May 2008

Well, May has been a very busy month. I have been very busy on the lottie. We have 8 rows of onions 6 x white onions and 2 x red onions (we like onions!) My Broadbeans are growing well and producing lots of pods. They are not yet firm enough to pick but I am watching them and will pick some as soon as they are ready - yum yum.

I have sown 2 rows of carrots and another row has gone in today.

I have 3 rows of runnerbeans that were doing well, but they have been zapped by a frost on Tuesday morning so I have had to re-sow some of them today.

My peas are virtually non existant. From the 3 rows planted I have just 5 plants - I think the mice have had a field day up there eating them all. I will sow some more at home to see if I am more successful.

The sweetcorn is extremely patchy, out of the 30 seeds sown I have just 10 plants. I will give them another week to see if any more germinate and if they don't I will move about the plants into a block and use the space to grow salad veggies.

I have also sown some more parsnips as they did not germinate again. This time I have also sown some radishes in the same drill so I will be able to see where they are should they decide to grow this time.

I have also put in a row of beetroot, this will be one of many and I am trying to leave a week or two in between so I don't end up with a glut.

Mick has cleared the area where the shed is going. We have to go back (possibly later today, after the Grand Prix practice that he has to watch) or perhaps during the weekend and put the slabs down. We have an old builders bag that I intend to cut up and put on top of the soil before the slabs go down to protect from the weeds and couchgrass. Then we have to make arrangements for getting the shed up there. It will be so nice to be able to cycle to the allotment when the weather is nice instead of taking the car

Well, thats this months update done. I would just like to wish Monty Don a speady recovery from his stroke and hope he is able to get on with his own garden, even though he has given up presenting Gardener's World. Get Well Soon, Monty.