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A quick tour round the plot this weekend - when it was sunny, well, sort of for a while.

There are a selection of pics of the courgette and pumpkin and squash. I’m hoping that some of them will last this year. I have grown them on in pots this year and though it is a little late to plant the last of them out, I didn’t want to put all my plant in at once in case the rain destroyed them like last year.

The first few are of the beans, sweatpea and corn mix that I put together this year as I hoped they would help each other out in our increasingly wacky weather.

This last one is of the onions I planted earlier in the year. They have come along nicely and I may lift a few next week, but they are fine in the soil for the present and wont be harmed by being left there.

Yesterday I decided I wanted to sort out my hanging baskets. It is getting late for some people, a neighbour has had theirs out for three weeks now! Still, they bought theirs and I am making mine up myself.

This weekend was a complete washout. High winds and rain stopped play for the most part. You can see this on the following video. I went to put the canes in for the beans - if not to put the beans in themselves.

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I did manage to get out of the car and put some of the canes up, but then the heavens opened and I was relegated to the car in the hope it would stop.
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Here is a sequence of pictures of me planting the parsnips last weekend. It’s good to get them in and plant things at the plot

I was going to take some video of the plot today, but unfortunately I forgot to take the memory card for the recorder. Oooops! So, you’ll just have to do with stills of my sprouts:

They are still small, but I have fully netted them this year as there seems to be a lot of birds round that are hungry.

I also put the cabbages in and gave them collars and slug pellets as there seems to be a lot of the little blighters around:

While I was there I also put in some parsnips, but I haven’t got time to post the pics now. I will show you tomorrow.

They say there will be a frost tonight. I hope not for the sake of all the people who put out their delicate seedlings today. I wanted to tell them it was too early, but, I’m not sure they would listen to little old me.

This is my recent acquisition - a blackcurrant bush.

I realise it is only one, but at the moment I don’t want a plot full of one variety of fruit, so I have it mixed with raspberry and others at the fruit end of the plot.

Someone was asking about Borage and composting the other day. Well, yes you can compost Borage leaves. They act much like Comfrey and speed up the process and help make a lovely loam.

If you want to eat the leaves then they seem to have a cucumber-like flavour which is nice in salads. Some - if you have seen this summers adverts for Pimms O’clock’ - like to put it in drinks, though I don’t see why you should waste the leaves this way.

The blue flowers are more showy than Comfrey and attract bees and butterflies. to your garden.

If you want to grow Borage, then you are best served by sowing directly in pots or seed trays in good seed compost. Keep them out of strong sun light until they have germinated and produced true leaves. Then plant out or pot on when seedlings are large enough to handle.

I had to plant out the swede today as they had been sitting in the tray for ages. They haven’t grown in the peat pots, so it was going in or being thrown away. I had to net them as well, as the birds will eat them as soon as look at them.

The ground was really soft from all the rain, so it was easy to put the plants in. I also put some some of my own compost on and put pellets around them so the slugs would DIE!

Now for some facts.

Larger than the turnip and with a rough skin that is partly tan and partly purple, the swede’s unpolished appearance hides a fine texture and distinctive, sweet tasting flesh.

The swede comes from central Europe and was an important European crop by the 18th century. During the nineteenth century it reached the USA (where it is known as rutabaga - check out your Branston pickle jar) and then Canada.

It’s a hardy plant that is frost-tolerant and thrives in moist soil. So should be fine for the allotment at the moment.

Swede has a good mineral content and is low in saturated fat. It also provides some fibre and vitamins A and C. Lovely.

Cauliflower is a cool-season vegetable and is more difficult to grow than other members of the cabbage family, so I am hoping that my not so good season so far will come good for this.

You should space plants 18 to 24 inches apart. The main problem they face is the any extreme changes in the weather like cold, heat, drought can stunt development of the edible portion. Cauliflower needs an ample supply of soil moisture to grow. You can also give it some nitrogen fertilizer when the plants are half grown, but I try to be organic as much as possible.

When the head begins to form it is ready to what they call ‘blanch’. You have to tie the outer leaves together over the centre of the plant to protect the head from sunburn and to keep it from turning green and developing an off-flavour.

What to watch out for? Well, cabbage worms and black rot are the worst. Also if growth is interrupted, the heads may not develop or may develop poorly.

I planted some marigolds today. I put these in-between the cabbages to reduce the possibility of cabbage fly.

I also put the cucumbers out. They look so small at the moment. I’m so excited, I’ve never grown them before and they look so sweet when they are small. I’m hoping for a bumper crop.

I planted out some leeks today. I had grown these in a tray and had planted far too many as usual - though with the weather playing up this year, it is good to have some in reserve.

Here you can see that I have given them plenty of room, not that they need it of course - they really need deep soil. Ideally space them about 6″ apart. Also you will note that you are not supposed to close the hole up around the leek. This is so that it has room to grow without having to push away the soil. As I said in the video, birds don’t like them so wont pull them out and slugs are not partial either - good!

Good soil is key to growing leeks as they need nutrient rich, well-drained soil (mmm! sounds familiar) with a pH between 6 & 7. They like a crumbly loam - hence the roto-vating. But, they do OK in almost any soil as long as you aerated it well.

I planted out my corn last weekend over the bank holiday. As you can see it was reasonably well grown and frankly didn’t need to spend more time indoors.

However, the day after I put it out, the heavens opened and it rained for 48 hours straight. I’m going back this weekend to see how they have done. I’ve not had the time in between. However, the soil is very moist so everything should be OK. Will let you know.

The best way to grow corn is to choose a site that gets full sun and a soil with pH 6-6.8. Corn needs soil that’s both rich, moisture-retentive and well-draining. So dig in some compost and if you’ve got it some manure.

Make sure plants get at least an 4cm of water a week, but never from above - it can wash away pollen.

If you wish you can feed plants with organic fertilizer three times: when they reach 25cm, then 52cm, and when tassels appear.

Remember though that corn is a big consumer of nitrogen and phosphorus. If you find that your leaves are yellowing, it’s a sign of nitrogen deficiency - spray with manure ‘tea’ or fish emulsion (obviously not the latter if you are a vegetarian).

You can then pick the corn husks when the silks are dry and brown but still supple. For most varieties, that will be about 20 days after the silks appear.

Happy corn on the cob……….

By the way, it can take 90 days to grow, so make sure you have the quick growing varieties like ‘Precocious’.