Onions Drying in the Small Greenhouse

With the wet weather drying off onions outside as I normally would is hardly an option so I've spread them on the slatted wooden bench I built in the small greenhouse.

The onions are one of this years success stories but not so much the topsy turvy tomato planter at the back of the greenhouse. See a close up on my allotment diary

Smart Car park on the Allotment Site

Sorry this is a bit of a dull picture but you can see the car park is being covered with white stone chippings - special mention and thankyou to Janice for her efforts.

I suspect Larry is looking to win a prize next year for the poshest site!

New Allotment High Security Fence

We've had some young intruders on the site and found the hole they'd cut in the fence to give them a step up in climbing over. So Larry and I fixed up this additional high security barrier.

I wanted either a mine field or deep pits with sharp stakes but Larry thought this a better idea.

Drying Onions in the Small Greenhouse Take 2

OK - I admit I'm really pleased with these onions so I couldn't resist a better shot of them. These are Ailsa Craig and I think they're fantastic.

Good size and reasonable keeping qualities. I'm pretty sure we won't need to buy any onions if they store OK.

Runner Beans on Andy's plot

It just ain't fair. My runners are a pale spindly things, half drowned with just a few leaves and not a been in sight. So along comes these newbies and just look at them.

It's black magic, I tell you.

View down the large greenhouse

On the right are some aubergines and peppers, on the left cordon tomatoes, mainly stripped of leaves. The flowers are marigolds to ward off whitefly.

At the rear the San Marzano plum tomato that was doing so well until the blight struck in the house.

Close up of the blighted San Marzano tomato

I'm calling it a blight but I'm not so sure it is potato blight, certainly some sort of mould infection though.

The symptoms are quite simple, brown patches that grow along the stems, leaves just dry up and die and the fruit has brown patches that spread and rot.

Tomatoes again - from the outside

This photo from outside the greenhouse shows the tomato plants quite well and the ripening fruit since we've had a few days of decent weather and sunshine.

It's a race between ripening and blight.

Cloudburst

Luckily I had returned home when the sky darkened and then we had a cloudburst and thunderstorm. It started with lightning and hail then as the storm was overhead the power shower in the sky turned on, overwhelming the drains.

Harvesting King Edward Potatoes

I had three rows of King Edwards that were hit by blight but by cutting of the haulm prevented it spreading to the tubers.

In the background are cauliflowers under nets to keep the pigeons away.

Carrots and Parsnips

On the left are my parsnips, which are looking seriously good and to the right of them a row of carrots, var Senior.

In the blue tub, yet more carrots. This time half are Healthmaster, supposed to contain more beta carotene and be good for you, the other half are from Medwyn Williams and are Osiris. They are both doing really well in the pure deep compost judging by the foliage, but it's the root that counts.

Compost Delivery Arrives

Yet another 7 tonnes of compost for the plots. It's quite amazing how he manages to bring his large lorry backwards up the narrow paths, I find it tricky enough in a car!

The last loads were delivered in February and were a nightmare as the lorry got stuck.

Compost Unloading

Here it comes! It's quite a site as the skip tips the compost onto the path. Steam rises from it as well and a really rich smell.

With a sinking feeling I realise I've got to move that lot!

My Compost Mountain - Deja Vu

Here it is, my very own compost mountain again!

It really does seem larger than the last lot back in February - Compost Delivery

It does the soil good, if not my back.

Giant Molehills Up The Path

Looking up the path from plot 5 you can see the other deliveries of compost. I think we had 8 on the site in total, 2 on the front path and 5 on the back.

The good news is that it blocks the paths and certain people will have to walk all the way from the car park to their plot. Poor things.