The many jobs of June!

So many things to do.... so little time to blog.

At home I've been rescuing tomato plants which cooked whilst I was in Morocco and temperatures soared here. I've potted on about eight plants at home, with basil and marigolds and the rest are destined for the allotment. I lost my cucumber but sowed another.

At the allotment it would be easy to be overcome by the weeds and the all the other of jobs to do, especially being pregnant and knowing I really have to watch I don't overdo it. I have worked on one bed at a time and I seem to be making steady progress. I really want to get my paths covered as it is ridiculous to be continually weeding them, but they are always low priority.

So I have planted on the plot this weekend:- Calabrese Broccoli, Celeriac, Runner beans, Borlotti beans, Butternut Squash, Cucumber, Sunflowers and Peppers. Along with weeding, constructed the bean support, netted the fruit, put straw under the strawberries and prepared the tomato bed. Courgettes went in about a month ago now and are doing really good. The broad beans have come up fine not as tall as last year and the blackfly are worse also. I really think it is worth over-wintering them like I did last season. Note to self: -I will try to sow for over-wintering this November but the new arrival may make that a little tricky!! (and carrots for that matter.

“Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed. Robert H. Schuller

This is a bit of a religious quote for me but it grasps the potential of seeds. From one the possibility for life is endless. Springtime is seed time.

So what did I sow?

In the propagator:-

Tomatoes: Marmande, Cuor di Bue, Datterini.

Basil: Lettuce leaved and Bush

Marjoram, Dill, Parsley

Cayenne Chilli Pepper

Courgette: Alberello di Sarzana

Cucumber: Picolino

Leek: Pandora

At the allotment:-

Onions: Red Baron and Centurion

Broccoli: Raab

As I walked up to my plot I inhaled the sweet smell of the earth. I felt enlivened by it. I was very pleased to find that the broad beans were poking out of the ground with only a couple of duds, so there I popped in replacement beans. I was most upset to see my chitting potatoes devoured by a rodent though! An intruder in my shed no less. I'm thinking no chitting next time, I'll just get them in the ground. I have some Raab broccoli seed from a Grow your Own magazine last year and I thought I'd give it a go. It's a dwarf variety ready in 60 days, it will be interesting to see what it's like. I took my whole seed box with me thinking I'd get some other things in but I did lots of weeding and wondering but got nothing else sowed. I think the weather is going to be ok for Saturday but I did notice the first blistery pox of my boy's back tonight so I think I'll be playing nurse to my sweet boy and his chicken pox this weekend instead!

The best laid plans...

Plan version 3

Tomatoes precariously close to potato bed.

...often go awry. As you may know I love growveg.com. So here's my plan at the moment. I really wanted to clear the whole plot but I just don't have enough time at the moment; the rest of the plot is keeping me so busy with the watering and weeding etc. The weather is hot and the ground is very dusty which is not such a nice combination for full on digging. I hope that I shall get it done as the weather gets cooler later in the year. It was a decision that was made for me by the factors above. It was a sad decision to make as I wanted to clear it all now, but I have accepted that I should be proud of what I have achieved already.

Yesterday I had a delicious few hours to catch up with things at the plot. I planted twelve Roma tomato plants. I have read so much about potatoes and tomatoes not being planted together but I have so many tomato plants and no more prepared beds. They are in separate beds but adjacent to each other. I'm worried if blight appears on the plots this year it could easily spread to both.

I have sunk a plant pot beside each plant to aid watering. I also planted marigolds around the outside and some basil seedlings from home which I have protected with some little plastic bottle cloches. I have given them all a bamboo support, Roma is a bush variety so should only need a little support but I am being cautious as the wind can whizz across the plots.

At the end of my potato bed I have planted some courgettes. I planned to plant two, but as I was planting my little under-gardener delivered two more stripped of their pots so I felt obliged to pop them in too. As they should be planted 3' apart I think this will have to be addressed very soon and right now four are squeezed into a 4'x4' square. I may squeeze in three like my plan and put one in a planter.