MY WEEK : 25 ( W/E 24TH JUNE )

Welcome to my latest update of my progress on my two allotments here in Stourbridge, UK.


I have had quite a productive week despite the weather conditions that I know many of you have also experienced up and down the country, I really don't know whether the seasons know when they should be anymore with the temperatures set to fall to only 15c next week and plenty of rain to come as well.


During the wet spells I have been busy putting the final touches to our Allotment Show which we are holding on Sunday, 2nd of September. This is a show that I set up to try to encourage more of a community spirit on our allotment site and this definitely worked after the 1st show, lets hope for a repeat this time around. Another thing that I have been organising for next week is a trip to my allotments for the preschool children from the local school which Daniel is now in his last year at, in the past the children have really enjoyed themselves and are amazed at where and how the fruit and vegetables grow. At the end of the week we had a visit from our local MP Lynda Wiltho who also enjoyed her visit to our allotment site, this was arranged by Malcolm Brown who is heading our attempt to obtain funding for road improvements, disabled facilities, toilets and a site club house. These are just some of the measures that our new forward looking committee are trying to implement to make our site one of the best in the region.





Despite being a bit late with my planting and sowing this year things are catching up, it's a great feeling when you notice the first signs of your crops about to start producing and you still get that excitement of what lies ahead. As you can see from the top-left picture my Runner Beans and from the top-right picture my Courgettes are producing their first flowers.





Also producing the first signs of their produce are my Broad Beans and Beetroot both pictured above albeit still on the small side but still satisfying to see.





As I mentioned in last week's update my Spray Chrysanthemum cuttings pictured top-left have now reached the stage where they need stopping which basically means taking the leading shoot tip off at a height of approximately 5" pictured top-right, this will encourage the plants to produce side shoots which will give you more and better sprays of flowers.





Elsewhere on the plots the Florence or Bulb Fennel picture top-left are doing well and the first signs of the bulb forming are visible, also to my surprise the Aubergine plants have started to flower picture top-right which I did not expect outdoors especially as the weather has not been very seasonal of late.





In my large cage where I am mostly growing my Brassicas, the Peas pictured top-left that I decided to grow in here to protect them from the Pigeons and the Pea Moth are doing exceptionally well and have started to produce their first flowers, the Summer Cabbage, Romanesco and Red Cabbage are also growing nicely. My Dwarf French Beans pictured top-right are also starting to produce flower buds, during the week a neighbouring plot holder Alan gave me some plants of a new variety of Dwarf French beans which are supposed to form the Beans at the top of the plant rather than underneath their leaves which will make them easier to harvest so I am looking forward to seeing how they do.





I am pleased to report good progress with my Banana Shallots pictured top-left and my Roscoff Onions pictured top-right, both of these were kindly sent to me by viewers of my website to try. The Banana Shallots are new to me and even though I was a chef for quite a few years I have never tried these but I here that they are excellent. The Roscoff Onions are apparently a Rose coloured Onion with a mild sweet taste and are only grown in Roscoff in France and now in Stourbridge, UK. They are apparently offered by Sainsbury's in there taste the difference range so I have been informed, it will be interesting to see how they do in this country.




Finally as mentioned earlier we had a visit from our local MP Lynda Wiltho who is kindly trying to help us in our efforts to obtain funding so that we can make some quite dramatic improvements to our allotment site which will help us reach out to the wider community and also to become one of or if not the best sites in the region, the picture shows one of our younger gardeners Megan presenting Lynda with a bouquet of flowers later followed by a hamper of produce grown by plot holders on the site. Lynda enjoyed her visit and has expressed a few ideas of how we can set about achieving our goal with her help as well.
I would like to say that as Chairman of our Allotment Association it is nice to see such a prominent and busy person taking the time to visit us and expressing her desire to help us achieve our goal, thank you Lynda for your time and efforts.

Well that is it for another week I'm afraid, I do hope that despite the weather forecast for the week ahead we still manage to get to our allotments at some stage and enjoy the produce that we are now harvesting, thanks for visiting my website and I will speak to you all again next week regards Steve.