We are having unsettled weather in the UK at the moment and that means lots of allotment time. Either to sort out the mess after heavy rain or to bask in the sunshine while it lasts.
This year, we’ve extended our allotment ever so slightly but chopping down all the nettle and bramble growth to the side and creating space for a line of purple mange tout and more strawberries.
Purple Mange Tout Doing Well
There’s another row on the same side for my husband’s various potatoes – Anya, Charlotte and Desiree.
Three varieties of potatoes
We are also a little wiser to the way the sun sets and rises on the plot now and have moved a few patches around. Firstly the colcassia bulb has gone in prime position outside the caravan. It’s not doing anything despite having been in the ground for weeks so I am waiting with baited breath until some shoots appear. It was a pricey bulb!
Pray for my Colcassia bulb!
I’ve replanted the strawberries to a shadier spot too and also taken a few plants home to the garden to ensure we get more eating (rather than the birds). Radishes have already yielded some crop so I replanted a few gaps this weekend. I’m looking forward to more of these over the summer as they are so fiery and wonderful roasted with some feta crumbled on top.
Getting to the radishes before the rabbits!
We’ve dug away the pallets that were in front of the caravan and created a little flower patch for my daughter. She’s on a voyage of weed discovery at the moment and leaving them all in for fear of picking out some of the flower seedlings she’s planted. The only ones we know are surely coming are the gladioli.
Amber’s flowers and weeds
Our garlic has developed some rust so I’m not really sure what to do about that. I’m hoping my friend Mark who is a garlic farmer will be able to offer some wise words of wisdom!
Rusty Garlic
Shallots are new for us this year. We bought a 50p bag at the allotment office when we paid our fees earlier this year and they seem to be coming along well.
Shallots
Runner beans and purple carrots went in this weekend so here’s keeping fingers crossed our little wriggly, feathered and furry friends keep their teeth, claws and paws off any little shoots so we get a fair crack at those too.
What else should we try?
We still have curly kale, dwarf beans, aubergine seedlings, sorrel, basil, calendula, nasturtiums and beetroot left to plant. What would you suggest we try for a clay soil plot?
A hearty treat for an allotment lunch
Of course all this work needs a few treats to keep us going all day. Allotment Tarts are our lunch of choice. Easy to make and take along and easy to eat with muddy hands. I use any extra pastry up for cheese straws to have with olives and a glass of white wine at the end of the day. The wine seems that little bit more delicious knowing it’s been well and truly earned.
Easy Peasy Allotment Tarts