It wasn't until we were back from the plot yesterday and catching up with Monty on Gardener's World that I realised it was National Allotment Week, I'd read about it a while back but the dates hadn't registered. We'd popped over there to check on the weeks, to see how the squashes were doing (still not great) and to take some of my ever improving tomato plants over to plant out.
I know they're late and unlike Monty my tomatoes aren't ripening as quick as I can eat them, but there is a tomato surprise further in this post so all is not lost.
Our beans are currently doing well; there's plenty more borlotti beans since our last visit - there is a benefit to all that rain, it seems - and MOH was once again all for picking them. It's an annual thing, and this year I've managed to persuade him not to. At least that means we stand a chance to harvest them at all once this year, assuming he buys into it that is.
The late-planted potatoes (have you spotted a theme yet?) are doing well and are now flowering. We're done earthing them up, mainly because we don't have enough earth to do this with. Now we're waiting for them to grow and I know I'm looking forward to digging them up. The advantage of them being later, is that we'll be more likely to be eating more potatoes by the time we harvest them.
My sunflower is out too - and it's a beauty.
It also has the sturdiest of stems. There's a few more to come yet too, but not as many flowers as the redder sort I grew last year. Maybe next year there'll be some of each.
Up until today I'd only had four tomato plants on the plot. They were from dad and he said they were a giant variety. They'd bushed out greatly and I'd missed the opportunity to do the traditional pinching out. This weekend though I was determined to sort them out, and thin them a bit too. And that's when I made my tomato discovery.
Some actual tomatoes.
Green of course, but actual tomatoes. This year, that's a very welcome sight.
My runner beans have also started.. Nothing last week and this week a handful or two picked for dinner one night this week. Even for our temperamental supplies, it's always worth a visit to the plot before we head to the shops. Although to be fair runner beans are something we never buy, why would you when you can pop over to the plot and pick some like this:
The other thing I've no need to buy is rhubarb, I cut more stems today and that emergency crumble I made last week is all but gone.
So not a bad visit, add to that another trug full of weeds and another of tomato plant leaves, the compost wasn't doing too badly either.
But I shouldn't rest of my laurels, there's still plenty more to do and plenty more to be sown too, and even more plants to go out. But before we get to that I'm just hoping the foxes don't take a liking to the new tomato plants I put out this weekend. Because I won't be happy!
More soon...