July Week 3

July Week Three Sunday 15th 2007

This weeks trip to the allotment is what any trip should be about, general maintenance and of course harvest time. This week being no exception, with all the hotter weather we had been having we were anxious to see if all of our later harvesting crops were near completion.

On arrival at the allotment the first task was to weed and boy did we need to weed, For the past week had been perfect weather conditions for the weeds to grow (warm damp weather). So we set about the mass de-weeding and managed top fill at least ten bucket full of weeds which needed to be removed and were placed onto the weed patch. This meant that the plants get the most nutrients possible and also the weeds won’t take up valuable water. After this had been completed the site started to look much more orderly.

The first harvest was from the runner beans and we are pleased to report that we have managed to pull a very large handful of long straight pods which are just ready to be boiled and eaten. The plants themselves also look in very good condition with plenty of new growth and new flowers forming, meaning in runner beans hopefully until September.

'Beautiful Beans'

The next harvest of the week is as ever the raspberries where the summer fruiting canes were still full of lovely ripe red fruits, however the canes were starting to look a little more tired and we don't anticipate many more from these canes, however the autumn raspberries will not be far off forming fruits.

Our next challenge was to test the second early potatoes to see if they were near ready to be pulled up also. To do this we dug up one set of tubers and we very shocked to find one of the early potatoes had grown to a whopping 750 grams so much for small new potatoes. More proof that this year’s weather has been far from ordinary. However after tasting this monster he was still very delicious despite its size. The other potatoes taken from this plant were again large but still plentiful however not as productive as Aaron Pilot first earlies.

'Monster Mash'

On a better note the potatoes which have been left in the ground are not showing any signs of blight and should be ok until they are ready for harvesting.

'Protecting your pots'

One vegetable very near harvesting was the courgettes with both plants racing away forming lots of small fruits which should be ready for harvesting in a couple of weeks, however there was one which was already cigar shaped and shall be taken mid week for a nice courgette omelette.

'Cracking Courgettes

Other news from the plot this week is that the pumpkins and squashes are really starting to put a lot of leaf growth out meaning that in the next couple of weeks the true fruits should start to form and then begin to swell to their edible size. To aid these we had three reserve squash plants in our greenhouse at home. Now that the potatoes had come out we thought we might as well put these into the ground and see what fruits we get from these straggly plants if anything, but we live in hope.

'Squash Blossom'

The annual flower patch is really starting to fill out with good sturdy plants about nine inches tall and again with this warm weather should start to race away. The nasturtiums which had self seeded were also looking lovely in their full bloom with a multitude of orange flowers forming next to the path welcoming you onto the plot.

'Naughty Nasturtiums'

Our last job this week was to sit back and relax and enjoy all of our hard work starting to bear fruit and look forward to the wonderful vegetable we are yet to taste this year such as, onions, squashes, Swedes, sweet corn and chillies.

'Summer here we come'

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News and information from our allotment in Northamptonshire.