Episode two - On the Plot.

Episode 2 in my allotment soap features the area of our plot that house both the greenhouse and the shed. The shed has earned its keep this year and provided us with a refuge during the frequent downpours. Note the patchwork patio!

Wrapping round the shed a chicken wire 'fence' supports the tayberry which would have provided us with lots of berries had the constant rain not only spoiled many but prevented us from getting to the plot frequently enough to pick them quickly after they had ripened.

At the back of the shed, alongside the tayberry is a grapevine. The intention is to train this along two sides of the shed but we haven't managed to get round to this yet. I haven't noticed any fruit buds although a second vine planted elsewhere on the plot does have some baby fruits - which I guess will stay baby sized!

The tomatoes in the greenhouse are beginning to set one or two fruits - the plants look healthy enough but there hasn't been a whole lot of flowering going on.

At least we haven't had to worry about watering them too regularly.

Much of this area of the plot is given over to fruit. There are a couple of cranberries in tubs outside the greenhouse - one has set fruit and the other is beginning to produce a few flowers - very weird as they are the same variety and only a greenhouse door width apart!

The bed nearest to the shed contains four blueberries - the berries ripen at slightly different times - the first bush has fruit beginning to turn. The trouble is that the fruit is ready a few berries at a time which if left to fully ripen will fall victim to birds. We can't net the entire plot and so I pick the berries slightly under-ripe as I find they ripen quickly off the bush and the flavour doesn't appear to be affected.

Behind The blueberry bed are three pear trees which in spite of setting fruit now don't have a single pear to their name! This bed is planted up with annual flowers which should be creating a bit of colour by now but are failing miserably.

Beyond the pear trees are a couple of beds containing rhubarb, gooseberries, whitecurrants, jostaberries, alpine strawberries and a Glencoe raspberry. Whilst most of these fruits are providing a harvest - the jostaberry at first glance is fruitless. Maybe there are some fruits camouflaged amongst the leaves that will show themselves once they ripen but I doubt it.

The next bed contains the broad beans which after a poor start are doing well. Even the plants that looked pathetic when first planted have rallied and are providing a crop. Martyn was ready to rip them out but I pleaded a second chance for them and they have repaid my confidence in them. Alongside the beans is the onion and the shallot bed. The onions seem to be picking up a little but that may just be wishful thinking.

To provide a boundary - we're not allowed fences - we have planted a shrub and perennial bed along the edge of this part of the plot.

As you can see this area is in desparate need of weeding but at the moment we are concentrating on weeding beds planted with edibles.

Level with the onion bed is a bed of potatoes although to look at it you would never know. For some reason these never really got going and they haven't really produced much of a crop.

The bed alongside the broad bean is a brassica bed in which the slugs and snails have had a field day. It is netted against butterflies and birds but the slimy intruders don't respect netting. It had also become very weedy which was providing an ideal sluggy environment. This has now been weeded and the slimy, squatters - that I came across, have been evicted. We will just have to see whether the lacy brassicas produce anything edible.

The bed alongside the brassicas contains an apple and a jostaberry but is in desperate need of reclaiming from the weeds! (Tanya please note!)

Next comes the inherited apple hedge. Although lots of apples have set these don't seem to be growing. Behind the apple hedge are some young apple trees which also have slowly developing fruits.

Alongside the apples the redcurrants are protected under a makeshift fruit cage. We have harvested quite a lot of fruit from these bushes and will soon let the blackbirds and thrushes in so they can take their share.

Finally in this section is our large rhubarb bed. The sprig growing behind the greenhouse is a plum sucker or self sown plum tree that needs dealing with.

I did take far more photos and so if you still want to see more - well done for sticking with me so far - then browse the album below!

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