot remember such a long hot spell since 1976!

Tuesday 26th June
• Sweet corn planted. As most of my first batch of sweet corn didn't germinate my second batch has only just got big enough to plant out. I only had 25 plants, not the 35 I had planned but it will have to be enough.

I dug 25 4" deep pits just a spade width square at 18" spacing.
Then I used my bulb planter to make holes at the bottom, planting the seedlings into the holes. That way I can concentrate the water where the plant can use it and later earth them up when they get tall.
• Parsnips searched for. I have been pulling radishes from where I used them to mark the parsnip seeds I had sown. However I hadn't seen any parsnips! I started weeding and pulling any remaining radishes carefully searching for young parsnip seedlings. I had almost finished the row before I saw the characteristic leaf shape. One tiny seedling! Further on, at the penultimate station, I saw another slightly larger leaf. Once cleared I saw there were two seedlings side by side, one small, the other tiny! I decided to make a final effort by sowing at home in root trainers and perhaps another row on the plot.
• Spinach harvested and thinned. Next to my abortive parsnip row was a half row of spinach under a net tunnel that had grown tall very fast in the last few weeks. The tunnel was supposed to create shade and reduce the chance of the spinach going to seed but the hot weather negated that aim. Removing the tunnel I pulled all the fully grown plants leaving just the small ones hoping I could harvest them later. However even the small plants are going to seed. I was able to collect a big bag of spinach plants that will provide quite a bit of leaf for several meals.
• Watering. As a last task I set up my house and watering stick and, after watering the newly planted sweet corn, watered the remaining spinach, the runner and French beans and the root vegetables

Friday 22nd June
I arrived nice and early - for me - at 8.30 this morning as I am way behind and have lots to do. However, as I came in the gate someone was leaving and wanted the gate left open for them!
Having emptied the kitchen waste into the compost bin I pulled out my hose and started watering the newly planted climbing French beans and then the runner beans using my 'watering stick'. This is the title I give to an aluminium tube (the handle from an old window cleaning brush) with a push on connector that fits on the end of my hose. It enables me to put lots of water right at the roots of plants so I only need to water from time to time, not every day.
I then put lots of water in between the ridges of my potatoes, enough for the week however dry it gets.
I then set about planting my five curly kale plants in the second brassica tunnel. (This tunnel will stay longest on its station so I plan to plant my late winter brassicas in it.) (Method. Scrape the grass cuttings mulch of a 9 inch patch, carve a spade wide 4 inch deep hole, then plant a plant from a 3 inch pot in a hole at the bottom of the hole using a bulb planter and lots of lime (to help avoid clubroot).



​Moving on I used my plough attachment (Wolff tools) to carve a trench on my legumes bed. A bit of tidying up with the spade and I had a wide trench, 4 inches deep and a spade width to sow my peas. I had one packet of this year's seed from D.T.Brown via the RHAA seed order system, to which I added two packets of two and three year old seed. I hope the mice will eat a selection and leave enough seedlings for me. Covered with a net tunnel and, with a Lidl sonic mouse scarer at the end of the row, I hope for a good row of the variety Hurst Greenshaft.











I then noticed the weeds growing in the patch next door destined for my sweet corn and squashes. I spent quite a while digging them up concentrating on those tallest and those about to seed. Halfway through I realised the time and left the rest for my next visit and started harvesting.
I cut the last few spears of asparagus, having found and killed just one asparagus beetle and one larva. I will now leave the shoots to form the feathery fronds to enable the plants to strengthen ready for next year's crop. Spraying with Pyrethrum against the beetle may be necessary.
I then moved on to thinning the rest of the row of mixed Ruby and Swiss Chard. The thinnings make a lovely tender spinach-like vegetable. I left alternate red and white young plants where possible to give an interesting crop in the future.
Next I dug out a row of garlic as the tops looked dead, ready for harvesting. While they were not as big as in the shops my wife tells me the flavour is more intense which is as I like it.
While doing that I put a fork in under the neighbouring row of onions to break the roots so they begin drying off. Every single one of my autumn planted sets has gone to seed this year, probably due to the weather. They will not store whole and strung up in the usual way so there will be lots of chopping and freezing in the next month or so - unless someone advises differently!
While putting everything away I noticed the Loganberry growing at the end of the plot, mixed in with nettles, Comfrey and various junk, had started to fruit so I picked a few ripe fruits to see if I like them.
Tidying away the hosepipe took as long as all the other tools but I got home in time for morning coffee at just after 10.30 pleased at how much I had achieved.

Thursday 7th June
After arriving early to help unload a delivery of compost to the Trading Hut, I planned to stay all morning on the plot. I wondered if I was going to be rained off at first but it was only a shower and I managed to carry on in a coat and hat until I got too warm. Then ensued a rather comic situation as the zip got stuck on the jacket too high for me to slip it off over my head. I eventually escaped with help from a nearby plotholder friend and had to cut into the zip to undo it.

​One of last year's patches for root crops had become overgrown as well but many of the weeds were flowering and some old protective netting was tangled in them. I used my billhook to cut the netting free and then started cutting everything down with it. ​​I had almost finished when something made me start pulling the weeds by hand. I found some of them just broke off but a good proportion came out by the roots. It was so much better that I finished off pulling weeds out from by the fence.

​Once I had finished on the main patch I had a huge heap of seeding weeds I cannot compost so will have to dispose off some other way. All else failing I shall have to take it all to the tip!
The soil is already very dry so I shall probably have to soak the patch before digging it as I have seedlings growing on in the greenhouse which can't wait for rain.

​At last the plot is beginning to look reasonable; though don't look too hard at the bottom right (very weedy strawberry patch) or up round the shed!
Before going home, I drowned the bindweed and harvested asparagus, rhubarb, new potatoes and 4 radishes.
Back tomorrow hopefully leaving me clear on Sunday for the Working Party. We've got a bit of clearing up round the Cabin and its new decking and lots of potholes to fill in!

Sunday 3rd June
It was warm! And I had to put in the posts for my runner bean frame!
I arrived with my trailer full of bags of garden waste from a neighbour that had stuck to the waterproofing paint on the bottom of the posts.
Having dropped off at the Trading Hut to get some compost, some pots, and the thumper I set the posts in position having separated them from the bags. By the time I had thumped the posts in I was very hot and I needed a break so returned the thumper and went for coffee and cake at the cabin.
Refreshed, I went back to the plot and screwed the rail in position and set the canes in position with the runner bean shoots wound round them. Finally I wrapped some one foot high wire netting round the row to keep the red legged partridge from pecking out the growing points, something that has happened to me in the past.
I removed some weeds growing alongside the path and around the plum tree only to find multiple suckers growing from the base of the tree, which I removed. I then gave the ground inside one of the Brassica tunnels a quick hoeing and watered the seedlings.
By then it was too hot to work so I cut some asparagus spears and went home with them and some Pak Choi a neighbour had given me.

Friday 1st June
Having been rained off yesterday I grabbed the chance to spend part of this afternoon on the plot.
I first emptied the kitchen waste bin into my compost bin and worried that the smelly mess was exposed so, after chopping it up with a spade, I covered it with some of the grass cuttings already in the bin.
Next I started on earthing up the maincrop potatoes in an effort to reduce the chance of a blight infection (following the Blightwatch warning yesterday.) I remembered to scatter some slugbait along the rows before I started as well as what was left in the pot of potato 10.10.10 fertiliser. This is almost the only time I use my 3 prong cultivator and draw hoe. I loosen the soil by drawing the cultivator along the side of each row and then use the draw hoe to pull the soil up into a ridge over the plants. The first two rows (Sarpo Mira and King Edwards) have made so much growth that I couldn't cover them but the second two rows (a second row of Sarpo Mira and a row of Cara)  finished almost totally hidden.  Hopefully the slugbait and the fertiliser will do a good job.
​That done I moved on to digging out the chard that was going to seed. There was only three plants of rainbow chard but there was a whole row of Swiss chard. I cut the tops off the rainbow chard and a couple of tops of Swiss chard to take home, the rest became very expensive green manure as I chopped and folded the stems into the compost bin. That was added to by the seeding parsnips which I then also pulled up. I kept two of the best parsnip roots to try and make parsnip crisps at home. Finally I hoed off the weeds that had sprung up in the shelter of the row of Swiss chard, leaving them to die off inn tomorrow's promised sunshine.
I then decided to hoe between the rows of seedlings in the new roots bed as the weeds are growing at a fantastic pace and overwhelming the young plants. I had almost finished when a flash of red in the bed beside it caught my eye. It was a ripe strawberry in amongst the weeds smothering the strawberry patch. When I looked closely I found several more and started pulling out the weeds to expose the fruit. I soon found it necessary to fetch a hand fork and began weeding in earnest. While I found no more ripe fruit there was quite a crop developing, as well as a heap of weeds. Fortunately all the weeds are shallow rooted and came free fairly easily and I soon had completed nearly half the bed.

​Having exposed the strawberry plants and their ripening fruit I realised that the birds would also find the crop so I had to go and find the length of netting I had stored away and cover the whole bed. That done it remained for me to tidy up and go home, cutting four more asparagus spears to have with my evening meal.

Saturday 5th May
There was lots of discussion with lots of other plotholder including one who had a letter from the council who wanted advice on what to do next.


When I got onto the plot I went into the brassica tunnel to plant potatoes: the tunnel will be moved to the bed next to where it is now. I planted two rows, one of Sarpo Mira and one of King Edward. The latter is very susceptible to blight but the wife likes that variety so I plan to protect the row with Sarpo Mira on each side and see if that works. Both rows had a sprinkling of slug bait in the trench together with some 10:10:10 potato fertiliser before being covered over.








​I then pulled up several immature cauliflower plants to eat as Spring Greens, clearing the ground for the next rows of potatoes. A couple had miniature caulis in the centre but far too small to eat. The patch will have to be prepared for the second row of Sarpo Mira and a row of Cara which I bought as a last minute purchase from the Trading Hut when they were marked down.

​Next I drew out the drill ready to sow parsnips and one of the roots on my next visit as I had forgotten to bring the seeds!

Wednesday 2nd May
I arrived on the plot in the afternoon after a cold night wondering whether the potatoes had been affected by frost. I was pleased to see there was just a touch of brown on the biggest plants.

With the potatoes fully ridged there was no problem as they would soon outgrow the damage. However I got a surprise when I looked at my neighbour's potatoes.

​They had been badly hit! I think the brassica tunnel offered more protection than I realised.
I then dug over about half of the bed in the other tunnel ready for my maincrop potatoes. I went on to dig over the strip on the next door bed ready for sowing a late sowing of parsnips and left happy at the progress I had made.

Monday 30th April
I arrived on site at midday as I had been asked to supervise the delivery of the Council's order of roadstone. The wind was rather fresh so I was waiting in the car by the gate wondering when he would arrive when a plotholder came to say he had heard noises from inside the Trading Hut containers and was worried someone could be trapped. Needless to say I went and unlocked to find stored furniture had fallen over. Tidying up required taking the new mower out so I decided to do some mowing while I waited. Sod's Law came into effect as the truck turned up as I was about to start the engine.
After some manoeuvring to avoid a low branch beyond the Trading Hut he was able to leave a pile of roadstone by the cabin and one at the far corner of the site.
Once he had gone I spent a little time using the new lawnmower to tidy the front area of the site before locking up and finally going onto the plot.
First I took my cordless drill to unscrewing the the securing stakes holding the brassica tunnels down ready for then to be moved.
I removed the last of the leeks to clear space for sowing some new crops after I dig the cleared patch over.
I went on to dig out a few more parsnips, one large one and a couple of normal size. I then pulled up a load of immature brassica plants I had set out too late last autumn - lots of spring greens!
Lots of digging to do before sowing and planting new crops.