MY WEEK : 34 (W/E 26TH AUGUST)

Welcome to my latest update from my allotments in Stourbridge.

Over the course of the last week I have continued with hand weeding of my second plot but I have not managed to complete this before I go on my last holiday of the Summer to my caravan in Snowdonia however this can be finished on my return. The photograph on the left shows how they looked last night which was a beautiful evening, I love going at this time of the day when it is cooler and the sun is going down.

This week I have also been busy with final preparations for the Horticultural Show on the 2nd of September, with all the stationery being printed, adverts placed in the local paper as for the first time we are opening the show to the public to come and view and hopefully help us raise some funds into the bargain. I have also written my next article for the Kitchen Garden magazine which features in the October issue under the Plot Watch section which I hope you enjoy.





Around the plots at the moment things are coming along nicely such as my first crop of Leeks which as you can see in the top-left picture are very nearly at the size I prefer to harvest them and that is about 1" thick whilst they are still young and tender, my second crop will not mature until later in the year. I have not fitted sleeves around my Celery this year, pictured top-right, this is after advice from the more experienced Celery growers who say that as they are a self blanching variety and as long as I remove the outer stalks as the plants grow then I should get perfectly good results.





Recently I have sown some Swiss Chard and Spinach into the bed that I grew my First Early Potatoes, the germination hasn't been great however I have enough plants to provide us with an adequate supply of both providing the weather does not get too hot and dry!!





The Dwarf French Beans that have been cropping for the last few weeks are starting to come to an end now but the Climbing ones are taking over with a good crop of pencil pods being produced, my Radish (Cherry Belle) pictured top-right are ready for harvesting and they have much more flavour than the supermarket ones, delicious.





My early Runner Beans pictured top-left have cropped really well this season with a heavy yield being produced, the flowers are coming to an end on them now but as a back up I planted some later ones which as you can see top-right are still full of flower and have started to crop now so I've got quite a glut of them this year, I have noticed in the supermarkets despite this being a good year for them that they are still very expensive £1.29 for 1/2lb, I can't believe that people pay this much for them no wonder they make so much profit.

Well that is it for this week, I know this is a bit shorter than usual but I've got packing to do, also I have included my August Video Update for you to enjoy below which will give you a better idea of how my plots are doing. I will be back in two weeks time with my next update which will include details of how our Horticultural Show went, I hope you enjoy the August Video thanks Steve.