Finally, the decorating is finished, now how's the allotment?

Yep, after promising to redecorate the hall, stairs and landing in May, I have finally finished, so all looking fresh, with the walls, ceiling, skirting boards, door frames and bannister's painted. Phew, what a job. Also, this weekend, before making my way to the plot, I managed to power wash the deck and get a layer of stain on it, as it really needed it. I tell you, I'm stiff all over today and feel like an old man, but great to get it all done.

Now, I was a bit wary before going to the plot, as I'd not had a chance these last few weeks to get down there, keep on top of the weeding, etc so it was with some trepidation I set off on Sunday afternoon and sure enough I had weeds growing everywhere. I spent 3 hours weeding the beds and then on the holiday Monday I once again went in the afternoon to complete the job and get the tomato plants in the raised bed, that I had grown from seed.

Anyway, let's start with the potatoes. As you can see below they are coming on well and look like a tropical rainforest!

These were planted on the last weekend of March, so in theory after 10 weeks, the First Earlies should be ready for digging up. So either next weekend or the one after should be the time to test one and see what we've got....that is if I can get the right one's as I got them muddled up when I was chitting them. Not much else to do with them, just a bit of weeding, but now they are so big, they keep the weeds down themselves.

Next, I had to weed all around the raspberries and as you can see I'm starting to get a few shoots and behind you can see the sweetcorn still looking good, which I'm pleasantly surprised at, as we, had a lot of wind (which took off half the felt from the shed roof, so I had to make a temporary plastic covering, until I get some more).


Also, Dad's salad leaves have done really well after an early problem with slugs and for the first time I took some of the leaves and I have some in my sandwich today!...not to mention the 3 bags in the fridge!

The next bed had the carrots, rocket, little gem, all year round lettuce, spinach (both types) which I grew from seed and the marigolds, tomatoes and courgette plants from Dad. These last two have done well as we've had all sorts of weather and they have so far survived and look to be getting a bit of strength to them. Here's the carrots.....



and the lettuce and spinach...growing like crazy.

(i dont know how I got the underline for the next 2 sections, but I cant' get rid of it, sorry)

The next bed had the cabbages and broccoli seeds as well as some more potatoes and tomato plants. The plants look to be fine, but the seeds got a bit overgrown with weeds and although a few survived as you can see below, I shall have to redo the spaces and see how they get on.

The next bed has the peas, dwarf french beans and climbing beans in and as you can see the the Kelvedon Wonder have shot up, but the slugs really liked the Onward so I had to redo them and they will come a little later. Also, you can see the climbing beans just shooting up and the dwarf french beans just coming through, along with the marigolds I grew from seed.

One of the other jobs was to get the raised bed cleared of weeds, put in the bags of compost I get cheap at Lidl and put the tomato plants I'd grown in. So here they are. Ellie is going to plant some flowers in the area near the front and the Allotment Society are running some children's growing competitions, so I expect we'll be entering them too.



Lastly, my strawberries have not done well at all, so that's one thing that hasn't gone too well, but luckily when I was in Lidl I saw 6 plants for £3, so bought 2 packs and put them in and we'll see how they get on. Too embarrassed to show a photo of the poor plants in that bed!!

So now I'm back on top I've a few more things to plant, then need to keep an eye on watering, feeding, etc. Also, need to refix the shed roof, make my bench/shelf unit from the wood I collected and finish staining the shed too. But that's for the next few weeks....anyway very warm and sunny weekend to do all the work then a downpour overnight and this morning to water them all, I hope they are all ok!