The last couple of weeks we've been busy at home. With all the rainy weather we decided to tackle some much needed decorating. I popped down to the allotment for a quick visit every couple of days to check the greenhouse plants and on one or two dry days I left Richard doing the decorating while I could catch up on some weeding . It doesn't take long for weeds to take over.
It looks now like we're in for a spell of better weather. Yesterday we went to catch up on jobs, the weather was warm, dry and sunny and it was really lovely to be outside again doing jobs. Now at the end of May there's plenty to do. The cold frame is full of plants waiting to be planted.
I started by planting a block of sweetcorn -- 16 plants in the block.
In the next bed I planted some sunflowers. This bed has peas and broad beans in one half and will have some brassicas at the other end with the sunflowers in the middle.
The greenhouses are full of plants too. The big greenhouse is mostly full of the tomatoes which are now ready to go in their final big pots. We moved out some of the staging to make room and filled the pots with compost. I have set the tomato plants out where they are going to go and as I was running out of time I will plant them next time we go.
In the little greenhouse are flower seedlings growing and also the cucumbers. I planted four cucumber plants into big pots-- 2 'Louisa' and 2 'Passandra'. I grew these last year and they were good.
Checking around the plot I could see that the first lot of broad beans now have flowers. The first lot of peas which were started off in guttering in the greenhouse are doing well, but the second sowing which was done directly into the ground are not looking good with poor germination and nibbled leaves. I'm blaming the pigeons for the nibbled leaves although it could also be weevils. But the pigeons hang about that area quite a lot and are a nuisance on the plot. Fortunately I grew another lot of peas in the greenhouse which are ready for planting out now. I will plant these in the gaps in that row and cover them with netting. The beetroot is also looking like its been nibbled and I wonder if that is the pigeons again. More netting needed, I think.
The plot is looking green now with plenty growing. There is so much to do, so let's hope this better weather will stay for a while.
