Oh boy it’s hot hot hot! It is far too hot to do any work on the allotment, anyway the ground is so hard you can’t get a fork in to do anything. All that can be done is massive amounts of watering. I have two large watering cans which I fill from one of the strategically placed troughs on the site. All of this has three benefits (1) free exercise (2) firm biceps and (3) in this summer of 2018 – a healthy tan.
Of course there are other benefits, good fresh food.
Today I picked my first mangetout peas. Only a few but it’s a start.
On 5 June I planted out tiny sweetcorn plants, they were only about 4” tall. A month later they are romping away and producing ears which is exciting to see. Clearly the sweetcorn is relishing this weather, on some of the other plots it is a good 6 foot high.
The other plants enjoying this weather are the pumpkins, now full of flowers. I was given three tiny weedy plants only about 3 weeks ago and they have really taken off.
I’ve inherited an enormous thornless blackberry which is laden with berries just about to ripen. Fingers crossed I get to pick them before the pigeons have a go. They are not in a cage, and I’m thinking I will buy some blacknet to drap over them, my only concern with is I read that any netting should be taut to prevent birds catching their feet.
The flower bed is looking promising too, the sunflowers have beaten the snails and are sporting some large blooms.
When I took over the plot at the end of April, there were three small globe artichoke plants. I’m not sure that happened to two of them, I suspect it was my fault being too gung-ho with the strimmer. As this is an old plant I let it go to flower and it now has a very fetching purple bonnet.
This hot dry weather appears set for sometime and whilst we all like a sunny, dry summer day, it is about time now we had some decent rain. Everything is looking parched and all the grass has gone brown. So from a gardener’s point of view I am hoping for a bit of a wet spell, but perhaps only at night please.
