Monday 28 June 2010

All is Well (almost)

Yes; despite a little neglect during this hot weather, all is well on the allotment, and everything's coming along nicely. We gave everything a good watering (hopefully enough to help it withstand a little more neglect this week...) and picked our biggest strawberry harvest yet - almost enough to feed us both!

This little square of the plot in particular made me smile. The courgettes and crookneck squash are looking really lush, there are a couple of volunteer sunflowers doing really well, which I am looking forward to seeing flower, and at the back the first runner beans are shooting up their obelisks.

The beans are starting to flower too, and don't they look fab?

I got even more excited when I took a closer look at the courgettes: this one is nearly big enough to feed us.

And then I uncovered this one on the other plant!

I don't know how it managed to get so huge with so little water, when on the same plant two other baby courgettes have started to wither and rot. I'll never understand plants. All I know is that I know nothing.

The hot weather seems to have another casualty too - this one in the home garden. This tomato plant hasn't been very happy at all, even though I water it every day.

Yesterday I sat it in a bucket of water to make sure the deeper roots got a good soaking, and it seemed to perk up a bit, but today when I went to see it it had completely flopped over! I tied it to a cane, quick, and maybe that's all it needed, or maybe I'm overthinking this and the clue is in the name of the variety; 'Sub Arctic Plenty'. Maybe this is just the wrong summer to grow tomatoes bred for British weather!

6 comments:

Jo said...

Is the tomato stood in the sun all day? Try moving in to a little shade, it might be too hot for it with the weather we're getting at the moment. I'm really enjoying our strawberries at the moment, they taste so much nicer that supermarket bought ones. Your beans are ahead of mine, no sign of any flowers here yet.

Sue Garrett said...

It's amazing how quickly courgettes grow into 'marrows'- leave them a day and they are off!

trendy georgia said...

How do you water your plants on your allotment?? Im really intrigued by allotments..Ever since The good life Which i revisite4d on DVD recently Ifind them fasinating. Watch those marrows!! Although they are great to pickle apparently. I had a bumper crop of strawberries this sunmmer just gone (Its winter here now Brrrr) after i apllied tons of horse and chook manure through winter, into spring and even in summer. If yo know a horse....
Cheers from Cherry

Dee said...

My courgettes are off the menu this year. They were doing well then a few days later some beasties had trampled on it and broke the main stem.Totally hacked off I pulled it up.
With the hot spell were having your toms could be drying out too quickly in their pots.I would try those little crystals to hold the water :)

Nome said...

Thanks for the advice, all - you're probably right about the weather being too much for the tomatoes.

Cherry - thanks for dropping in! I don't know any horses sadly... We have a big tank we dip watering cans in. It refills automatically when the level goes down. So it's lots of watering can trips on foot! Some allotments have standpipes or hoses, but not us. Luckily we're not too far from the nearest tank...

Nome said...

Dee - sorry to hear about your courgettes! I would be devastated - courgettes are the one thing I can rely on! (fingers crossed!) :(

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