Spot the difference

I thought I would post the pictures the tame photographer took yesterday during our flying visit to the allotment as the growth that has happened is spectacular. If you look back at the pics on the previous post you can compare them with the current ones.




















You can see the sweetcorn here. Most other allotments are a bit further ahead and have small cobs appearing. There are rumours afloat that the cobs are the favourite food of foxes and that we needs to completely enclose the crop to prevent it. The tame photographer is planning this as I write. I also wonder whether the problem is squirrels, in which case no amount of protection will make any difference. We'll see.
The leeks are growing well:




















As are the runner beans





















And just behind the beans, if you look carefully you can see the sunflowers which I am growing as part of a trial for Gardeners World. They are called Moulin Rouge and are a dark burgundy colour - quite stunning! They also produce lots of flowers off side shoots which would make them ideal for cutting. The cabbages are beginning to heart up nicely, the brussels sprouts are looking good, and I'm really pleased with the parsnips - not many meals' worth - but they look very healthy. The french beans are cropping well, and the salad bowl lettuce never seems to stop! The butternut squash is beginning to put on some growth as well.




















The cabbage and sprouts look like a lady wearing a veil, but it is only the anti-pigeon control. Everything has to be netted to protect it. The tame photographer is thinking of making the whole plot into a giant fruit cage!




















And finally and nice snap of our friendly robin, the wheelbarrow and a flowering artichoke:And finally, a general view of the site.

Strike Day

I was on strike this week and that meant that on one of the days I managed to spend a morning at the allotment. I started clearing the strawberry beds of weeds and straw, but it was back breaking work. I managed about a third of the area, and will continue over the course of the next couple of weeks. Next I dug up one row of broad bean plants. The rest I will leave in a bit longer so that the nitrogen in their roots can get nicely fixed into the ground. I then attacked the bindweed in the onion patch with a vigour. I really don't know what I can do to keep on top of it, but I may have to resort to weed killer to attack certain plants where I simply cannot dig. All the plants are doing really well and we continue to eat spinach, broad beans, french beans radishes and potatoes. The runner beans will be ready soon and the sweet corn looks very good. Only the courgettes are not doing as well as I had expected.

Finally the last month's worth of pictures arrived from the tame photographer so I shall post them all here, with assorted captions, rather than try to insert them into old posts.

First, from several weeks ago: the peas (now almost over)

The spinach (still going strong)
The onions we planted last winter, dug up and drying (now hanging in strings and being used)
The last of the strawberries
Me picking a Tom Thumb lettuce (now we only have two left - but there is plenty of salad bowl lettuce)Now a picture of the purple sprouting broccoli - which I sowed myself, and you can just see the sweet corn in the foreground

and below is a snap of the sweetcorn seedlings in their own private greenhouses!The kohlrabi which were brilliant, and very easy to grow - I will certainly grow more of them next year.
Potatoes (Accent, I think)
and finally the splendid dwarf green beans.And the whole lot together!