Where did summer go?

I've read so many gardening and allotment blogs recently where people have been struggling with time to get all the work done. And that makes me feel so much better about my own allotment, which has also been neglected because of my own busyness this summer.

With all the preparations for our house move in June followed by the settling in, unpacking boxes and organising building work to be done and planning a new garden project (more about that on another blog post).  I feel that I've missed out on summer this year. Trips to the allotment have all been a mad rush and only the bare essentials done. The weeds grew and started taking  over. My plans to sow successional rows of lettuce and radish didn't happen. Neither did the sowing of purple sprouting broccoli and spring cabbage.

Its not all doom and gloom though. Earlier in the year before I got too busy, I planted potatoes and onions. I sowed seeds--peas and beans, brassicas, sweetcorn, courgettes and flowers. And although I didn't get as much in the ground as I would normally, there have been some good harvests.

At the moment I'm still emptying potato bags, cutting climbing beans and the tomatoes are all over the greenhouse. The sweetcorn is now ready for picking, there are cabbages, kohl rabi, and climbing beans. The greenhouse is full of ripening tomatoes. I have also had enough green tomatoes to make some chutney. Peering through the weeds I can see brussels sprouts, flower sprouts, kale, leeks and beetroot. Plenty of stuff for the winter months.

Last weekend I took myself down to the allotment to do some weeding. I cleared away the sweet peas and weeded the bed. I finished off clearing away the peas and broad beans and weeded that and other beds too. There are still some massive weeds in the kale bed and cabbage beds, but that's for another day. Soon I should have some time to spare to get down and start the autumn clear up. I'm looking forward to that.

Blackberries down the lane

The blackberries started ripening early this year and there have been so many too. Last year I missed out on picking them down the allotment lane, by the time I got there everyone else had got there before me and there were none left. So this year needing to stock up my freezer supplies I was determined to get my share of them. Accompanied by my grandson, whenever we went down to the allotment, we finished our allotment work by walking down the lane to fill a box with blackberries. My grandson took his rake with him so he could pull down branches for me to pick. The best ones are always just out of reach. I was the one who got scratched filling my box, he just ate the ones he picked.

On the plot I've been picking blackcurrants, red currants and gooseberries. Luckily they are in a net cage which keeps the birds off, as I'd left it a bit late before I finally got around to picking them. But I still think I lost quite a lot through them dropping off.

I was pleased to get a few more red currants this year. The blueberries were a disappointment but I think again I'd left it late to pick and many had dropped off.

My fruit freezer is well filled up now and will keep us going in fruit for the coming year. Now I need to start thinking about making jams and fruit gins.