I've planned the plot out for next year (picture to follow) and will need to build lots of shelves in the greenhouse to accommodate the required seedlings. Talking of seedlings. My peas have got to a stage where they've just about started to develop the flowers. They're still in their trays and I might leave them in there as my courgettes are still producing and I'm being optimistic about my cucumber, which has got a couple of tiddlers on it.

Here's an interesting way to spend your wedding anniversary. It was not an initial intention but it just happened to the best day of the week for collecting manure. We drove to the field where the pile of manure was and loaded the car with 15 sacks of manure. (Took about 1/2 hr.) The manure comes from several Shetland ponies and the owner diligently collects it each day and puts it in a pile so it's relatively free from straw. She does this because she knows that it's saleability is improved if straw is removed and the money collected (a modest 50p per bag) is given to her kids as pocket money. This is an absolute bargain as manure from the wholesalers is £80 per ton. It took 2 trips to collect about 1/2 ton of manure to cover 5 rods and cost £15. Bargain.

Hopefully this will rot down over winter and it'll be easy to dig in next spring.

As for the bottom plot I've harvested all of the sweetcorn and I've dug up the plants - though I haven't done anything with the plants yet - I'll probably burn them as they take ages to rot down. There's a few runner beans left and they seem to keep growing and growing. I'm probably going to do 2 plantings of runner beans next year - a spring and a summer one to get beans over a longer period. I'll do the same with French beans because I do get a bit bored of runners...

My patches of leeks and parsnips are going to be on the go for at least another couple of months.

The greenhouse continues to produce the odd courgette - though I have to pick these before they start rotting away so they're quite small as a result but nevertheless tasty. I've also harvested 1 cucumber, which made it to about a foot long, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather stays mild so that others will come. I have to keep the greenhouse shut up tight most of the time now.

I'm starting to wind activities down on the plot for this year... Though I've still got a healthy stock of parsnips and leeks still in the ground. I've dug a couple of leeks and parsnips - the temptation was just too great - and the leeks were as nice as bought ones and although there was a bit of forking in the parsnip roots they were I'm sure nicer than those in the shops...

I'm well aware though that I'm running out of time and if these are successful then they're going to be extremely late. The weather's not too great at the moment either and it doesn't look like there's going to be any nice spells of weather in the near future. If I do get any peas I'll be amazed. We'll wait and see. The plants are now 1" tall and looking quite strong. Now all I need is a fair autumn...

I managed to sneak down to the plot for most of Sunday morning. I spent large amounts of that time digging and a small amount of time relaxing in a deck chair down by the river.

The digging was to get my entire main crop potatoes out of the ground in the break between rain on Saturday and Sunday night. My timing couldn't have been better. Having dug the potatoes out under an overcast sky I laid them out to dry and the sun came out to dry them off. These potatoes were in my old plot, which I'm working towards vacating in September. I've only one more crop of pink fir apple potatoes to get out and I'm finished.

Unfortunately about 50% of the potatoes had holes in them so I've got a lot of potatoes to eat over the coming weeks, as they won't store. I'd say there's about 20 - 30 meals worth of potatoes that I am able to store and a similar amount to eat. I started on the task of eating them up last night by having roast potatoes and they were very nice indeed.

As I'd done a bit of digging to get my potatoes out I discovered that the ground was soft enough to work and I carried on digging on my new plot. I can't say that the ground was a pleasure to dig. It was easy though and I needed the exercise so I got on with it and afterwards I rewarded myself by having a half an hour sit by the river whilst I waited for the potatoes to dry out. I've nearly conquered the bottom plot though there's 1 small patch that I need to re-dig to get the entire bind weed and couch grass root out.

I've nearly conquered my bottom plot. I just need to re-dig 1 patch to get all of the couch grass and bindweed root out.

I tried to burn some more rubbish on Saturday night but to no avail. I admitted defeat after several attempts but things were different on Sunday night. My fire lit first time and I had a roaring blaze. Who knows why I couldn't get it going on the previous night.

Now you might think that the lack of weekly update is a sign that there's not too much left to do on the allotment except reap the rewards of months of hard work and you'd be right - up to a point... You've seen my recent updates on produce and that's about all I've got to show at the moment. Also, if the weather continues to be as poor as it is at the moment I don't suppose I'll see many more day boats this summer. Here's hoping for some nice late summer sun.

So It's true that after spending several hours on my plot on both Saturday and Sunday last week I saw no sign of any of my fellow plot holders. They do indeed come down to their plots but only for fleeting visits to gather in the harvest and then are not seen again for several days. So, I hear you ask, why was I different? What was I doing during all that time? Well I'm afraid that you'll have to wait for this little secret project to advance a little more before I share it with you and unfortunately a little longer could actually be into next year depending on the weather and how I decide to progress the project...

Anyway, apart from secret projects, I will have to spend a bit of time preparing the plot for next year. There's a lot of digging still to be done (I'm avoiding this at the moment) and in mid September I shall be aiming to get some cheap manure from a local horse if it's still available!

Peas are off and digging's off. Peas haven't germinated and I'm being lazy with the digging - I'll get around to it...

As for the peas. I think they cooked before germinating but I'm going to try again. I'm going to try and germinate them in water so if they work they'll be extremely late...

UPDATED 9 Aug - Wow it's been hot during my week off work. Now I'm back at work and we've had some rain at last.

We only had 20 mins of torrential rain on Thursday - not really enough to soak in - but enough to not have to water that day.

I've spent a nice week off enjoying the harvest. As well as the harvest - follow the link to the side - new stuff - I've also been enjoying the river - follow the 'boating' link on the river page.

So far so good - the produce is not all coming at once and potatoes can go into storage for later use. I've got pictures of my first courgettes and also pictures of my second early potatoes. Updated pages 9/8/04 - follow the new stuff link on the left...

26/7/04

It's this unpredictability that led to my newly transplanted leeks becoming a bit sun-scorched last week.

2 Weeks ago the weather was largely damp and cloudy (a rarity in the south east), whilst last week was largely dry and warm/hot. Despite the obvious change I concluded (incorrectly) that there was enough moisture in the ground to sustain my leeks.

After they'd wilted a bit and some of the leaves had turned brown I decided to water them. They seemed to have recovered and I hope they'll survive.

If you want to see how I transplanted the leeks - follow the link to the bottom bed on the left.