The Allotted Month - July 2007

Seed time finished on 24 May and now planting out time has finished with the Musselburgh leeks.
Payback time is in full swing with potatoes, calabrese, peas and courgettes being harvested.

In section A the failure of the carrots is a big disappointment. Next year I'll use a different
method for the home made seed tapes. But the peas are cropping abundantly.
This year I tried the taller growing Alderman but won't grow it again.
The crop is good but by the middle of the month the plants had reached the
top of the eight foot canes so now they can scramble as best they can.
They were also more prone to my old pea problem - deformed growing tips
on some plants and a consequent failure to crop. It's probably thrips but
organic pest control had no effect. By contrast the Hurst Green Shaft were
only half way up the canes and cropping well with two pods on each spur in
contrast to Alderman's one. The Kelvedon Wonder have not been wonderful.
Growing peas as single stem cordons is a bit more work but harvesting
is easy as all the spurs stick out from the stems so that none are lost
in foliage when picking. There are typically up to eleven peas in each
pod so that shelling is easier. The onions are bulking up well but,
as usual, some of the Red Baron have bolted. The heads have been cut
off and the affected onions can be identified for early use by their
thick necks. No such problem with the Setton onions and the Golden Gourmet
shallots are good. For some reason the garlic is poor.

The 'catch crop' of first early potatoes in section B have all been lifted and
their space taken by the leeks with Crimson Clover green manure sown between the rows.
The potato crop was particularly good especially the variety Concorde with
37 pounds from eight tubers in contrast with what the books say as ten pounds.
There were probably three factors, the variety itself, plenty of rain
and the application of 'Rockdust' before planting.

Wet weather favours the slugs and snails, particularly in section
C where some Angela swedes have been eaten down to bare stems.
It looks like we won't be having many winter neeps. The club root resistant
Kilaxy cabbages are not doing as well as the tried and tested Minicole
which will be ready next month and then stand for another two months without splitting.
The other brassicas are progressing, the wire mesh pigeon cloches have been
removed as the plants have outgrown them. The pigeons still have a nibble
especially at the calabrese.

Lots of rain is good for potato growth but also good for an attack of blight.
By the middle of the month the potatoes in section C were showing the
tell tale brown blotches on the leaves. To prevent the spores from washing
down the stems to infect the tubers, all the shaws have been cut off and
all the foliage removed for later burning. This will almost certainly reduce
the yield but is better than having infected tubers that go rotten in store.
If the first earlies are anything to go by we'll still have enough to last us
until next year's crop.

We're off for a short break so the plot will have to look after itself till next month.
Then selective harvesting of onions, celery, beetroot, sweet corn, cabbages and cauliflower
starts and we're into the 'summer glut', becoming almost vegetarian but
still can't keep up with the output.