Squash

This is the first Crown Prince squash to be spotted beneath the rather impressive squash leaf canopy which is currently threatening a good third of the allotment. I love growing squash and pumpkins; they can easily fight with even the most persistent weeds, have long roots to break up the soil and give you something of a surprise when the leaves die back to reveal, hopefully, a dozen or so squash.

This year I have at least 4 Crown Prince plants, they are a nightmare to cut open but the taste makes it all worthwhile. I also grow Baby Bear which looks like a mini pumpkin but is apparently a squash, anyone know where the difference comes in?

Finally I am having a go at some butternut squash for the first time, I am fairly sure this plant is meant to be a butternut squash Hunter but somehow I think I am in for a pumpkin...

Avoiding the gluts

The borlotti beans are coming along nicely, I don't think I will ever have a glut but hopefully there will be enough to try out a couple of Sarah Raven's recipes. I took the time to patch up their rather shakey structure and removed a few of the weeds but this weekend was mostly about improving the look of the allotment rather than actually improving the allotment so I have been hoeing the weeds rather than digging.

The weekend turned out to be a hot one and also to be a weekend of firsts, the first plums were eaten (very tasty) and the first maincrop potatoe roasted, more exiting thought was the first of the sweetcorn, boiled and eaten. Delicious, and there is plenty more to come.


The couregettes have been politely producing 1 couregette per week which has been a very modest amount but it looks like all this sunshine has convinced them to put out 3 or 4 each, next week will mark the beginning of the courgette glut...

Tomatoes

The tomatoes have been doing brilliantly and today I finally got my first few, there were 6 "Gartenpearle" which were good but fairly thick skinned and just 1 sweet "Sungold".

The "Gartenpearles" were strange plants, they hardly grew at all, most are about 15cm tall but carry loads of fruits for their size, they are the earliest to ripen but are also suffering from some slug attacks, probably just because the fruit is so low down.


The "Sungold" and "Gardener's Delight" all have plenty more green fruits but also the early signs of blight, not really surprising after the humidity we have been having but annoying early compaired to last year. Since all the plants have signs I am going to leave them alone for now and hope a few more fruits ripen, then I will be digging out the green chutney recipes.

A short gap

So it has been almost, but not quite, a month since my last post. July really was a very busy month, OH turned 30 so we had lots of birthday celebrations and somehow I just didn't manage to fit much allotment time in.

There is plenty to be eating at the moment, the onions are good and the garlic is very tasty. We have almost finished the Charlotte potatoes but hopefully some of the maincrops will be ready soon. There is plenty of spinach and at the moment the courgettes are supplying just the right amount for us to get through, no doubt that will all change soon.

Hopefully tomorrow will be dry enough for me to have a go at reclaiming my allotment, yep you guessed it the weeds have taken over.