Have done some somewhat late-ish plantings today. Planted two trays of spring onions, two tray of oregano, two trays of salad leaves and about 20 runner bean seeds that my mother in law gave me the other day.
The other week I planted a couple of broad beans, knowing its a bit too late so I only did two to see how they would go, and one has started sprouting now.
At the allotment today, I had to move on of my squash plants as I completely underestimated how big they would grow! So I gave one a nice big space by itself where it won’t get squished anymore! The other one was threatening to take over my path but after some advice from the internet, I coiled it into a circle, so hopefully it’ll grow the other way. It seemed to be happy enough to be curled away from the path.
Also planted out 7 sunflowers which are about a foot and a half high already. All of my other sunflowers got ruined by slugs but these ones are about twice the size of the previous ones I’d planted out so hopefully they’ll stand a chance. They are called Velvet Queen or some such, and produce plants with red flowers and multiple heads! I also cut down the comfrey plant (well pulled all the leaves off and cut my hands loads on the spiky hairs in the process!), and mulched all around the base of the plant I have in at the moment, so hopefully this will give them a bit of a boost nutrient wise. And comfrey is so fast growing, I will have another full plant in 6 weeks ready to cut down and use again.
I seem to be winning the war on slugs and weeds at the moment. I’ve left some of the weeds at the unused bits of the plot alone at the moment, using the theory that they are covering the ground and bringing up nutrients. The bits of the plot that aren’t in use, but I’m planning on using, have been covered up with card to suppress weeds which has worked wonders. Every week I pull back a bit more and plant something new. Weeding underneath literally involves pulling up 3 or 4 roots that tend to be close to the surface and come out very easily. In all the gaps in between plants I’ve planted radishes as they are quite fast growing and pretty small. We also have a wild blackberry bush against the fence, we are trying to train it to grow along the fence but it is hard. Anyway the berries have come on early this year and I’ve found 3 or 4 ripe ones already. I think the birds will get them before I do though as I forgot to pick them today…
The allotment is full of wildlife at the moment, lots of bees and lots of slow-worms which is a good sign as they are a protected species and apparently slow-worm populations are considered to be quite low. But I found two today and they looked like babies so hopefully more will breed there. I should probably consider setting aside a corner as a permanent habitat for them.
