Allotment diary May 2007

I cant believe I am doing my diary for may and it is the middle of June. I guess that I have been so busy planting and watering things that I have not had time to write about it! It has been really dry on the allotments during May. I tried to water as much as I could, but like many people did not make it up everyday. I am not sure whether I should just give up on my carrot seeds, but think I will give them another couple of weeks to appear. I have sown them 3 times now. I have seen a couple of tiny seedlings, which have disappeared. Slugs? Mice? Birds? Aliens? Who knows!

Other than this things are doing ok. My peas are a little yellow, and I think it is magnesium deficiency so I have put some epsom salts on them. I don’t get such a good crop as other plots. I need to go and ask what the trick is!

It looks like a bumper year for fruit.

Strawberries are just beginning to ripen



Plums are blooming



Currents are ripening



Apples are looking good.


Onions and garlic need some rain really to swell them up a bit but they are ok, courgettes are settling in.

We have dug up the first new potatoes, we used to wait until June, but by the time we get to the end of them they have become floury and are more prone to slug damage. We dig them up so early we need 3 plants for the family, but they do taste good!

The allotments are looking lovely, foxgloves and iris giving splashes of colour. Most people have a few flowers on the plots to encourage the bees and those butterflies!

On the pond the lily leaves are up, but no flowers yet. The tadpoles are getting fatter. We have seen damselflies on the pond, two types, the blue ringtail and the emerald rubyspot. It is such a peaceful and relaxing place to be, and there is nothing more stress busting than an hour by the pond with a good book! Why not put a pond on your allotment or in your garden? The . BBC website tells you how.