Raspberry mountains

We officially drew a line under the European raspberry mountain today. When we took over the plot one of the good things about it was the fruit bushes and canes that came with it, however we now know we have far too many raspberry canes. Today we dug half of them up and gave them away to Roz and Colin. They have a good looking spot for them and room for some autumn raspberries too - our are summer ones.

The empty space on our plot looks like it would take a few early potatoes next year, which has been one of the things we have been tempted to grow. We have had to water the salad stuff and the asparagus, which is still quite young and needs some attention ready for next year.

The remains of the broad beans have been dug out as the last of the bean seeds for next year have ripened. Parts of the plot are looking a bit empty now and soon we will be fetching 'oss muck from the local stables to feed the ground for next year.

Bill

Hurricane Bill swept through our allotment today. It was a bit under whelming because it lost all of its strength over the Atlantic so it was just a bit breezy and a bit wet. It did make me think about tying up the raspberries and asparagus so that any really strong winds don't do any harm, so that's what we did.

We've been popping up most days, with not much to report. There's often a courgette or two and a fistful of runner beans. We keep taking spring onions as we want them and the beetroot is wonderful and just keeps coming. The remaining white and red onions are all drying and most other stuff is slowly ripening for the autumn or winter. The tomatoes inside and out are looking promising. The plum ones are yellowing so we might get some ripe ones soon. The cherry ones are lost in a tangle of plants, which I think I planted too close together.

Our squashes seem to be doing rather well. I have removed a few leaves to let the sun to the fruit. The fruits are swelling but I don't know when they will be ready to take. I'll seek more advice.

The parsnips are chugging along nicely, with a few of the roots just showing at ground level. These look temptingly large, but I'll wait for many weeks yet before I pull any. Beside, we still have soup in the freezer from last year's crop.

The leeks are wonderful. Planting them in succession has produced a variety of sizes, which didn't really happen last year. Everything is so early this year that I think we will be taking our first leek next month. We planted them deeper this year so I hope there is more white stalk where the real tasty bit is. I can hardly wait.

Carrots at last

We've been up to our plot a few times recently for all kinds of jobs. The broad beans that we left for seed have started to ripen. We've pulled some and dried them in the greenhouse. There are plenty more to dry yet. Even if we don't need them all we can gather them and give some away. Maybe the new plot holders will want some.

We pulled our carrots today. There were only a few, but they were delicious. I want to grow more carrots now. We have really struggled to get them to grow, so next year we might try chitting the seeds and planting them out much like we do our parsnips. Carrot seeds are much finer than parsnips so it might not work, but worth a try.

Jean has planted out more beetroot to replace the ones we have taken. She sowed some seeds for more beetroot. We're not sure how they will do as the summer wears on, but by planting it out we will eventually find when to stop for another year.

I have been drying onions and garlic. All of the garlic has been dried and tied into strings to hang in the shed until we need them. Apparently the best way to stop them sprouting is to keep them warm for as long as possible. Growers and retailers chill them and then when they get warm they start to sprout. Of course they don't mind if they don't keep at home so you need to buy some more. We have been pulling the white onions as they keel over then drying them gently. I've taken the dried ones home and stored some in a cupboard and some in the garage. There's still a quarter to pull up yet.

I pruned the squashes. They have runners with the flowers on which need to be pruned to put the vigour into the fruits. The fruits are developing nicely, but not as well as some others on the site. Gary's squashes are good and Kim's are even better.

It looks like the mangetouts are all finished. The plants we grew later have been poor, so next year we'll make sure they all go out early.

Weeds and squashes

The weeding is done, for a while, and the plot is tidy. I've pulled up about a third of the white onions and laid them out to dry. They look wonderful. I've also pulled some of the remaining red onions and I think we'll just use them.

The squashes have a masses of flower buds on them. They are putting out runners and at each leaf node there looks like a flower bud. I need to see if they need pruning or any other attention. The way these runners are spreading they will take over the whole plot soon.

The carrot that I stood on seems to have recovered - maybe they're tougher than I thought.

Weeding

The raspberry canes really have done, so pruning began. All the canes that produced fruit get cut down to the ground, leaving the new shoots for next year's fruit. The big pile of prunings was quite a surprise. Now the bushes are much more open the weeds are clear too, so another day they need tackling.

Jean started another sweep to dig out the weeds. Nearly a quarter of the plot is now much more weed free. The wet weather has made a rush of weeds everywhere but the soft ground makes them easy to pull up. She harvested some spring onions. They are really superb, a great sized bulb and good stems.

I dug up some more beetroot. We are taking them a bit smaller than last year and they are smoother and sweeter as a consequence. The scheme of rolling sowing and planting is keeping the flow of ripe beetroot at about the right pace. So far it's all Bolthardy but the Cylindrical beetroot is coming along.

More weeding is still to come and half of the raspberries will be moving on to another plot so someone else can have the pleasure of this fruit.

All good things ...

... must come to and end and so it is with our raspberries. Our bumper harvests look to have run their course, we took the nets off today so any berries left are for the birds. We picked another 250g of gooseberries, a few runner beans and a few mange touts. I'm much more impressed with mangetouts than with runner beans, so next year the runners will be off the list, mangetouts will be on, but grown a bit earlier and in greater number and maybe a few dwarf french beans as an alternative to th ever popular broad beans.

The red and white onions are both having their tops keel over so I've started pulling some more. We use a lot of onions so we just use them without much ado, but I'm going to try drying the next batch of white onions to keep them a bit longer. This seems very early according to people used to growing onions who expect them be in the ground until the end of August at least.

The next batch of garlic is also beginning to whither so that will be ready to pull up soon. Fresh garlic is just so different from the stuff in the shops with a mild, sweet and fresh taste.

Another courgette completed today's harvest. We planted a few winter cabbages which were left-over from Norman's planting. They should be ready by about December. I'll be able to prune all of the fruit bushes now and pull out the ones we don't want. Half of the raspberries will go to a good home. Once the strawberry runners are established I'll move them to a new spot too.

Variety is great

We planted a next batch of mangetouts to carry on after the first batch had finished. It seems we got it about right. We have had a batch of pods from the old plants that look completely spent and a couple of pods from the new batch, with many more flowers showing. I cut another lovely looking courgette that looks a perfect size. Again there are more coming. I picked nearly another half kilo of juicy gooseberries while Jean gathered another kilo of raspberries. I picked a few spring onions to try.

I took a look at the red onions. Some of them had bolted earlier in the year and produced flower stems. I cut off the flower stems when I noticed them, but I have been wondering if they would be good to eat. Today we found out - if they are firm they are fine. I don't think they would keep though, the root base looks a little soft. The yellow onions are beginning to wilt slightly, so they could be ready to lift and dry out soon. They look a good size so I hope they keep well. Onions have been a good thing to grow. They taste really good and are easy to grow with no real problems except cutting off any flower heads. We have had more success with spring onions too. Last year we got a few nice spring onions, but only a few. This year there are a lot more, they have nice little bulbs but the stems are a bit short. White Lisbon are supposed to have bulbs and stems so I need to find out more to see how to improve them.

I did have a small disaster. I wiped out about a quarter of our carrots, by accidentally standing on a carrot while uncovering our spring onions. Carrots are not our strength.