15. We have had a fatality...

Yeterday was a sad day in the greenhouse. There has been a fatality.

I quickly visited the allotment after work yesterday, and unfortunately, one of the tomatilo plants had given up the ghost. It had always been the runt of the litter, and it had been left without water for too long. The rest of the tomatiloes, and indeed the other plants, don't look the least bit remorseful. In fact, now it is a bit cooler in the greenhouse, they are looking full of life!

Hopefully, that should be the last of the casualties as I have a new hydration system on it's way to me as we speak. The one I had been using before, consisted of the water bladders that walkers use which have a tube attached. I manged to save some faulty ones that had been returned. I put a few holes in one corner, and hoped that the water would drip out slowly and water the plants. No such luck! They are still full two weeks later!

Outside of the greenhouse, the alootment has burst into life. The bedding plants that I was disappointed in, have suddenly doubled in size and grown flowers!

Both myself and Mark are having trouble with our over wintering onions. They should have been ready April - May, but the stalks are still refusing to fall over and signal picking time is here. Some have gone to seed, which I quickly cut off, but I think it may have been too late.

I must put a photo of my blueberry plant on here. As it is my star pupil at the moment! It is kind of cheating, as the plant is in my garden at home. I have had it in a pot for a couple of years now, and this is the first time it has flowered, it doesn't do things by halves though, it is covered in flowers. Well it was, the flowers have now died off and are turning into lovely little blueberries! In fact, I need to go do some research. To cover or not to cover? I don't want some cheeky blackbird eating the lot!

Finally, I would just like to congratulate myself in typing another entry only one week later than the previous one!

14. Lazy sunny days

I am ashamed to see that again, I haven't blogged for 2 months.

My little side project has also fallen by the wayside. A while ago, I decided to take a picture of the path leading from the main gate, each time I arrived at the allotment. It is quite a nice view of a worn out path with grass growing in the middle of the tyre tracks, and hedges and trees on either side. When I put them all together, it was meant to show the changing seasons. However, for the past month, when all the growing has been going on, I have forgotten to take my camera!

Anyway, more news on the wildlife front - Mr Fox is still visiting the allotment. I put some black weed supressor down over part of a bed. And low and behold, when I next visited, there were large muddy footprints on it!

The big news at the allotment is the re-hiring of a member of staff. I managed to trick Matt into coming to the allotment a couple of weeks ago. And he is hooked! He is now in charge of all the hard work - weeding, digging etc. And I do planting, watering and decision making. Woo hoo! Unfortunately, the weeds are still beating us, growing twice as fast as the vege's.

My brother managed to fix the water pump. He found a little hardwear shop, explained the problem and waited while the assistant went into the back room rumaging about, and of course had exactly what we needed. We now have almost icy cold, fresh water. It's great not having to pray for rain all the time. I think if we had to rely on the water butts, the tomatoes would have been long dead!

It's funny how, I now notice what the weather is doing more. I have never been much of a sun worshipper, but it seems to bring colours alive so I always welcomed it. This week though, I have had to go to the allotment everyday to water, and still a couple of the plants are wilting. I was only in the greenhouse for a few minutes on Sunday before I was losing my temper with the hydration system I was trying to set up!

On the vege side, things are looking surprisingly good. First Early, Second Early and Late potatoes are growing nicely, I haven't seen any flowers yet, but the grass is higher than the potato plants so it's not surprising! There are flowers on the mange tout plants and the peas. The onions are looking pretty good. However, they are overwintering onions and they should have been ready to harvest in April, but are still looking on the small side. The garlic is doing really well, people keep complimenting me on how well the leeks are growning, so that tells you how well the garlic is!

That is my update for now. I will try and add photos later...and update you again before August!