15th June

15^th June

The weather has improved dramatically over the weekend and into today. It’s been very hot indeed. So I needed to go to the allotment and get on with some watering. Looking around I saw that the sweet corn, the brassicas that have not been eaten and the onions are doing well, the onions fantastically so. It seems that just recently the onions have bulked up and their leaves have got even bigger. There are a few that are still small and scrawny but most are doing well with some looking like they will grow into real beauties. On the other hand, the squashes look rather weak and feeble. They are trying to resist slug attacks which never help and I am thinking that perhaps I did not sow early enough to allow them to grow large enough to be planted out at the normal time and be big enough and tough enough to handle the slugs which they usually do. The peppers are also lacking in vigour and again I fear that is because I kept them in smaller pots for too long and stunted them. The sweet peas are still waiting to grab a hold on life, they look thin and pale although one or two seem to be producing a new stem that looks like bolting skywards. The carrots are still there, little sprigs of leaves in rows that have plenty of gaps, such is their temperamental mentality. The garlic looks OK but not as good as they did last year. The leek bed is producing a mass of lovely bind weed and other weeds that I aim to fork out soon then lay the membrane and plant out the leeks from back home where many are ready to go into their final growing places.

Whilst at the allotment I saw Jim from the committee. He was giving out information about a show on the 20^th September for allotment holders. There are 29 show categories with prizes for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places as well as commendations. These give you points and the plot holder with the most number of points overall is the grand champion. The cost is 50p per entry per class and it looks like a bit of fun. I intend to enter.

Back at home it is safe to say we are well and truly in strawberry season which, due to our variety being one that crops from May to September, is going to be a long one. Most fruit grow quite large and we picked a couple the middle of last week but that was only the first flush. We have now picked the equivalent of a supermarket punnet. I usually love them with sugar and cream, so much so that my taste buds almost demand the sweetness added on so I’m very glad to say that our strawberries taste really good and sweet just as they are. Other great news from home is that one white and one magenta sweet pea is ready to bloom any day now. The hanging baskets are now in good bloom mainly due to the surfinas in the back garden which look like petunias but without their flowers being as sticky – thankfully. The basket in the front has a mass of red and white petunia blooms which surprised me a little as according to the label they were both red! The white bush rose in the back garden is the best it has ever been having over 50 blooms out all at once – so many the branches are flopping over.