It is a truth universally acknowledged that when it comes to allotment tasks, I’m always late to do something. This year it was the leeks.

I should have planted them out in July but it was so hot and the soil was so dry and hard so they languished in the polytunnel until last weekend when we planted them out. My plan had always been for two of the square beds.

However there were so many, I stuck the leftovers in two other beds and put the last four in a bed in the polytunnel. I haven’t covered them so if we get anything useable great, if not we have others!

We also got around to attending to the back flower bed. We had moved two of the roses into that bed with the relocated peony last winter and added three Edelweiss lavenders. In the spring, Ma had weeded one of the lavenders and it had been in a pot ever since. We knew that bed was going to be weedy and in the spring I’d partially mulched with cardboard and spent potato compost. I’d intended to get to the rest of it but didn’t. It was watered a bit during the summer but not much and the roses had a pretty hard time of it.

The rain last week meant that the weeds all started to come back so it was time to do something about it. It was weeded, I laid cardboard down on the back of the bed that hadn’t been mulched in the spring and added compost over the entire bed. I replanted the lavender and added a hyssop and some pinks. That bed is all pink and white, it was unintentional but I’m hoping that everything beds in and it has a good spring and summer next year!

The flower bed at the front of the plot is also looking good with calendula, zinnias, petunias and the ever present californian poppies doing well. I also seem to have finally got some camomile in that bed too.

I topped the tomatoes and removed a bunch of leaves. They are coming to an end outside but the tumbling toms in the polytunnel are still going.

Finally, and also later than intended we got turnips, coriander, swede, chard, parsley and pak choi sown in modules to go into the polytunnel beds when we clear the summer crops and sweet potatoes out. We’re see how that goes.

Next week, we’re giving it two days, I hope to woodchip the paths, repot the blueberries and get the cherry and citrus trees in new pots. The cukes are coming up and I need to cut the leaves off the winter squash to encourage them to ripen the fruit they have!