Flaming June?

The phrase 'Flaming June' has a very different meaning this year. We wanted some rain but really things have gone too far. The tap has been turned on and we now need the celestial plumber to turn it off. I guess it's a case of 'Be careful what you wish for'.

We seem to have settled into a frustrating pattern of having our allotment visits cut short by rain and the need to come home to dry out clothing.

Not only is it wet but the temperatures are low especially overnight and some of our plants, such as climbing beans and the squash family, just don't like that at all. Although at present they are hanging on to life, they are miserable and refusing to grow. Who can blame them? Saturday night we even had fog and fireworks. I could easily have imagined we had somehow slipped into November. We are creeping towards the longest hours of daylight but you wouldn't know it and we are missing out on the advantage that brings.

We managed a few cut short afternoons on the allotment. On Monday, I hurriedly managed to plant more brassicas, (cabbage - Kilaton and Brussels sprouts - Crispus), before the rain had us rushing to cover them with enviromesh. Any uncovered greens would be too much of a temptation to the army of wood pigeons that patrol our site. 

At least the brassicas should enjoy the current weather conditions as also the potatoes seem to be doing. This year the potato foliage is lush and vigorous unlike last year. The early potatoes are flowering so we will soon, no doubt, be inspecting below ground hoping that the healthy top growth isn't just a tease.

As I've mentioned previously we planted some Casablanca potatoes in crates and on Saturday we decided to see what type of harvest they had produced. We planted two tubers to each crate. We emptied two crates and harvested these potatoes.

The ones in the container were from one crate and the rest from the other. As you can see the harvest produced from each was very different. It was expected as the top growth in one crate was poor. On tipping out the compost we found that the compost in that container was very wet even though it hag received the same amount of watering. Probably something was preventing drainage. Happily a third container looks fine.

Martyn made a video of the reveal here.

The containers have been reused. We sowed some swede seeds in one and parsnip seeds in the other. Parsnip germination has been poor this year which is disappointing after last year's 100% germination. I've resown seed into the gaps but really it's rather late for sowing. Still it's always worth a try.

You may remember that, a few weeks ago, we were concerned about our Jazzy potatoes but I am now pleased to report that they have rallied and now look much healthier.

Now, some of our onions are not growing well.

We really don't know why this is. The plants in the block at the end of the row are fine but many of the others look weedy and sickly. We have another bed with healthy looking plants but I decided to plant our left over onion sets. I know it's late and they may not produce anything but we've nothing to lose by giving it a go. I've sown some sweet Williams in the same bed.

On Saturday, I planted out the left over tomatoes.

These went in the area protected by the mesh covered cold frame. They won't enjoy the weather conditions but they couldn't stay in pots any longer. I planted, Roma, Sungold, Rosella, Shirley and Albenga. They won't grow as well as the plants protected in the greenhouse and are at a greater risk from blight but we usually find that it's worth taking a chance.

On Sunday afternoon I planted our second batch of sweet corn, this time the variety was Earliking. They have been planted well away from the first lot to avoid any cross pollination problems. As these plants are wind pollinated they are planted in a block rather than a long row. This is a more effective formation for pollination but I generally give the wind a helping hand. Once the pollen is flowing I brush the stems with my hand to shake the pollen from the male flowers at the top of the plants onto the female flowers lower down the stem.

Whilst I was busy planting, Martyn strimmed all the grass which is thriving in these cool, wet conditions. He also managed to dig over the old strawberry bed  which had been softened a little by the rain. It's not at the planting stage yet, but we may get there this year. At one point we thought that this was unlikely.

The new strawberry bed is providing us with small helpings of berries. We're not expecting too much from the plants this year,

In between heavy showers, I also managed to cut back the grapevine that grows alongside our shed and 'patio' area.

As usual we are regularly picking salad leaves and herbs from the garden. I usually overlook the mint so I decided to take a photo of this small bunch before it was chopped and added to a Thai Turkey Stir Fry.

The cool, wet weather is suiting the rhubarb which, at this stage in the year, is often stopping production.

15 June

Those large leaves come in handy in a downpour when packing up to head home.

Our main harvesting session, last week  was on Sunday. The calabrese - Aquiles - is now producing heads so we made the most of this and cut two heads last week

16 June

On Sunday we cut our first Regency cabbage which is destines for more coleslaw and another small helping of strawberries.

We also harvested the second of two Aquiles calabreses that were ready last week.

For this week's posy of flowers , some self sown candytuft, some self sown borage and a couple of Jaqueline du Pre rosebuds were added to the cornflowers.

If you are interested, Martyn filmed a walk around our plot which is posted on our vlog here.

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

By the way, thanks to those who responded to my invitation to make a comment. I appreciate you taking the trouble to say hello. I know I get lots of visitors who never comment and I'd love to know who you are - unlike the annoying spammers who can't seem to grasp that their comments go straight into my spam folder and never see the light of day.

You don't have to have your own blog in order to join in conversations. It may seem that everyone who comments knows one another but bloggers always welcome new commenters, after all that is how we all started.

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