MY WEEKS 35, 36 & 37

Hello all and welcome to my latest update from my allotments.

Well after another wonderful week at our caravan in North Wales with good weather it was back to it on my return. The first thing that I had to do was to organise and manage our 2nd Allotment Show which as you will see below was a great success with the introduction of a Bring and Buy Sale proving very popular. Then after this came the start of secondary school for my son Daniel which was an anxious time wondering whether he would enjoy it or not, fortunately he thinks that it is brilliant and has really enjoyed his first week there which we hope continues. Then back to my plots to see how everything had fared whilst I had been away and yes the dreaded weed growth was amazing considering that there had been no rainfall at all, but with a good few days they were soon dealt with.







Above are a selection of pictures from our 2nd Horticultural Show which for the first time included a Bring & Buy Sale which proved to be very popular and helped us to raise our first significant amount towards future site improvements such as Toilets, Clubhouse and the Road. The show was well attended and had a really good atmosphere with members of the public visiting the show for the first time which will hopefully continue to grow in size and popularity as unfortunately shows such as this have been in decline in recent years which is such a shame as it encourages a good community spirit amongst plot holders.






On my allotments I returned to the first of my Spray Chrysanthemum's starting to bloom which are excellent cut flowers and will last for several weeks when cut fresh from the plot. I have managed to get the timing of them blooming better than last year when they flowered in July due to stopping them too early so I'm glad they have waited until now when other flowers have gone past their best. These will provide me with an abundant supply for weeks to come I hope and also enable me to give cuttings of them to my neighbour Brian who has struggled with his this year.

Around the plots at the moment crops that are still producing include the Swiss Chard which you use in the same way as Spinach and the Climbing French Beans which are producing a good amount of pods however they are not as good as the ones that I have harvested from the Dwarf French Bean plants whose pods were more tender.

Some of the beds are now becoming empty as I have finished harvesting their crops, the compost heap pictured top-right as you can see is filling up with all the suitable material that I am gathering as I go along, the only things that will not go in there are any perennial weeds, Potato Haulms and the Potatoes that are too small or damaged this is because of any Blight spores on the haulms, Weed seeds and Potatoes will re-grow from just an eye in their skin being left. All of these items will either be burnt or disposed of at the local tip.

Other crops starting to produce include Calabrese which is one of my favourite vegetables, when you harvest the main head quite often if you continue to water the plants they will produce smaller side spears enabling you to continue to harvest for weeks to come. Also in the Brassica cage I have some Turnips maturing which make a lovely addition to any Winter Stew or Casserole, I also have some Swede plants however I fear that I sowed these too late for them to mature in time but you never know with the way our weather is.

Last weekend I was invited to judge the Fruit and Vegetable section of the Strensham Village Show for the second year, I really enjoy doing this and it is nice to see how another show operates. As with most of us this year the entrants have found it to be a difficult growing season but the standard of the exhibits were excellent with me awarding the overall Cup to the Basket of Fruit pictured bottom-left which I think reflects how good a year it has been for the Fruit Growers.

During the last week I have mainly been continuing with the clearing of spent crops around the plots along with watering and feeding, watering, watering and watering !!!, I can't believe that after all the rain that we have had this Summer followed by none in the last 6 weeks or so that I would have to resort to watering so much as even my Leek plants were wilting, what a year!!!

I have also collected my seed from my Sweet Peas this week shown top-right which will be sown again in about a months time ready for over wintering some plants for an early show next year when it will all start again.

Well that is about it for the time being I'm afraid, I'm sorry that it has been so long since I last updated but on my return from Holiday the Broadband had evolved into Snailband which meant that I was unable to get any of my pictures to load onto the site, as you can see this is now resolved and it's great to get back to normal, I will be back as usual next weekend I hope. Take care and hope all is well with you all, regards Steve.