Life on The Weald - June 2024

Life on The Weald...

in the garden and the kitchen and other distractions

June 2024

The beginning of June marks the start of meteorological summer and it certainly felt that summer had arrived but the weather forecasters warn us that this is not the start of a heatwave.

We are told that as the area of high pressure retreats and the jet stream dips southwards, cooler air is set to spread across the country this week with temperatures dropping below the seasonal average in places.  We wait with baited breath!

1 June

On Saturday we finally erected the walk-in cage where I will grow brassicas, hopefully safe from pigeons but we have yet to put the net on.  I took my remaining surplus tomatoes to the Allotment shop and gave my spare purple sprouting broccoli plants to the organic gardening group (BHOGG) one of the community groups on the site.

There were still lots of broad beans for picking.

I cleared an area to plant the cucumbers and raked in some compost.

The heritage, red flowering broad beans appeared to be doing well...

...and so was the chard I had planted out last month.

2 June

Sylvi made progress with the greenhouse whilst Luke took a chainsaw to some of the plum trees that we wanted to remove.

I cleared a patch for cucumbers and mended the frame for them to climb up.  I suspect that this is the last year for the frame!  I cleared the adjacent area of bindweed (but it is so deep it will return) ready for more brassicas.  I have preserved a large water butt for drowning bindweed and hopefully after about 6 weeks the water can be drawn off as liquid fertiliser and the bindweed consigned to the compost heap.

It was a very hot sunny day.  The wild flowers were looking very attractive and attracting pollinators.

Ox-eye daisy attracts pollinators

Ox-eye daisy with thick legged flower beetle
only the male has thick legs so this is obviously a female

Love in a mist attracts the bumblebees

The cucumber climbing frame

I constructed a wigwam for some more climbing beans 

Preparing for more climbing beans

We also lifted some early Red Duke of York potatoes.  They were smaller than previous years, but otherwise healthy.

First early Red Duke of York potatoes

We also cut back some of the brambles and bindweed encroaching on the path with our neighbour's plot.

The boundary path between us (247) and our neighbour (248)

3 June

Monday was cloudy but a pleasant temperature for working.  I sowed some Borlotti beans around the wigwam that I hade created the day before and left a space in the middle to plant out Patty pan squashes.  I also sowed some Cobra French climbing beans in the gaps along the bean frame. I planted out a Crown Prince and a Hungarian Blue squash in the 3 sisters bed and two more sweetcorn plants.  At risk of overplanting, I decided there was room for another row, so planted some more sweet corn, Cobra beans and courgettes and covered the area with a mulch of strulch to keep the slugs away.

4 June

More planting today, three ridge cucumbers, some red cabbages and in the middle of the wigwam two Yellow sunburst patty pan squashes.

6 June

Sylvi and I eventually managed to put the netting on the fruit cage where the purple sprouting broccoli was growing. It was looking good but the pigeons had attacked my sole remaining kalette plant which I have now placed a cloche over, hoping that it will recover.

7 June

At home we harvested more chillies - fajita  from the plant I had rescued from the garden centre, and Zimbabwe black which I had grown from seed last year and overwintered indoors.

Fajita chillies

Zimbabwe black chillies

Zimbabwe black chilli, flowering and fruiting

9 June

It would have been a good day for the allotment but we had already volunteered for a beach clean up session with our neighbours from Berriedale Avenue and then a litter pick around the Lagoon with the Friends of Hove Lagoon

Beach clean-up with the neighbours

Operation beach clean

10 June

We managed to harvest some redcurrants and mangetout peas although the birds had already had a feast on the redcurrants before we had managed to get the net on.

Red currants

Mangetout

Red currants

Mangetout & broad beans ready for the steamer

11 June

I lifted a few plants of Red Duke of York potatoes and the softneck garlic which sadly had developed rust.

First early Red Duke of York potatoes

Rust on the garlic

Hopefully the rust hasn't affected the taste of the garlic but the bulbs are much smaller than last year.

I planted out 3 ridge cucumbers by the cucumber frame and some red cabbages under some netting and planted yellow sunburst patty pan in the middle of the wigwam where I had sown borlotti beans.

12 June

Our fox was back in the garden today but it was another day with below average temperatures.

Our resident fox

Our resident Fox

On the allotment site we have managed to procure a regular supply of coffee grounds from the restaurant of a local garden centre. I have located a container to store them where plotholders can help themselves.  They are good to add to compost but I usually use them as a mulch mixed with crushed egg shells to deter slugs and snails.

Our coffee grounds repository

12 June

Another day with temperatures 3-4 degrees below average for the time of year but I managed to plant out some Teepee purple French beans.

13 June

Our fox has cerainly made itself at home and found somewhere to sleep during the day!

Let sleeping foxes lie

It was, however, another cold day, 4 degrees below the seasonal average. Will anything grow this year!  I did manage to clear one of the broad bean beds and sowed a half row each of Teepee and Amethyst purple French beans.

14 June

Time to do something with the redcurrants which had been sitting in the fridge.  I decided to make redcurrant jelly.

Redcurrants

My daughter, Zoe was down for a few days but sadly it was not the weather for lying on the beach which she had hoped for.  There were gale force winds!

Blowing away the cobwebs

15 June

Heavy rain today and a maximum temperature of 14C.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating - or the proof of the jelly or jam is in the setting.  Thankfully I had a good set.

Red currant jelly

16 June

In the garden the tomatoes were flowering and in need of a liquid feed sometimes I use a commercial liquid feed but on this occasion I used my own, made my soaking banana skins in a bucket of water for several days. This will produce a feed containing magnesium, potassium, phophorous and calcium.

Tomato plant

The bottle brush plant was in full bloom.

Bottle brish plant

17 June

I planted some more borlotti beans and Cobra French beans where broad beans had been growing.

More beans sown

The chard and purple sprouting broccoli were making progress 

Rainbow chard

purple sprouting broccoli under the netting

17 June

The Cobra beans and squashes and the 3 sisters bed appeared to be doing well

Cobra beans and squashes

The 3 sisters bed

20 June

At home the chilli plants were still producing fruits

Fajita chillies

21 June

Another distraction!  We finally took delivery of our campervan - how many lost allotment days will there be?  Is this a crazy idea as I approach my 80th birthday in two months' time?

The campervan

23 June

A hard morning's work with fellow plotholders, clearing the area around the allotment building.

23 June - operation clean-up

23 June operation clean-up

Following the clean-up it was time to join the organic gardening group to celebrate the summer solstice.  There was some delicious lemon posset made by Fleur who has shared the recipe.

Lemon posset

the recipe

I managed to pick some chard before heading home.

Rainbow chard

24 June

I harvested the Fajita chillies from the plant we had rescued from Waitrose.

But there was little gardening activity as my eldest grandson, Felix and his girlfriend were down for a few days.  It did mean some hours in the kitchen and it had been a long time since I had made a seafood paella!

the chef at work

John's seafood paella

enjoyed by all

25 June

Another lost plot-day!  But good to spend time at the beach and in the garden

A rare stroll along the Promenade with Felix

And at last some blue skies and the garden was feeling quite tropical and colourful  with the bottlebrush  and the buddleia (butterfly bush)

Bottlebrush and palm tree in Hove actually

Bottlebrush & buddleia

buddleia

26 June

The recently pollarded eucalyptus was beginning to recover!

Eucalyptus in recovery mode

27 June

I did manage a brief visit to the allotment and was pleased to see signs of a new generation of ladybirds on the sage, probably Harlequin

Ladybird, pupa stage

The recently planted beans were looking good and I applied a mulch of strulch.

climbing beans

And the cucumbers were making progress.

Cucumbers

At last, the sweetcorn in the 3 sisters bed showed signs of growth.

Sweetcorn and squashes

And the recently planted borlotti beans and patty pan squash were looking good.

Borlotti beans and pattypan squash

And there was a sign ofthe first courgette.

Courgette

29 June

One of my fellow plotholders who had been helping with clearing the building gave us some of his beautiful sweetpeas.

Richard's sweetpeas

I made good use of hacing Felix around, carting barrow-loads of manure to the plot.

Felix and manure

I laid cardboard in my new fruit cage and we spread a layer of manure and compost on top.  There was already some broccoli growing at the back of the cage to which we applied a good mulch.

The fruit cage (ready for brassicas)

30 June 

The last day of June was spent weeding and removing remaining bottle cloches from the cucumbers and squashes, hoping they were sufficiently developed to resist slug attack.  Just hoping that July will see more seasonal temperatures.

John Austin

Hove, June 2024

 LIFE ON THE WEALD - May 2024

- and other distractions

We celebrated May Day on a city break in Krakow where the temperature was in the upper twenties during the day - we did visit the famous salt mines to cool off - returning on Friday 3 May

4 May

It seems we brought the sun back with us, as Saturday was a bright sunny day.  At home I sowed some butternut squash, Cobra French climbing beans, Blue Lake French climbing beans, Teepee purple dwarf French beans. I  took the tomato seedlings out of the mini-greenhouse and put them on a table in the hot sunshine. I took them in overnight but they were now getting too tall for the shelves, so would need to be put out permanently soon.

4 May - tomatoes basking in the sunshine

In the garden our Serbia Gold quince, in its third year, was flowering fo rthe first time so I am hopeful that we might get some fruit this year.

4 May - Serbian Gold quince

 

And on the allotment the broad beans were filling out.

4 May - broad beans

The sweetcorn had germinated and I hope it will be OK, but I planted it later than my neighbours who already have plants in the ground 8-10 inches tall.

4 June - first sign of sweetcorn

5 May

Sunday morning morning started off cloudy but dry with a drop in temperature from Saturday, but I put the tomatoes out again and also peppers from the conservatory, as they need to harden off.  There were new fruits on the Habanero and Cheyenne chillies that I had saved from last year.  I had taken them indoors last autumn.

I was pleased to see the odd bumblebee on the plot.

There was a light drizzle later, but I began to clear the bindweed and couch grass from the brassica patch (where last year’s climbing beans had grown), and then laid cardboard and contents of 3 bottom layers from worm bins.

6 May

A message arrived on the allotment WhatsApp group that a plotholder had dismantled their greenhouse and was disposing of the polycarbonate panels.  It had long been Sylvi's plan to restore our greenhouse which had been devoid of any glass since we took on the plot many years ago.  The only problem was that the rain was absolutely teeming.  But an offer like this was too good to miss though and we were sure the panels would soon be taken.  We braved the weather, got absolutely soaked but we claimed the precious prize.

There had been heavy rain through the night and I received a message on WhatsApp which read “Over night we have had 16.5mm of rain (58mm for whole of April as comparison) Regards Peter the Weatherman”  The ground was waterlogged and I wondered if any of our plants would survive these conditions.

7 May

Tuesday was cloudy with occasional bright sunny periods.  I had bought a strip of Green Shaft peas from the garden centre to replace the Kelvedon Wonder that I had previously sown direct but which had never appeared - either they had been eaten or just rotted in the very wet wweather.

7 May - Green shaft peas planted out

The crop that looked really healthy with all the rain was the potatoes, Red Duke of York first earlies and second early Charlotte.

 

7 May - potatoes

We had bought the last few remaining Pink Fir apple potatoes at Seedy Sunday and I planted these in a potato growbag .  I then sowed some Cobra climbing beans on the western side of the bean frame, despite there being no sign of the Borlotti previously sown on the eastern side of the frame - but I live in hope!  

I bought some Purple sprouting broccoli plants from a garden centre to replace the ones that I had grown from seed, all of which had been eaten by slugs and snails.  Everyone on the site has had the same problem and we seem to have more slugs and snails than anyone can remember. I strimmed some of the grass that was encroaching the footpath, sowed some basil in a large pot and pulled up lots of goose grass from around the raspberries, which went straight into the compost bin.

8 May

At home I sowed some Kelevedon Wonder peas in trays and also some squashes, courgettes and cucumbers.

10 May

I planted out the chard seedlings which were grown at home and also directly sowed some Boltardy beetroot.

12 May

A neighbour kindly gave me some spare Cavolo Nero seedlings to replace the ones I had lost and I potted these on before planting out.

13 May

The Heavy rain that had been forecast for Monday never arrived but it was a cloudy overcast morning with occasional drizzle.

15 May

Sylvi began the task of cutting the polycarbonate sheets to fit our derelict greenhouse and I created a frame for netting the redcrurrants.

The redcurrants and frame

The redcurrants and frame

At home we seem to have acquired a fox that thinks our garden is its home!

The Weigela and mock orange blossom are in full flower

Weigela

Philadelphus, mock orange

19 May

On Sunday I planted out some of the squashes, in front of the climbing beans, two courgette plants and a Crown Prince at the back and 2 butternut squash and a Blue Hubbard  at the front.  Blue Hubbard is new to me, and I bought a seedling at the plant sale.  I am told that the Hubbard squash has an extremely hard outer shell and can, therefore, be stored for long periods of time - up to six months. Apparently the green to gray-blue shell isn't edible but the orange flesh inside is said to be delicious and nutritious.

I also planted out the Cavolo Nero  plants that I hade been given, spreading Strulch (mineralised straw) around them to ward off the slugs and snails.  I put plastic bottle cloches over them to protect from pigeons and will soon have to put a net over when the cloches are removed.

There were signs that the Cobra French climbing beans had germinated but no sign yet of the borlotti.

19 May - Cobra - French climbing bean

19 May - Cobra - French climbing beans

19 May - Squashes planted in front of the beans

20 May

Our plans and the weather never seem to be in sync!  We were booked to see the National Theatre performance of Nye at the Depot  in Lewes - not the best day to be indoors as is was one of the the sunniest and hottest days of the year.  Before we went, however, and rather belatedly, I sowed some kalettes in seed trays at home to replace those destroyed by slugs!

21 May

The weather on Tuesday was quite different - early morning drizzle and for the most part a cloudy, overcast day.  We did spend some time on the plot, however, and Sylvi continued her labours to restore the greenhouse. I commenced work on my experimental 3 sisters bed. This is a system iof companion planting - in this case one from indigenous North Americans - and I would be planting sweet corn, climbing beans and squashes.

21 May -preparing the 3 sisters bed

22/23 May

My plans were thwarted on Wednesday by very heavy rain but on Thursday I began to mark out and begin planting the sweet corn for the 3 sisters bed

I mapped out the area according to this plan:

By the afternoon the sun was shining

23 May - looking West

23 May -Looking East

Plot 247b - looking north

23 May - Rainbow Chard

Clearing area for kalettes and purple sprouting broccoli

23 May - Cobra

24 May

On Friday I was pleased to see that 4 tromboncino seeds had germinated. On the plot I continued marking out the 3 sisters bed

24 May - 3 sisters bed

24 May - peas

24 May - red flowered heritage broad beans

Sylvi was making good progress with the greenhouse, which now has a roof!

24 May - The greenhouse - a work in progress

24 May - The greenhouse - a work in progress

24 May - a watertight roof on the greenhouse

The water lily was beginning to flower.... 

24 May - water lily

...and there were lots of broad beans (aquadulce) to be hervested.

24 May - broad beans

25 May

On Saturday I began removing the scapes from the onions before they had a chance to flower.  I left the odd one as the bees seem to be fond of the flowers. Some people throw the scapes away but they are edible and very good for example in stir-fries.  You need to remove the scape so that energy and nutrients go into swelling the bulb and not producing flowers but the drawback is that breaking off the scape can lead to ingress of water which can either cause rot or will result in them not storing so well.  It seems that this year's weather has caused much more of this problem.

25 May - Onion scape

This is very much the broadbean season and there were more to pick.  It is better to pick them young - not only because they taste better but picking encourages more to grow.

25 May - broad beans

There was still chard to be harvested from last year's sowings

25 May - Chard

26 May

Sunday was a glorious sunny day but it was also the last day of

Ride London  and we were off to see the final stage of the Women's Classique

Here's a brief clip from the end of the first of eight laps

and the Finish

27 May

On Monday we began to erect the walk-in fruit cage that Sylvi had bought me for Christmas.  We erected the frame but haven't yet put the netting on. I won't be using it for fruit, however, and once erected I planted out 3 purple sprouting broccoli and my one surviving kalette plant which I had grown from seed.  I also planted out some red cabbage seedlings.  I put plastic bottle cloches over the seedlings and surrounded them with a mulch of strulch to try to ward off slugs and snails.

28-31 May

Tuesday was another cold, wet, windy day with a high temperature of 14C so another day indoors! Wednesday was a cloudy, damp start to the day and we decided on a visit to the garden centre up on the Downs where the sun was shining! I bought 3 outdoor cucumber plants to supplement the three I had grown from seed.

Thursday was another cold wet day and on Friday I did visit the allotment but for a meeting with committee members to discuss our future plans.  We have a bulding on site which houses the Allotment Association Shop and our Community Food Project.  The building has been there for years, is structurally sound but in need of repair but we are a voluntary unincorporated organisation with no proof of ownership.  We have plans to become a incorporated body and take out a formal lease of the building (from the Council who own the land) and refurbish the building for more social and community use - as if maintaining an allotment plot in itself wasn't enough to do!!!

Just hoping for more seasonal weather in June.

John Austin

Hove, May 2024