Three long weeks without blogging doesn't mean that there hasn't been lots of action. And now we have a chance to catch up as we are having a Staycation - 2 weeks holiday, most of which we will spend at home. Not because of the credit crunch but because we cannot leave the allotment for a 2 week period in the summer time. Note that the search for something to provide shade is over - a £4 beach umbrella from Marlows.So much going on and to do too. Much of the time on the plot has been spent weeding. It takes up so much time and energy, even with a fully charged wacker. And there's the bank now too. End of wingeing about the weeding.
Far more exciting headline news - we have harvested a grand total of 148 garlic bulbs on 24 July. We could probably corner the garlic market in Hertfordshire. Consulting the blog, we think we planted around 100 cloves - but that may have been an estimation, and 148 might be slightly out as quite frankly we were giddy with garlic fumes in the greenhouse (where they are drying). This picture does not do the sheer amount of them justice. We anxiously think about what we are going to do with them as this is roughly 3 times as many as last year - a few of which we still have. Lots of garlic pickling coming up and our friends can expect to receive garlic gifts. Enuff garlic already. The bag next to the garlic contains our shallot harvest, the majority of which we will pickle. The picture on the left is the same bed now populated with leek seedlings, transplanted from the seedbed. I am very proud of the expert way I did the dibber thing to make the hole and confidently placed the leekling inside. Quite different from last year. And they are not too big to move either (as last year's were according to some). (Philosophical note: perhaps the excess of garlic makes up for the dearth of peas.)
To the left is the remainder of the first earlies. The 
plants looked bitten and as we had already dug up quite a few we thought we'd dig up the rest. They are exceedingly tasty and no doubt our friends will benefit from a few presents of these too - as of course we have the joys of the second earlies to look forward to. To the right is the empty space on the bank where the first earlies were - now sown with green manure in a possibly vain attempt to keep out the weeds. The shadow is the Pagoda (mighty fruitcage which has received some remedial treatment to its structure).Other breaking news from the plot.
Bed 1 - rainbow chard and a few late sown carrots coming through and an empty space where the shallots were. We think we'll go for a late sowing of peas, given the disappointing show of peas in bed 6 which got got by pea moth. This rendered half the crop inedible. The peas that were given to us by neighbours etc were much better but not enough of them. We have only frozen 2 or 3 small bags. The rest of the bed contains onions including the giant ones. There are no pictures of bed 1 or 6.
Bed 2 - as reported, garlic now pulled and replaced by leeks. Butternut squash also in residence looking happy. This was only meant to be a temporary measure before moving it to the bank but we've decided to let it be.
Bed 3 - various kinds of broccoli happening. We have frozen a fair bit and our pregnant Neighbour is scoffing quite a lot. It is delicious. The summer sprouting (?) stuff looks particularly nice. The red cabbages moved fairly recently have suffered badly from either slugs or caterpillar, but the other ones (sown in situ) look fine. Not sure what that means. The summer cabbage is also quite bitten but hopefully will be ready to eat soon as they are bloody huge. The winter cabbage also sown in situ looks good. As you can see, the nasturtiums have been a great success and make the bed look really "on trend".Bed 4 - maincrop potatoes looking good, except for 2 which have leaf roll virus which is serious. The book says that they can be treated but apparently the chemical is no longer sold according to the garden centre. This leaves us with a moral dilemma which we have yet to resolve. As the virus affects the yield, maybe we should dig these plants up to prevent others getting infected. Or maybe the aphid that spreads the virus has gorn orf somewhere.
Bed 5 - now here's a bed that's going places. Lots of growth over the 
recent period. The corn and french beans are now well established whilst the squash is getting itself sorted. The main attraction though - of course - are the three courgette plants. They are already shooting out courgettes and we are now back in the familiar territory of excess courgettery. The yellow one is fab, though the courgettes look a bit like bananas. And yes they are yellow all the way through. The runner beans optimistically planted recently have come up and are climbing up their poles. I heave a sigh of relief - a plot without runner beans cannot be right.Bed 7 - carrots are doing well and we've had and frozen lots. We've also sown some more with a view to overwintering. The parsnip plumage indicates that all is well with them too, though we don't know when to pull them up.
Pagoda - strawberries, alas, now finished but they were much better than last year. We must pot some runners for the greenhouse. The summer raspberries have yielded their first harvest but to
be honest, people, we don't rate them as highly as the autumn brigade. The fruit is not as big or firm and they seem sickly compared to their exuberant autumn relatives. The blueberry has been getting into the swing of things and we've had quite a few delicious helpings. The seedbed has been cleared of leeklings and a strange broccoli (don't know, don't ask) which just seemed to sprout and bolt in about 10 minutes. Now we have kale and (I hope) some more winter cabbage seedlings left in there. There are 3 leeks left in the seedbed from last year and we decided to let them flower to see what happened. As you can see, Mr Bumble Bee finds them delicious.
Bank - two asparagus thingies have come up and the rhubarb is looking magnificent. We have spoken already about the potatoes. The pumpkin is having issues. While it is spreading, any nascent pumpkins have been spoiled by The Slug. We have sprayed it and put pellets down.
Weather note - warm, rainy, sunny, downpours, storms - usual English summer really
Good points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "great, now we know how to do X better"; courgettes; carrots; garlic; broccoli; strawberries; potatoes; shallots; nasturtiums
Bad points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "bugger, these (X) are nowhere near as good as last year"; peas; leaf roll virus; gaps appearing in beds with no back-up plan (e.g. bed 1).
So let the pickling begin!!
