The allotment has been neglected for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been to water but haven’t done much else and this weekend was the Open Day, so I was slightly regretting that.

But the flowers decided to flower and we got a lot done but let me catch you up on what has been done over the last couple of weeks first.

We have 11 sweet peppers (eight big ben red peppers, one lipstick, one chocolate and one yellow) and three jalapeno plants in the back bed in the polytunnel alongside three aubergine plants, one of which may or may not survive the attentions of a fox, digging in that bed! The cucumbers and melons have really started to grow and are flowering…

Outside this weekend we finished planting the tomatoes, we’ve got five tomato beds, because of the issues we’ve had with them, I only know what’s in one of the beds, that’s the bed of black tomatoes that my plot neighbour gave me. One bed has three sungolds, a marmande, a moneymaker and a gardeners delight I think. All the other tomatoes are a complete mystery! So that will be exciting. I also have five other tomato plants that are going in various places around the plot because I hate to see them unplanted. If you’re keeping count, thats 49 plants in total!

We have three beds of mystery summer squash planted as well. I also have three plants, I haven’t been able to get rid of so it’s very likely I’ll try to fit them in somewhere in the next week or so.

It’s been a while since I’ve grown peas, and honestly we don’t grow for production because there isn’t that much space, but for a hit of pea goodness the American Dwarf Wonder Pea has been a wonder. We got loads for a very small space and I’m wondering if I can make the season longer at the front end by sowing in the poly in February next year, like all my ideas that might not work at all! But it was good to process something besides fruit.

This week, we harvested over a kilo of potatoes from the bed, which might be how we do it in the future. I took another kilo of rhubarb, we had three boxes of blueberries, and so many blackcurrants (in one pick about the same amount we harvested last year and I think we have twice as much to come!

We also took up the last garlic bed. We have loads of garlic, but it’s not in the greatest shape. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll sort and process them. Garlic that’s in good shape we’ll keep, some will go to make toum and roasted garlic and some we’ll process into the freezer to stop it spoiling!

The other things we did this weekend, I did a good bit of weeding of the paths, we found a entire self sown lavender in one of the beds, we planted some of the herbs up in the flower bed at the front and I have a future plan for that whole area to be worked on in the next couple of years.

We have five beds that need sowing or planting up this month and the peas are pretty much done and need pulling up, so that would make six. Two beds need to be planted up with leeks, one will have chard sown soon and I’m going use one to get a ‘quick’ salad bed for the rest of summer. So that leaves me with two, which I’m holding for cabbages and brussels sprout plugs due this month. Then it’s just a case of managing. Keeping up with the watering, weeding and harvesting (and processing the harvest!).

So this is where we are with a work list.

Top up all empty beds

• Interplant the tomato beds with basil, parsley, dill and marigolds if you can find any plants
• Sow chard and salad
• Fill in the gaps on the french bean bed
• Sow the last bean arch with gigantes (it might be a bit late but I’m going to try)
• Sort out the jasmine support on the shed
• Cut the grass on the path
• Weed everything
• Clean out the shed
• Paint the shed