More from the allotment
Well.....I went up to the allotment for the first time in two weeks and everything has certainly grown plenty, including the weeds! The weather has been so good for leaf growth, with regular rain and warm days so the pieces of mare's tail that I missed out during my weeding have started to grow. Fortunately it looked worse than it was and when you start tugging they come out easily enough, but in a strange way I'm already looking forward to the winter when I can clear areas and thoroughly go through them all again. I simply will not be beaten!
Most of my plants are doing really well too, which is heartening. I've popped in some dahlias for cut flowers which have come up strongly. My spuds are looking great. I was a little worried about my Jerusalem artichokes, so I impatiently dug one up to have a look and, although it hasn't done much yet, it's put down some good roots and has buds coming off its tubers. So I reckon all they need now is a bit of heat to put on extra growth.
The kids' broad beans have some black fly, but then most people on the allotment seem to have them pretty bad. Although the garlic Manuel gave me has some rust on it, my own garlic, onions and shallots are extremely healthy, which shows it's worth getting them from a reputable supplier. No offence Manuel! My peas, squashes and courgettes are all fine too. On Monday I put out some chillies, tomatoes and sowed some carrots, so am filling up the space pretty quickly and I'm now thinking what to put in place of the early potatoes, which will be ready to dig up and eat soon. My Swifts look like the first to be ready and I know my next door plot holder Keith has already had a good crop from his. He also has four chickens now, which are like his new kids. I was a little worried they'd cluck all day, but they've been as good as gold and he hopes they'll start laying soon. Connie's sunflower is doing better than Stanley's, but there's still a long way to go in the allotment sunflower race! Catch up soon, Joe.
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