Now I am the most passionate of plotters but even I draw the line at
gardening in the rain. I’m not talking about the occasional shower or
even a bit of mizzle. No I’m talking about the torrential downpours that
have been a feature here in Fleet over the past month.
At the moment I’m only able to spend any significant time at Plot 15 when Bubs is at preschool. This means I have at best 4 hours on a Monday and Wednesday and an hour on Fridays. It’s pretty much guaranteed that on those days it will rain. It’s become so frequent that my family have nicknamed me Travis. As in “Why does it always rain on me?!”
I’ve managed to snatch a few dry spells here and there, mostly in the evenings after Bubs has gone to bed, but for the most part the allotment has had to fend for itself and there have been a few losses as a result.
My white onions (Snowball) went to seed and had to be pulled up. They didn’t go to waste though as I’ve minced them and popped them in the freezer. The garlic developed rust and was duly hoiked out of the ground in case it spread to the yellow and red onions that were in the same bed. And something snuck into the roots bed and devoured two rows of parsnips and a row of carrots.
But there’s no use crying over nibbled crops, it’s not all been doom and soggy gloom. In the greenhouse the two cucumber plants are romping away and have given us four beautiful cucumbers with loads more still to come. We’ve also gathered buckets of fruit from the allotment. Raspberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and even early blackberries. Delicious! Of course I have to try them out before I bring any home. Plotters perks!
I’ve been pleased to see lots of wildlife at the plot. We’ve had
quite a few frogs, including some very tiny baby ones, which give me a
bit of a fright when they suddenly jump out from behind a pot. There has
also been an increase in the number of native ladybirds too. Last year I
think I could’ve counted them on the fingers of one hand as the Harlequin ladybirds had taken over. So it’s great to see that the balance is being restored.
I’ve filmed a little tour of the allotment if you’d like to see what I’m growing this year. I’ve also created a second YouTube channel specifically for my allotment videos so please do subscribe if you’d like to follow the progress of Plot 15.
At the moment I’m only able to spend any significant time at Plot 15 when Bubs is at preschool. This means I have at best 4 hours on a Monday and Wednesday and an hour on Fridays. It’s pretty much guaranteed that on those days it will rain. It’s become so frequent that my family have nicknamed me Travis. As in “Why does it always rain on me?!”
I’ve managed to snatch a few dry spells here and there, mostly in the evenings after Bubs has gone to bed, but for the most part the allotment has had to fend for itself and there have been a few losses as a result.
My white onions (Snowball) went to seed and had to be pulled up. They didn’t go to waste though as I’ve minced them and popped them in the freezer. The garlic developed rust and was duly hoiked out of the ground in case it spread to the yellow and red onions that were in the same bed. And something snuck into the roots bed and devoured two rows of parsnips and a row of carrots.
But there’s no use crying over nibbled crops, it’s not all been doom and soggy gloom. In the greenhouse the two cucumber plants are romping away and have given us four beautiful cucumbers with loads more still to come. We’ve also gathered buckets of fruit from the allotment. Raspberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and even early blackberries. Delicious! Of course I have to try them out before I bring any home. Plotters perks!
I was late getting the potatoes in this year (bloomin’ rain again!) so I
wasn’t expecting to be harvesting any until the end of July at the
earliest but Mother Nature stepped in and provided me with a mini
harvest from two tubers that had been accidentally left in the ground
last year.
The red and cream are Kestral and the purple are Purple Majesty. Not a
bad little haul considering the plants were from leftovers.
I’ve filmed a little tour of the allotment if you’d like to see what I’m growing this year. I’ve also created a second YouTube channel specifically for my allotment videos so please do subscribe if you’d like to follow the progress of Plot 15.
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