MY WEEK : 26 ( W/E 1ST JULY )

Hello and welcome to this week's update from my allotments. Well the weather is dreadful at the moment with apparently no end in sight to this unsettled spell I'm afraid. It is so wet that the farmers are already warning of problems with their crops which will no doubt mean that we may experience the same. I have noticed on my Potato crop that a few of them are showing signs of baby Slug damage and also some plot holders on my allotment site have reported problems with Blight which often happens in warm and damp weather causing a yellowing of their leaves, as this is a fungal disease it can quickly spread throughout your crop. Unfortunately I have heard of people whose plots are flooded as a result of the weather and my heart goes out to them as it must be devastating to lose your entire crop through no fault of their own.

At the front of my allotments I have a large raised bed pictured top-left in which I add spare compost and manure each year, in this I grow my Courgettes, Ridge Cucumbers and Butternut Squashes. My Courgettes are starting to flower and if you look closely behind the flower pictured top-right you can see the first of the Courgettes forming.

In my Brassica cage the crops are enjoying the rain with the added benefit of being sheltered from the worst of the winds that we are having. The Summer Cabbages pictured above have really started to hearten up nicely and they are looking excellent and will soon be ready for harvesting.

Also in the Brassica cage I decided to grow my maincrop Peas as the cage would offer them protection from the Pigeons and hopefully the Pea Moth which can devastate your crop. They have just started to flower and if the rain continues I'm sure they will provide me with an excellent crop this year.

As you can see from the picture top-left my Runner Beans are climbing well and have started to flower, I am encouraged that they are flowering low down the plants as sometimes in the past I have only had flowers near the top which has been due to the weather and growing conditions. My Gladioli pictured top-right have started to produce their flower spikes which should mean that within the next week or two I will have the first of them in bloom.

The Onions are doing well at the moment however there is a danger that if it remains too wet then they could start to suffer with their bases starting to rot hopefully this is not the case. The Lettuce appear to be growing overnight with all the rain, in fact we can't manage to eat what we have fully grown at the moment but I'm sure that I'm not on my own.

In the bed where I am growing the Roscoff Onions and Banana Shallots I also have a few Dwarf French Beans which have started to flower in the last week pictured top-left and in the top-right picture you can see my Leeks which are smaller than I would normally have at this time of year as those of you who have seen my Leek Video will know, I am still hopefull though of a decent crop come the Winter.

My Sweetcorn plants have started to grow away nicely now that they have found their feet so to speak, although you relate to them enjoying the warm sunshine they still love a good drop of rain. My Florence Fennel pictured top-right is also a crop that likes to be kept well watered which will hopefully ensure that the bulbs at their base swell nicely rather than run to seed like mine did last year.

During the last week I have planted my Spray Chrysanthemums pictured top-left, as you saw in last week's update I had stopped them all prior to planting and also to avoid root disturbance later on I have also staked them to offer them support as the Sprays grow. My Beetroot crop pictured top-right have also enjoyed the conditions and have started to swell nicely.

In the next week I hope to be planting the remaining Brassicas of Calabrese, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Early Purple Sprouting in my Brassica cage weather permitting as well as sowing some Autumn Carrots. During the week I had the Pre-school children from the local Primary school visit my allotments as they have done in previous years, they really enjoyed themselves and after showing them around my plots I dug up some of my Potatoes to show them where they grow and also gave them a small bag of Potatoes each to take home to enjoy I hope, I have been asked to visit them in school this week which I intend to do. I have recently upgraded my Video Camera thanks to my parents generosity for my recent Birthday and I have started to make an up to date Video of my allotments which I hope to bring you next week.

Well that is it for this week, I hope that despite the weather you manage to get to your plots and continue to harvest your produce with satisfaction, regards Steve.