Rainy day, but cracking harvest

Its been piddling it down with rain, but we popped up to see what needed picking - and got :

Sweetcorn !!!

Courgettes

Peas

Broad beans

A tiny romanesco broccoli

Swede

Beetroot

Turnip (last one thankfully)

What a harvest :)

Rocket, Basil, Cucumber, Lettuce & Beetroot salad !

OK, not from the allotment, but from Ben and Sarah's vege patch ... but so excited, had to post it !

And yes, my friends, that is a home grown cucumber !

28th June - First Harvest !

Yay ! Our first harvest today. Beetroot, turnip, lettuce and loads of strawberries.

The weekly slog of weeding went on, but the allotment is looking great now.

Planted our the courgettes, did some watering, and thinned out the swede.

The sweetcorn has also started to fruit. Well ahead of the game compared to other plots !

Harry and Joe planting courgettes
Sarah weeding the carrots, which haven't really germinated that well.
Matt planting some more beetroot

14th June - more weeding

Lots more weeding ... not much else to say !

7th June 2009 - leeks go in, weeding continues

The last week has been really hot, and we'd been watering every couple of days, but on Saturday the heavens opened and it rained all day, over an inch of rain.

The weeds were coming up again as usual, so we spent a good bulk of time getting rid of them.

The swedes needed thinning out, and are going great guns.

Everything is looking really good. The brassicas are bedding in nicely, and the peas are racing ahead.

Managed to plant 100 leaks also. Hope they are going to be better than last year !

Below are the leaks, planted in the top patch ...

Sarah planting out the leeks using an old curtain rail cut down as the dibber. The leaks were grown in modules before planting out. We didn't bother topping/tailing them.

The brassicas are still looking good

The peas are romping ahead

Matt thinning out the swedes. Apparently he takes great pleasure in choosing which seedling lives, and which dies ...

Matt's putting the thinnings into a pot, rather than discarding them. After thinning the seedlings are buried to avoid the cabbage root fly being attracted to the smell of bruised foliage.

31st May 2009 - more planting & the watering begins

Planted more brassicas today - swede, another round of romanesco broccoli and red cabbage.

We are getting a bit tight for space, so they were a bit closer that ideal, but we'll see how they go.

The peas have come up well, but are being pecked by the pigeons, so we put some netting over them to keep the pesky birds off.

Also started watering. Its been so dry the last week, it all needed a good drenching.

Below, Ben and Matt crawl through the brassica cage watering ...

The netting over the peas

Sarah watering the newly planted brassicas - but no netting - we've run out of hoops !

Matt planting the red cabbage, arse in the air as normal !