MY WEEK 21 : ( 22ND MAY )

Hello all, another busy week to update you all about both at the allotments and at home.

As you can see from this picture I managed to get round to covering my Brassica cage this week with my families help, the winds were really gusting when we started to put the cover on and we all had to hang on to it to prevent it taking off accross the allotments. The covering or netting came in 50m*2m rolls so I had to darn it together to make one large section to cover the top and then added the ends on afterwards. Unfortunately I had to revert to using this type of netting which is the material used by scaffolding companies to prevent debris from falling, as when I ordered the very expensive enviromesh from N. A Kays Horticulture 01946 692134 the well known mail order supplier which I had used for all my rolls of weed control fabric and numerous other items over the past few years they only supplied me with a 3.2m * 10m roll instead of a 3.2m * 50m roll, however because I had never had any previous problems with this company I did not see the need to unwrap my goods upon receipt and roll them out to measure the correct length had been supplied, unfortunately when I did and then realised what had happened, upon telephoning the company because this was after their 1 working day policy of notifying them of any delivery shortfalls they said that it was my tough luck, needless to say I was furious with their lack of business goodwill or customer services, I realise that I should have checked the goods upon receipt but I'm sure most businesses with an ounce of customer service would have offered some sort of deal or discount for me to feel that I would reorder the product from them and continue to be a valued customer of their's however this was not the case, so no more orders from anyone that knows me on our allotments and certainly no more recommendations from me on the gardening forums that I contribute to, anyway I must stress that this is only my view but I felt that I should share it with you all.


On completion of the Brassica cage I have started to plant out the Brassicas that are ready, from left to right you can see that I have planted, Cauliflower, Summer Cabbage, Kohl Rabi and out of shot I have planted out the Brussels Sprouts. With each plant I have fitted a cabbage collar to protect them from the cabbage root fly laying it's eggs at the base of each plant which when they hatch the larvae burrow down and eat the roots of the crops.



The Strawberry plants are bursting with flowers and already you can see the first signs of the fruits forming, so it shouldn't be long now before we enjoy them with a sprinkling of sugar and to be really naughty some double cream mmmmh.






Here is the first of my Sweet Peas to bloom, despite all the rain and wind that we have had this week, just enough sunshine to bring them into flower before the beginning of June, as you can probably tell they are my favourite type of flowers, they're wonderful and if only I could share the scent with you, I'm sure you would agree with me to.




This week with my Mum's help I have planted up all the hanging baskets, wall planters and towers. The picture is an example of one of them, some people prefer the traditional mosslined baskets however these wicker baskets are proving to be more popular and from my point of view are easier to put together and plant up, I usually plant a 14" basket like this one with 5 main plants such as Fuchsia, Verbena, Bacopa, Million Bells, Geranium and then inter plant them with a mixture of Lobelia and Busy Lizzies.

Well just to let you know that as it is Whitsun next week and Daniel is on a half term break, my wife Sarah is also on holiday and we are all going to our caravan in North Wales over looking the Sea and Snowdonia for a weeks holiday and well earned rest so my next update will be in 2 weeks time I'm afraid, when I return from holiday which will be the first week in June I will be planting out all the plants that are frost tender such as the Runner Beans, French Beans, Courgettes, Cucumbers, Butternut Squash, Tomatoes. I will of course keep you informed in my next update, thankyou all for following my progress and I hope that enjoy it, thanks Steve.