Our last allotment update mentioned the wet weather of the winter and early spring, but since then we have had almost unbroken sunshine, with records being not just broken but smashed.  As most of us have been confined to homes, gardens and an hour of outdoor exercise for the last two months this weather has been very welcome, but of course we growers are now starting to think that we need some decent rain in pretty short order.

our outdoor exercise has been spent in large part on the allotments, although our bicycles have been cleaned up and lubricated to get a bit more of a cardio workout.

We got the new fruit cage erected in April so by the time that the fruit bushes start to set this year’s fruit they will be well protected.

New plot 17 April

As the warmer weather kicked in the potato crops started to take off.  We did get a late frost in early May that blackened off the growing tips, but the bulk of the plants were well earthed up, so they soon recovered.

Potatoes 20 May

On the left of the photo above you can see the start of what will be a permanent flower bed to provide both flowers for cutting and bait for pollinators.

As the last risk of frost has now gone, we have planted up the new squash frame with Uchiki Kuri squashes.

Squash frame 29 May