Plotting our progress...from storms to sweetcorn

Well... here we are another week has passed. This week has been a bit of a mixed bag weatherwise. We've had some lovely warm days and yet we've also had severe showers and thunder storms!- summer must be here! Just a few photos today to chart the progress of the plots:-

This is the new plot we took on this year. I've kept the middle section covered as it has a lot of couch grass. I shall probably leave it covered for 12 months to try and kill it off.

As you can see the top half looks great! I've only planted the spares we had this year- shallots, a few onions, a row of beetroot and some spuds.

This morning I went down and planted some spare sweetcorn plants we had. These are 'Incredible' (variety) from Wilkos- strong young plants nevertheless.

Inside the bottom tunnel back on the old plots... These toms are from Japan and are truly purple! First year growing these so will have to wait to see if theyre worthwhile.

I'm not happy with these leeks this year. I didn't intend to show these this year. They were kindly given to me by a friend. They will however, despite having some evidence of leek moth, be used to their full potential in the kitchen.

The xanth beds are looking promising. There are some strong breaks now on the plants. I tied them all up yesterday before the storm came. These beds next year shall be used for some show stuff and will be covered with an environmesh tunnel...

Had a scratch around in the top tunnel and the garlic is looking good. By the end of the month I shall probably have harvested these and planted some later tomato plants in their place.

The parsnips are exceeding all expectations this year- they are easily 12-15" high already as you can see from the photo above. In front of them is a later sowing for smaller roots in the winter.

Tried rooster spuds this year and i'm pleased with how they are growing. The tops are the strongest tops I've ever had on spuds. They did have comfrey leaves lined along their planting trench and I do wonder whether this has given them a kick...

For all interested I am giving a talk in August entitled 'Duck Pools- A garden divided'. It takes a light-hearted and sometimes humorous look at my garden at home and the allotments. I describe it as an eclectic mix of flowers fruit and veg. Its held in Stourbridge and visitors are more than welcome... Contact me for details.

At the end of a busy day there is nothing better than our first harvest of charlotte spuds from the new plot. It just goes to show the ground isn't too bad considering it hadn't been cultivated for a while. These were delicious cooked with some sprigs of mint...

See you next week!