Nic Dempsey

So this weekend at the plot was all about the ensuring that the allotment committee had nothing to complain about. We were lucky that the plants, compost and raised beds ordered had all arrived and we started early.

We harvested produce (I’m so happy with the blueberry harvest – it’s taken five years but I finally have loads and this is only six of the bushes, the others are still quite small), put the beds together and then went home for breakfast. In the afternoon, transported the patio furniture and more compost to the plot (it was pretty back and forth) and we planted the new beds up with the fabulously healthy plants from Urban Herbs. I ordered six alpine strawberry plants, three winter savory plants and an orange thyme. They also sent two bonus plants, a lemon thyme and a strawberry mint, which was lovely. The delivery was prompt and the herbs were in such good nick, I will definitely be using them again and would recommend.

Ma then weeded and I tended to my tomatoes, in two weeks they had gotten quite wayward, they’re like everything else behind, but they are looking pretty good and most of them are starting to flower, there are some very tiny green tomatoes on some of them.

The winter and summer squash have started to grow too but are way behind, at this rate we’ll probably have courgettes sometime in August and who knows about winter squash! I’m not alone at least three people I spoke to yesterday are having courgette issues. It’s been a strange year.

I’m loving the way the plot has decided to have flowers the self seeded calendula, borage, mallow, orache and coriander are looking wild, I don’t think I can do it justice in a photo!

The pond area is also looking wild, the eryngium is starting to flower and the knautia is going for it.

As ever, we really need to get the weeds under control and there is more planting to do. Next week, we need to get the autumn brassicas in the ground and then we’ll waiting on the leeks to arrive. I’m sort of glad that we didn’t get the second long bed planted up with winter squash because I don’t know where the leeks would have gone otherwise!

We were also gifted another tin bath, which we are going to plant up with bare root strawberries. I’m hopeful that putting them higher up will help with slug damage and that they’ll be easier to net. So lots of work to do but I feel that we’re really close to being able to just think about maintenance. We’re also quite close to raspberries.