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I feel a bit like a jack-in-the-box with the way the weather has been. Taking opportunities where I could fit them in.Ìý I've managed to keep on top of the tasks/projects I have been working on at the allotment. This climate sure is good for the weeds, I get one side done and the other needs attention again; it’s never ending just now. I've had a couple of people comment that it’s easier for me to keep up with the weeding because I am retired!Ìý Well, I might look old, but I sure am not in that bracket yet; the time I spend down at the allotment is worked around my day job and other commitments. Yes, it is a struggle sometimes and I really do need to motivate myself on some of those grim and grizzly days, but that is what having an allotment is all about – commitment and enthusiasm. I always keep a small section in my little brain that says ‘don’t forget the end result!’Ìý Well, the end results are now happening.Ìý Dan Holland paid my plot a visit and we had a couple of sprigs of purple sprouting broccoli – it did taste very good and with other plants coming to fruition, the bounty is on!

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A few weeks ago, I was getting a little concerned about how many slugs I was seeing on my plot. Now however, I hardly see any. Since I hadn't had any frog spawn this year, I had thought that my pond was barren. I needn't have worried….I was chopping down some of the comfrey and had the fright of my life as a frog almost jumped in my face.Ìý My face probably scared it more! ÌýSo, my friends are doing the job they were put there for, I hope they enjoyed the slug fest.

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I managed to get parsley, fennel and sage sown, and my basil is looking good so at least the herb harvest should be good. I have now planned the area where my medicinal herbs will be, and that area will be worked on once the swedes and turnips have been harvested. Speaking of turnips, what a disappointment – again! Last year, my turnips all bolted. I left them in the ground with the hope of some results but, alas, nothing came of them. ÌýThis year’s crop has done exactly the same, so I am ripping all these up and sowing some more. ÌýIt’s not too late to do, it just means that I will be harvesting later on in the year – if they don’t bolt again. The swedes are doing great so I am wondering if the turnip variety I had sown was not the best for our climate (Milan purple top). I will try another type.

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The plans for the coming days are few; weeding (obviously), and finishing off emptying what’s left of my compost heap.Ìý This will go around the potatoes, ready to be dug in as I harvest that crop. There’s more salad stuff to plant, including radishes. ÌýI am continuing to nip-out the side shoots on my tomatoes and feed them every 7 days or so. The cucumbers are doing great so I will keep pegging down the new growth and try to maximise the space in my cold frame to get as many delicious cucumbers as possible. The sweet peas are flowering now, so I will keep on top of them, picking flowers at every opportunity and not letting any go to seed. Again, I will feed these every other week.

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Enjoy your harvest…

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