I've been mega busy with final deadlines for uni and Luke's been in and out of the country with work. Thankfully the allotment hasn't been neglected, but sadly this blog has. Apologies to anyone who's been waiting on an update.
Mostly, things are going really well.
Today we our first harvest! Our pak choi has done phenomenally well and yesterday we came down to realise it was flowering and that this wasn't actually a good thing really. So today we went and harvested some. We've never tasted it before, but we like it and it kind of tastes a bit like spinach.
A few weeks ago (I'm not sure when exactly because we've been so hectic... but when Luke was away) we decided that our spinach and lettuce were not growing, so I dug the bed over and planted more using more compost this time. Here you can just about see the row of lettuce and two rows of spinach in the foreground.
Up close: Spinach is now growing!
Up close: you can just about see the lettuce!
Up close: Cauliflower. It isn't doing as good as I'd have hoped, but it's getting there.
Up close: Rocket!
Our strawberries have been flowering now for a week or so, so hopefully we'll start seeing strawberries growing soon!
I've been growing thai and greek basil at home for a few weeks now, so we finally thought they were big enough to be planted out. Here's hoping the wind is kind this week.
Our herbs are doing well and have definitely grown since being planted.
Our rhubarb is also doing well. The one which survived the wind is now growing 2 more stalks, and the one which was pretty much destroyed now has 2 stalks which are growing well.
Radishes, onions, garlic, scallions and brussel sprouts are all growing very well.
Up close: scallions
Up close: onions
Up close: garlic
Up close: radishes. These were very overcrowded so we thinned them out and replanted two more rows of them, but sadly the replanted ones all seem to have died...
Up close: brussel sprouts
Our beans finally started to grow!
Our raspberries are also doing very well. We're not sure yet if we'll get any fruit from them this year, but hopefully if they keep growing at this rate we could.
We also planted 2 more gooseberry plants yesterday, one red and one green, both gifts from my lovely sister. Fingers crossed they come back to life okay...
Unfortunately, despite how well all of these things are growing, some others are either not doing well, or do not seem to be growing at all.
The tomatoes were doing great, but all seem to have died off. We're not really sure why, I'm thinking it's because their clotches were only translucent and they maybe weren't getting enough light. Only one seems to be still fighting to survive, and it doesn't look too good.
The peas, broccoli, leeks, sweetcorn and beetroot have all failed to even sprout. Luke replanted the beetroot today after soaking the seeds in warm water for an hour before planting. Tonight I've replanted leeks, a few peas and some broccoli in the house, to see if we can get any to grow and later plant them out. So far we're still giving the ones at the allotment a chance to grow and won't dig them over until we have something to replace them with. We also need to get more sweetcorn seeds to plant some indoors. I've also planted 2 more tomatoes in the house, in hope that maybe if I let them get a bit bigger before planting out, they might survive better.
Overall we're pleased with how things are growing. We're now starting to read up more on plant care and pruning since things are growing more now. We also still need to get some potatoes planted. Other than that we don't have any major plans for the next few weeks, other than watering and weeding.
Rachael.
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