BeetrootandSpuds

My first is Rhubarb, but never in Jam My second in Apple, and comes in a Dram My third is in Dainty, but not in the Soil The fourth found in Simmer when it comes to Boil The fifth is in Mystery, but not mired in Crime The last may take Hours - if you haven't the Time    

    A few days ago I posted a list of the plants growing on our allotment, but since then we have been pricking out and potting up so there is plenty more to plant.  Unfortunately the felt tipped pen with which I wrote the labels of several plants have faded completely, so they are something of a guessing game: is it a pumpkin or a butternut squash ? Courgette or marrow ?  The mystery plant that looked a bit like a beetroot, but wasn't, turned out to be aubergine, identified thanks to the detective skills of one of our more experienced neighbors.  Now all we need to do is find space to plant them

    Yesterday's blog listed the items that are now growing on our allotment and a few still awaiting being planted into the the right place. It was astonishing to me to discover that the list contained 54 items,m and even then I forgot the lettuce growing happily away in the main polytunnel. The relentless heat (over 30 degrees today) means that Old Bean and I are working morning and evening and taking the middle of the day or plan and recuperate .  A hosepipe ban was brought in for us a few days ago (with hefty fines for those who don;t comply) so all irrigation is now done by watering can.  I suppose my plans to turn an area of our plot into a rice paddy will have to wait until next year.

  Plot A Plot B Awaiting planting Potatoes (1st and 2nd earlies) ✔ ✔ Beetroot (Bolthardy ✔ ✔ Swiss Chard ✔ ✔ Beans: Runner ✔ ✔ French ✔ ✔ Violet ✔ ✔ Yellow ✔ Tomatoes: Shirley ✔ ✔ Money maker ✔ Ailsa Craig ✔ Courgettes: Green ✔ ✔ Yellow ✔ Marigolds ✔ ✔ Cosmos ✔ ✔ Pumpkins ✔ ✔ Butternut squash ✔ ✔ Peas: Garden ✔ Sugar snap ✔ Sweet peas ✔ ...

A post about a post is, I suppose, a "meta-post." So here goes. This week I installed a small trellis on Plot B - held firmly in place by a sturdy post that the timber yard kindly cut into two lengths for me.   I am going to use this as a support for some peas (two sorts; sugar-snaps and garden - the former already in place).  I have not tried peas before, so this will be something of an experiment. Last night Old Bean and I gathered in our first harvest of the year, strawberries and radishes. And very delicious they were, too.

It's some time since the word "marigold" has been seen on this blog, but the gloves are now off, and marigolds are back on the agenda. Like many of my fellow allotmenteers, I am running well behind plan this year, and in an effort to bring the plot back onto its schedule I recently bought a tray of marigolds, 4 of which I planted under the thornless blackberry on Plot B. Next day, 3 were looking fine and dandy, but one had been shredded, and yesterday another. It can only be pigeons: no slug would be so systematic, so the defenses have gone up. Thank goodness for Poundshop netting; I hope. Turning to other matters, yesterday I received 2 more, very generous, presents from another plot-holder: a large and very happy cucumber, accompanied by 3  sticks of rhubarb (readers will recall that my own was only planted this year, and all the advice is against consuming any in Year One). Meanwhile, my own cucumbers have now reached the dizzy height of 1cm, but then they were only...

What a peculiar year this has been, the interminably cold, et winter suddenly turned itself into Saudi by the Sea (we're base, as you might guess in Sussex), the ground set like concrete and we're praying for rain. Inside the polytunnel on Plot A things are a little better - the soil is more granular and our tomatoes are coming along, slowly, under Cloudberry's watchful eye. Meanwhile Plot B now hosts potatoes, beetroots, a rhubarb, marigolds, sweetpeas, and raspberries, with chard, butternut squash, pumpkins and cosmos all pricked out and ready to go in as soon as the temperature drops a bit, below boiling.

Click "read more," and enjoy

It doesn't take a genius to work out that beetroot is close to my heart. So it is not surprisiing that this year I have planted two full rows in the longer of the new raised beds on our original plot and six short rows in the little raised beds on our second. All are doing well. But beetrot need space, and the time for thinning out has arrived. Tolerant and easy going as they are, there is one thing beetroot do not like, and that is being transplated. As a result, many people simply gather the leaves, which make a good addition to any salad and do not wory about the root, which seems a shame. So against conventional wisdom I've tried transplanting and even in the current hot weather some of htem moved successfully. It may not look much to you, but to me, it is a triumph. And as for the others, here's a "before" and "after."

By nature, allotmenteers are a generous bunch. To prove my point, yesterday I received 3 entirely unexpected, presents: some potatoes, a jar of home made cucumber relish and a card (with accompanying bottle of "refreshment") from one of my neighbors, whose plot I watered while they were away last week. The "what's in it for me" attitude that has become almost pervasive over recent years rots the fabric of a family, or community. Examples are too numerous to list - we can all think of them - but it is a sad fact that it is often those who have the most (very often not through any effort of their own) that show themslves mean spiritied and grasping, grudingly parting with tat and expecting gratitude in return. "Take, and do not count the cost" seems to be their slogan, but if there is one phrase that resonates across our allotment it is this "we are in it together."

Beetroot and Spuds had a visitor yesterday, Red Currant, the allotment equivalent  of Alvin - Coo-Ka-Choo - Stardust. For those who want to listen, click "Read More" below

  No doubt about it, everybody on our allotment is behind, some more than others. We attribute it the the winter weather, cold and wet, but that is no longer the case. And things are beginning to come along. On Plot A we now have onions, beetroot, carrots potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, pak choi, sorrel, courgettes, butternut squash, strawberries, black currants and gooseberries.  Parsnips are in but have not germinated yet and there are one or two mystery items in the polytunnel which we forgot to label.  Plot B is less varied, holding just beetroot, courgettes, beetroot, blackberries and potatoes.  We did plant some runner beans and French beans interspersed with sweet peas, but the slugs got those and we are now germinating replacements.  In the micro greenhouse we have several trays of cosmos, Swiss chard, butternut and chillies.  Fennel, aster, peppers and pumpkins have yet to germinate, and might not.  Still, it does feel, at last, as thou...