Little reasons to be cheerful.

Sweetpea.

Adding a little bit of colour to the plot. Next year I will add more, especially plants that deter slugs. A flower fortress!

Banana Shallots.

These shallots may not look like bananas, but they sure can make your eyes water, unlike bananas.

Mixed Garlic.

Excellent crop of garlic this year! A small, smelly triumph.

Fennel.

This is my first time growing fennel. It’s a bit diminutive, but tastes great. Looks a little exotic too!

Courgettes.

After a false start, it appears I may get a crop of courgettes after all. Very exciting altogether!

Carrots and Charlotte Potatoes.

This has been a poor year for my potatoes and carrots. The potatoes are ‘scabby’ in more ways than one, and have suffered a bout of blight to boot. The carrot tops and seedlings have been devoured by birds and slugs. Only a few have survived.

Just checking.

Garlic makes an appearance.

It had been a few days since I visited my plot, so when Karen at Allotment Plot 4 posted about her new, green garlic shoots, I was eager to head over and see how my own garlic was getting on.

There was a cold wind blowing so I brought along a cup of hot chocolate to keep me warm. Normally I would do a little bit of digging or tidying but that morning I could only manage to take a few photos, drink my hot chocolate and get out of there before the wind froze my face off. Thankfully my fruit and veg were handling the adverse weather conditions better than this puny human and all looked healthy and content.

Shallots in the wind.

Rhubarb opening out.

A perky little onion.

Looking forward to strawberries.

Mmmmmm… hot chocolate!

Rhubarb Starts.

Great bedfellows… rhubarb and manure.

I was in two minds as to what to do with the rhubarb plants in my old allotment. I needed to move them to my new plot and wondered should I use the traditional method of dividing the plants OR dig up as much of each plant as possible to transplant? Because I want to get a harvest this year I decided to go with the latter. Dividing the rhubarb would have meant no pulling of stems till next year because the new plants need time to get established. Anyway, they are in their new bed now with plenty of manure to keep them company.

Other news on the plot is that the shallots are looking very healthy and the onions, while not as showy, are doing well in the company of a surprising amount of weeds.

Shallots.

Weeds & onions.

A splash of colour.

Time to go home.