What else can the weather throw our way?

We had a couple of days out last week and so much of our allotment time was spent clocking up more watering can miles.

On one visit we decided that the early brassica bed would benefit from a little weeding. Planting through weed control fabric doesn't eliminate weeds completely. Weeds still manage to sneak alongside plants and push through the planting holes. Also annual weed seeds will germinate in the mulch which we use to cover the fabric. It does cut down weed growth very significantly though. This was the first time we have weeded the brassicas since planting on 22 April and it didn't take very long. Weeds growing in the mulch are quickly removed and we also managed to harvest a handful of small potatoes courtesy of the volunteer plants that had sprouted from tubers that were missed last year. Isn't it amazing how we carefully avoid planting potatoes until conditions are favourable and yet volunteers that have withstood all that the winter throws at them survive and grow?

Our leek plantlets were very small and grasslike but had to be planted in one of the only beds that was still plantable. They did't stand up proud for long as you will find out later.

The second lot of peas were given supports.

Despite the first lot of broad beans failing to grow strongly we should soon have some beans to harvest.

One job that will need to be tackled shortly is the netting of the blueberries, The plants have lots of fruit and at the first sign of ripening the blackbirds will move in. They are already patrolling the raspberries which we don't net as usually there is plenty to share. The blueberries however, like redcurrants are quickly stripped bare.

You may remember that I needed some lavenders to plug the gaps in the lavender hedging that I am trying to renovate. I have taken some cuttings but Martyn spotted a good offer from DT Browns for 30 young plants and as he had decided to order some new strawberry plants from the same place, he added a pack to the order.

The plants are a good size with a strong root system so we are very pleased with them. The strawberries - Sweetheart - were advertised as producing fruit in August but when we opened the package, the plants already had some fruit. Initially they have been planted in a couple of planting bags.

So to this year's challenging weather. We started the year with the wettest January since Martyn started keeping records in 2009. It was also very cold. February was very cold and snowy with many days recording freezing temperatures. Snow fell in March and like January it was the wettest Match that Martyn had recorded. April produced double the expected rainfall. May contrarily was very dry and the temperatures shot up to bake the saturated soil.

So far June has produced a mixed bag of weather with last Thursday treating us to the ravages of storm Hector. Gale force winds are always a major problem when they whip up at this time of the year. Last year wind flattened the sweetcorn only the day after it was planted and this year although it spared the sweetcorn the young leeks were flattened. Whether they emulate last year's sweetcorn and survive is anybody's guess.

Covers were whipped off the brassicas but, knowing that the wood pigeons would swoop down and devastate the greens, our plot neighbour, Jan recovered them for us.

We were too busy sorting things out to take photos of the aftermath of the gales but Martyn describes it in the video below

On Saturday I wanted to plant out some half hardy annuals in order to plug some gaps in the perennial border. It was when I was half way through the task that the sky darkened, the thunder rumbled and the often forecast storm that kept avoiding us deciding that our turn had come. Our gardening activities were cut short and we rushed for shelter in the shed. The storm didn't last long but at least it fulfilled the watering duties for us and once it had calmed down we set off home.

Martyn managed to pick a couple of punnets of strawberries before the heavens opened

On Sunday I finished planting cosmos, ageratum and statice.

Before we headed home we also harvested our first head of calabrese.

As for Monday, it has started off with strong winds again.

Just what else is the weather god going to throw our way?

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett