First visitors past the plot were Secretary Haydn & Treasurer Mike – Haydn wanted a word with Jane (who came along later) with regard to school visits, & to let her know that he wants to go & see the headmistress in order to get future visits on a more official footing, given that the teacher who has organised the two trip so far is leaving at the end of term.
Whilst I was weeding the plotD (legumes) neighbour Ted arrived & I picked his brains with regard to when to pull up the onions which are now all flopping over. He said that we have the option of leaving them in situ & pulling them as we need them – mind you, I think that I’d prefer to have them out of the ground & drying off.He left me to think that one over, & Jane arrived for an hour’s weeding & chatting & she went off with a LETTUCE (cos) & some freshly dug POTATOES (lady cristl). The lettuce are completely fabulous, but despite my best intentions are still all ready together – with the little gem starting to bolt before they can all be eaten, I can’t keep up despite giving them away to family & friends.
I even palmed one off to new allotment holder Ian-from-the-bottom who has taken jungly plot 1B – I went down and had a good nose round & suggested that borrowed the strimmer to beat it into some sort of order. He might be new, but his squash are well ahead of ours.Back at our plot, I spent some time with the secateurs chopping off anything on the tatty BROAD BEANS which looked to be without beans or overwhelmed with blackfly, & then I picked a bagful to take home. There were plenty enough for a portion to give to Ian-from-the-bottom, as well as for my neighbour & for mum too. The broad bean plants are so tatty & all over the place – I need to find a better way of keeping them tidy next year!
I was picking a portion of PEAS (pilot) as Jason (behind retired Maureen) came past & he had a chat & a look round. He said that he doesn’t put his peas in until May in order to avoid the pea & bean moth which strikes in May & June. I don’t think that I’ve had a problem with this, but at least I know what to do about it if I do.
I dug up a potato & a row of ONIONS to add to the peas & beans (along with a GARLIC bulb which had somehow sneaked into the onion row) & was just packing up when Ian-from-the-bottom came back with five marigold plants he had left over – so I planted them at the front of the plot and finished just as the heavens opened…
Your onions are bigger than mine! Mine are no-where near ready to fall over and look much smaller. My shallots this year are a disgrace. They stopped growing several weeks ago, have dried off and are MINUTE! I think it must have been lack of water in spring. I'm still going to eat 'em though!
ReplyDeleteYour peas look good too.
I think my onions are bigger than everyones! When I dug the rest up I'll post a pic against a ruler or something.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased with them, but I'm not sure how they'll store, as they seem pretty variable in quality - some have thicker necks, and some look to have split as they've grown.