This section of the site is intended as a personal record of jobs undertaken and work completed on the allotment, either on plot #59, our main growing plot; or plot #79, our orchard plot. Please feel free to visit the front page of Allotment Notes for more blog-style content.
2019: Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July
10 July 19 a.m. session, DT & JT 2 hrs. Weather fine to overcast, 18 – 20oC
Plot #59: Dug planting holes for squash, back-filled with well-rotted horse manure & garden compost. Cut back sage flowering stems.
Harvested: white currants, black currants, strawberries.
13 July 19 p.m. session, DT & JT 3 hrs. Weather fine to light overcast, 19 – 20oC
Plot #59: Planted out squash: 7x ‘Crown Prince’ and 1x ‘Shark Fin Melon’ in main squash bed, front right. 3 x ‘Inca Gold F1’ to replace slug-killed green & white patty pan on climbing frames in hugelkultur bed.
16 July 19 p.m. session, DT 2 hrs. Weather warm, sunny to light overcast, 21 – 23oC
Plot #59: Cleared away broad bean ‘Martock’ plants – mostly died back (too cold in May?)
Harvested: Strawberries (only a few), gooseberries, rhubarb.
21 July 19 p.m. session, DT & JT 2 hrs. Weather warm but overcast, 20 – 21oC
Plot #59: General weeding, clearing, tidying.
Harvested: ‘Belle de Fontenay’ potatoes, 2 plants, approx. 30 – 40 tubers. Beetroot Detroit 2 (2), good size. Broad bean ‘Martock’ (small, a bit starchy, meant to be for drying, but the plants were dying back, not too healthy). Gooseberries (quite a few…)
23 July 19 a.m. session, DT 4 hrs. Weather red hot, 28 – 30oC
Plot #59: Lifted remaining ‘Belle de Fontenay’ spuds. Good harvest, 15-20 tubers per plant, all decent size (also: very tasty, good flavour, waxy/floury in equal measure). Pruned gooseberry bushes to facilitate picking. Weeded left-hand side as far back as spud section. Watered where required. Trimmed lower five stems on each tomato trial plant in greenhouse. Thinned ‘Creme de Lite’ carrots (bin #4).
Plot #79: Cleared tree circles, watered pear trees. Trimmed some dead leaves on quince tree (hopefully just die-back, not fireblight…)
Harvested: courgettes (1x ‘Jaguar’, 1x ‘Romanesco’), gooseberries (many), carrot thinnings, sweet peas.
To-Do:
- Comfrey feed all trees on Plot #79 & Plot #59.
- Continue lifting grass, add to turf bin.
- Continue mulching paths / no-dig areas w. card & chippings (when available).
- Sort and tidy shed.
- Clear junk from front of Plot #59 (w/on skip at home?)