The allotment is all slugs snails and weeds growing like mad after all the rain. Fortunately most things have survived and some are doing very well. Courgettes, corn, climbing french beans, broccoli,  pumpkins, leeks and kale are all in and look as if they have taken. Lettuces growing like mad, Little Gem are a bit nibbled at the edges, but the Multi green and Multi red are relatively unscathed.
The pumpkins are grown from seeds originally taken from a pumpkin (from more tropical climes)  bought in Ridley Road market (Hackney) which has a firmer flesh than those I have grown from bought seed. This is now the third year growing these, and we have managed to keep them through winter, either stored in a sunny room, or frozen, to give us a regular supply of pumpkin flesh.

The strawberries in the allotment are thriving, but I have plants in a 'tower' which are not nearly as good, despite regular watering and feed. This looks like an idea that seemed good at the time but just does not work. Next year I will have a redesigned strawberry bed better protected against the wildlife.

The broad beans are now cropping and we have had 2 weeks meals so far with more to come. I have stopped cutting the asparagus and given it a good feed. It looks a bit patchy this year and I wonder if this bed is coming to an end, it is about 20 years old after all!

Its pruning time for the fruit trees, all of which have put on more growth this year than I ever remember. The pear in particular is shooting away.

At last sunshine and good weather. For the first time this year the allotment is full of allotmenteers (and their children). It is such a good sign to see these children growing up getting used to the idea of producing their own food. Their parents are much better than I was at involving their children.Our bee keeper is here tending to the bees. He tells me they are not pleased to see him after a short time away, not being used to him. The bees have had a bit of a rough time with the temperatures shooting up and down. Hopefully they have coped with the aid of all the blossom around them.

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The children get a honeycomb to 

eat 

After all the rain everything looks beautifully green and we are all keen to get more plants into the soil.

On my plot the salads and brassicas seem to have stopped growing, although broad beans look the best ever and asparagus continues to produce.
                                                 

                                                lunch




planning meeting on site                                                                                             


                                                 


Our neighbours are upset because we have had a large pile of compost delivered , and it does smell a bit, although there is disagreement among plot holders as to how much and how much a problem it is. I suspect that it will disappear quite quickly, but this is unlikely to appease the more discerning inhabitants in the surrounding houses.

                                                                    

No-one could escape the irony of a drought with so much rain. The allotment soil is sodden and impossible to work with. The sweet peas have suffered quite a set back with the cold weather, but the rest of the plants seem to be coping with  the weather and some are flourishing. The fruit trees are galloping away and the lettuce, and broad beans are growing fast.

Planting the broad beans in
January has worked well,
 I don't think I have lost
any and they are flowering
well.

I am keeping an eye open for black fly before I nip the tops off. Strawberries now flowering well. I have them both in the allotment and in a strawberry tower in the garden. Not sure this tower will be the way to go for the long term.

I have hung up a plum moth trap in the plum trees, last year about a quarter of the fruit were spoiled by this pest., so look forward to a completely free crop this year.

Some pictures from the garden for April May

through the kitchen window

Clematis Montana and a self seeded biennial whose name I forget

Clematis Pink Champagne (a bit tattered by the rain)

There a great moment every year when the harvest starts coming in, and it was today this year. Asparagus, rhubarb and broccoli all ready to be picked, we had our first asparagus meal straight after picking, and the taste was wonderful.

The cherry tree is flowering all over for the first time.
 A ballerina cherry, planted two years ago.
 Hopefully I am going to have to build a cage to keep the birds out.

Leek seedlings have gone in, Atlanta, the plan is
that these will be picked during the year for seasoning, more seeds are now sprouting for the winter crop. This week the first sweetcorn seeds sown Early Extra Sweet and kale for the winter, Scarlet and Redbor.

Bright sunshine this Easter Bank Holiday Friday, and the forecast is rain later on, so its on to the allotment. The whole site is covered by blossom, and in the gardens surrounding the site. It is amazing how spring blossom there is in this inner city area, and definitely a change over the years I have lived here, the Council has taken care to plant flowering trees in the streets, and the residents have filled their front gardens with blossom trees, looks fantastic. Around our streets in the London Fields area, Magnolias of all sorts predominate.
Just outside the allotment site the Tree Musketeers have planted a small orchard, and this year we should start to see the fruits of their labours (sorry). Earlier this week there was a memorial planting of an apple tree to one of the founder members of the Hackney Allotment Society, Chris Waller, who died late last year. His plot was famous for the enormous amounts of manure he managed to haul on to it, raised its level several inches above everyone else, and of course gained wonderful fertility.
Apart for putting in beetroot (Boltardy) lettuce (Multired and Multigreen) and sweet pea seedlings and sowing salads for succession, its seed planting time in the greenhouse, small amounts to make sure there is a succession of crops, climbing french beans Cobra, a favourite and much tastier than runner beans, Helda, and I am trying Neckar Gold this year, Broccoli Purple Sprouting and more beetroot and salads.
The stepover apples are just coming out into flower, it looks as if there will be apples on all trees this year, despite the good crop last year. The bees are out in the sun, and I see that our resident beehives have increased to three.

Wonderful weather for the end of March, cannot help feeling this is very bad news in the long term. The plums are flowering. I have two ballerina type plums, one on which was badly affected by plum moth last year, so it will be out with pheromone traps in May. The broccoli are still producing well, and still sweet and tasty. More sweet peas are in, and more coming up in the greenhouse. I will see if if succession sowing is worth it, or if I will get vast amounts of flowers all at once as usual.

The soil is warming up, the weeds are sprouting and I have been taking this opportunity to hoe them as they come up. I am trying very hard to keep them down in the asparagus bed this year, there were too many mixed up with the mature asparagus last year. The beans are growing well with no losses so far, which indicates the January sowing might be the best for my allotment.

Beetroot Boltardy, french bean Cobra, sweet peas and lettuce Little Gem sown in the greenhouse for transplanting later on to the plot. I try to get a succession of beans and beetroot, and last year succeeded well into late summer for both. The biggest problem was finding space in the crowded plot for new seedlings later in the year.

Cannot resist putting in photos of the camellia from the front of the house which is the best ever.

No action on the allotment for the last few weeks, either because of the snow or because of the wet, so down to Columbia Road Market in Bethnal Green for a look around and a coffee and bagel. This picture shows the ratio of snooping to coffee and bagel.
At last last weekend, the sun shone and it is time to get back to the soil. Most of the broad beans have gone in, with suitable protection from the squirrels. The daffodils are starting to come through, but less than previous years. I am not sure if this because they are getting too tired, or set back by the weather. The broccoli is sprouting well, and went from plot to pot within an hour. Gardening Which have sent more seeds to trial, a chili and sweet peas, and these have been sown in the greenhouse.

These are from Benington Lordship Gardens, Hertfordshire, which is well known for its display of snowdrops and for growing different snowdrop forms www.beningtonlordship.co.uk .

The first daffodil of this years crop, although I don't think there will be many more just yet, as all the other daffodils seem to have heard the weather forecast and are only just poking their heads above the soil. The first broccoli as well, the winter drought  of produce is over. The plants look healthy (Rudolph) and ready to produce.





Not sure that the urine is doing the trick with the foxes, no digging as yet, but paw prints all over the newly spread compost.
Today was a day of repairs on the allotment, fixing the paths, some of which have become positively dangerous. As we are on a slope there is a constant slide downhill and into the neighbours plot. I am trying two sowings of leeks this year, an early one for autumn picking of slim leeks, and a later sowing to keep over winter. Atlanta went in today.

OK , so there is not much going on in the allotment, but loads going on in the rugby pitch next door.First hard frosts, pruning and repairing the paths, and then back indoors to the warmth. Broad beans sown in the greenhouse (Witkiem Manita as recommended by 'Gardening Which). I usually sow them in November, but they get so battered by the weather I am trying a bit later. Hopefully early enough to beat the black fly.

There's apothecary based in a narrow boat on the Lee, anything good for back ache?

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Orchids on the allotment? Nope, this is growing in the Singapore Botanical garden. Just to cheer up a grey winters day.

New Years Day

I didn't think I would be on the allotment on New Years Day in my shirtsleeves, but this is how it has been. One of the pleasures of biking to the allotment is cycling along the River Lee and seeing the wildlife. This time there were two cormorants fishing, here is one drying off, with an unconcerned Mallard taking no notice of the showing off.

I have not been on the allotment for a month, and , of course, when I get there there is plenty to do clearing up and maintenance. First job is to get as much compost on to the soil as possible, starting with the asparagus bed. Some time recently a fox has dug a hole in the bed, which is sacrilege. I hear urine is an answer to keeping them away, will take jam jar!!

I have ordered next years seeds. I am trying two yellow versions, courgette Sunstripe and climbing bean Neckar Gold. I think the taste is likely to be sweeter, but the plants are not as vigorous, so we will see.

Not sure if my neighbours scarecrow scares birds, but every now and then I see it from the corner of my eye and it certainly makes me jump.

The Tree Musketeers are a Hackney group who plant trees all over the place and look after them after planting. They have planted a Sweet Chestnut just outside the allotment. 

My guess is the squirrels will get first go at the chestnuts