Have spent a great deal of this weekend on the allotment both with the family and on my lonesome. Anyhow, a couple of pics to give a you taste of what is what. I should be spending more time there now as I think I have worked my working schedule out... famous last words!! The fruit cage is full of bees at the moment so I am hoping for a bumper year with soft fruit. These are emerging black currants. Baby summer fruiting raspberries - going to be a huge crop of these, good job as they are my most favourite of all the berries. And baby redcurrants. I didn't take pics of the jostaberries, gooseberries or strawbs, but it means I will have just have to do it next time and bore you with more pics. These lovely flowers are on my broad beans, baby beans are just developing now, a little late, but better late than never. And these are the nasty blackfly who adore new broad bean shoots. I will buy some horticultural soft soap tomorrow to blast them with, otherwise I won't get many beans! One of my luxury crops, globe artichokes. I have about 6 plants but each one has about 5 flowers on already. I won't be able to eat them all, some I will leave to open fully as the bees love them. I will also find out if the local Womens Institute market would be interested in selling a few. Such a great flower. This is half of my potato plot. I am growing 8 different varieties I think....spuds like Pink Fur Apple, Red Duke of York, Anya, and International Kidney. And finally... The biggest pest of all on our allotment site making a meal out of one of my lettuce! GGRR.
Great photos and a lot of work. I don't know how you do it all, your yard, yard work for others and the allotment....and the family. The slug seems to really appreciate your hard work.
EJ I've been waiting to see piccies of your allotment and you certainly haven't disappointed me. :-D What a lot you have going on and you're bound to have bumper crops if those pesky slugs and blackfly can be dealt with before they do too much damage. Just wait until Sjoerd sees your photographs as I'm sure he'll be sooo impressed.
Wow-Weeeee! Just look at that stuff-- Your fruit is certainally looking good. I hope that it ripens without incident or invasion. The broad neans are flowering up nicely, but what a shame about those blackflies. :-x I sure do dislike those things. I planted the Aquadulde's and they are just about ready to pick them. Acrtually my partner wanted to pick them today, but we ran out of time.....so we pickes strawberries instead. mmmmmm. Gawersh they were sweet--and red clean clear through. The slugs are a nasty fact of life on our lotties as well. I am agressively going after them this spring and hope that the summer onslaught will be manageable. I collect little pails full of those guys as I begin clearing away the forget-me-nots. The globe artichokes are looking quite fine, aren't they. I planted some from seed this year, so they are still quite small plants(plantlets, actually). I hope that they will look as nice as yours next year. If they should form heads this year, I may well let them flower. Well EJ, thanks for an allotment update; it's always to see how other folk's veggies and fruits are fairing.
Everything looks so good and green and healthy EJ. I've just planted up my vegetable garden today as it has been a cool spring. Those Artichoke blooms sure are interesting.
Thanks for showing us all your rewards for such hard work.I hope you can keep the pest away long enough to get a huge harvest.
How do you do it? Do you have a magic pill that keeps you going? Very healthy looking crop. Thanks for sharing.
That's just a part of it, isn't it. You must not sleep too much with all you have to do. I planted some things in pots today. I hope the grasshoppers stay away this year. One pest or another, we all have our work cut out for us. dooley
Your lottie looks delicious, I'd love to taste my way through it. Nasty slugs are hard at work here too, but we're lucky. We've got a friendly hedgehog to help us combat them.
