Allotment in the sun again. One month on. I've tried hard this year weeding. I decided that the best way in the beds was to really not give them a chance. We managed to go away for a week last week and was still in control when we returned.

I did let the grass seed though. It grew while hay fever kept me away. I think next year I'm going to do away with the idea of keeping any wild areas close to the cultivated parts. So will go for more paving - if i can find it and more weed suppression membrane. I don't think nature will worry too much, the allotments on the edge of town and there's plenty of nettles elsewhere.










This is my Favourite bed. Is it more luck or knowhow that it looks so full and healthy? Anyway every things growing well. Parsnips in the foreground, beetroot, Parsley, marigolds, chard, fennel (more Photos of that below)










I decided to dig up the potatoes - this photo is taken half way through while I had a bit of a breather. certainly got more out than I planted which is one measure of success. Hope they'll store ok. We ate a few at the start of the week and were pretty tasty, though had a bit of scab on them so had to peel them. I was planning to dig up a few at a time to start with but with all the rain forecast and having this week off work I decided to get them all out in one go.











This must be about the Most Photographed Fennel ever - Its the highlight of my favourite bed. Some of it is just about ready for eating. These were planted with a bit of secession so hopefully will be able to pull them up gradually over the next 2 months.







Onions will be ready in a few weeks too. Planning on planting some overwintering ones this autumn to get some early next summer.










Monster Courgette plants. Hard to believe that the slugs almost ate them, though they are now going after the courgettes! With luck though will have some to eat in a few days time.

I planted these through membrane on soil that had become pretty weedy. I just dug the weeds in with a bit of compost and haven't seen anything of them since - I'm expecting that by next year any weeds will be long gone.

We ate the first rhubarb today. It was lovely. The plan for next spring is to divide the 2 plants here and have them filling out this whole bed.















The fennel is still growing well, as are most things right now. still managing to keep the beds clear of weeds because I think the more I do this year on that will mean less weeding in years to come.

The Potatoes one month on are looking great. I've tried to earth them up a bit as your meant to but I think I've planted them a bit too close together to do much of that.




This is the second lot of parsnips that I've planted out. not enough germinated the first time, but these I sprouted on a layer of damp kitchen roll before getting them started in compost filled toilet roll tubes.











And the biggest success on the allotment this week was finding 5 paving slabs in a skip down the road. I'm hoping if I find enough of these I wont need to buy a strimmer.

There's been a bit of a change in fortunes for the veg on the allotment this month. The broccoli, it turns out, was been eaten by pigeons and not by slugs at all. A bit of netting on some canes and its recovered really well.


The courgettes unfortunately haven't been so lucky. This is definitely slugs and i think the main problem has been that I planted them out too early and in a week of heavy rain. I'm hoping a couple will recover and I've seen they sell butternut squash seedlings at B&Q so hopefully will have something to fill any gaps.

Parsley is surviving. little coya pots worked well for this as it has done for the fennel below which is romping away.

A Mixed bag here, most of it good, some uncertain and only one failure so far.



I hope the potatoes here appreciate all the hard work that went into getting the bed ready.






















The asparagus started really early this year. We’ve been eating it for over a month now and to not overdo a good thing thought I would give it a break now until next year.

Above are onions, shallots, garlic and tadpoles. Always guaranteed to grow well.

These are sprouting broccoli seedlings I’ve been nurturing over the past month. Planted out 2 days ago and now hardly anything left of them. Despite the slug pellets, which I’ve been assured on the box are organic! I think the answer is not to bother with Broccoli next year.

These went out at the same time as the broccoli. On the right Florence fennel which does seem a bit tougher than broc. On the left – parsnips. These took ages to germinate as I’ve since been told they do. They’re planted in toilet roll tubes which I’m also told will mean they come out nice and straight. I think root vegetables don’t like much root disturbance when transplanting and this way you can avoid any. I’m hoping the little cardboard fences will fox the slugs too.

Looking particualary well tended in the sun here. So just as well you cant see behind where I'm standing.

Still excited enough to head up after work and take some photos from the ground.

The beds in the middle distance are now planted with onions, shallots and garlic. You can also see a healthy clump of rhubarb in front of there.

And this is the furthest bed, which I dug last week. The large boulders came out of here before the potatoes went in.