Too hot to plot

There's not much to say about our activities last week on the plot. This is partly because we did very little and partly because what we did would be too boring to relate in any detail. The boring work is, however, essential and involves clearing away spent crops and preparing beds for their next occupants. The beds will need digging over but it was far too hot, with the temperature reaching 31.2C or just over 88F, to even contemplate anything so strenuous. I think the most strenuous job was that Martyn trimmed the apple hedge.

We managed a leisurely walk around and filmed a  tour of the plot  it's quite a long film but, the week before, Martyn also filmed a quicker birds' eye tour.

Another reason for absenting ourselves from the allotment was that we spent a couple of days in Norfolk. The first day we spent at Sandringham, the Queen's country estate.

Maybe our expectations had been too high, but in all honesty we were rather disappointed. Scaffolding shrouded half of the house so strategic photography was required. Even though summer is on the way out we'd expected the gardens would be more impressive. We managed some scenic shots but generally my camera was unusually underemployed.

I also hope that the sandwiches served at the garden parties are of higher quality than the overpriced ones sold in one of the tearooms. I think the makers had been fearful of running out of fillings too.

We didn't venture into the house - photography wasn't allowed in there and neither would have been, Martyn's backpack. Permitted dimensions for bags were given but, although we hadn't brought a tape measure with which to check, we guessed his bag would exceed the dimensions indicated. We did however, visit the small museum that housed many vehicles owned by various royals in the past.

One thing that struck us was the vast number of wood pigeons in residence. Everywhere we went the sound of their calls assaulted our gardeners' ears.  Maybe they weren't aware of the royals' fondness of shooting parties, or maybe pigeon pie isn't to royal taste.

The second day was spent at the North Norfolk Railways steam gala.

As well as some train rides we enjoyed a coastal walk and a chance to give our cameras a good workout.

No wood pigeons were observed but less raucous feathered friends were on hand to offer photo opportunities other that those provided by the steam exhaling iron beasts.

Last week we did manage some harvesting from the garden and the plot.

The garden greenhouse provided us with our largest tomato of the season. The tomato was an oxheart type called Albenga which was recommended by Roger Brook.

It's not the largest tomato that we have ever grown but was better looking than most large tomatoes.

Other tomatoes were also harvested but our total tomato harvest will be down this year, largely due to our compost problems having more or less wiped out three fifths of our allotment greenhouse tomatoes. Incidentally I have received a request from the compost company asking for a batch number from the suspect grow bags which has been provided.

The harvest boxes more or less speak for themselves, however one crop worthy of note is the Python climbing French beans which are giving Cobra a run for its money. Funny how both varieties are named after snakes. 

26 August

The sweet peas have been disappointing this year, however, I am still managing to pick a few to provide scent for the house. The gales really didn't suit them at all.

We decided to dig up a few carrots. Our carrots are never going to win any beauty competitions but they are tasty and that's what counts in our books.

The blueberries have just about come to an end now and the bushes will soon be sporting their beautiful autumn colouring. They have certainly earned their winter rest this year.

29 August

The All Gold raspberries have been stars which has been surprising given that I didn't get around to thinning out the canes and also that usually the berries are spoiled in wet and windy weather. This year, however the berries have been larger, unspoiled and just keep on coming. The photo above is missing a large punnet that was given to a plot neighbour.

1 September

On Sunday we picked a small Clapton cauliflower, hopefully the rest will come in a steady stream. That's maybe wishful thinking and in reality they will all be ready at the same time, a bit like the outdoor cucumbers are now in full production mode.

We picked our Tickled Pink apples which not only have a deep red skin but the flesh is red too.

Finally I'll leave you with some of the dahlias picked on Sunday The other half went to my sister. The dahlias have filled in the cut flower gap left by the sweet peas this year providing colour if not scent,

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

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.  I am getting lots of Anonymous spam comments which go straight into the spam folder and then deleted as there are far too many to check through so I'm afraid that if you comment anonymously this may happen to your comment.

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