British Summer Time is here..

It's raining! Again!

I almost went with the title 'Rain stop's play' but I must have used that over a dozen times since I re-started blogging last year.

I was up the allotment for a very short time today, whilst Amy had a phone interview for a new job in fact. I was going to stay for a bit longer but then the pitter patter of rain droplets started hitting both me and the ground, so I knew it was time to go.

Despite the rain, I did manage to sow a few more rows of dwarf french beans. I had spoken to a couple of allotment holders and they were having a nightmare getting them to germinate this year. The site's 'Allotment of the Year' holder even had a mere 7 beans germinate out of a whole packets worth he had sown. Knowing this I sowed very generously, and guess what! It looks like they've just about all come up! Typical! However, I do find that if your soil has enough nutrients in then you can sow them very closely together and still get a good crop from them.

You can see the two current rows of dwarf french beans from the last sowing. Then from the row of beans to the wooden plank is another 3 rows. Hopefully this will give us a large quantity of beans but in two harvests rather than all at once. Although they do freeze well, it is a real treat to have them fresh.

I did gloat yesterday about my cabbages, which are really flying. I can only see one allotment holder on the whole site who is having as much luck as me. I didn't realise until I published yesterday's blog entry that I hadn't posted a picture of the cabbages. So lucky you, here is a sneak peak...



Looking good aren't they! It is quite apt that I did say to Amy that if the brassicas didn't grow well this year then I wouldn't try again. So that means they will grow again so that I plant some next year and they won't be anywhere near as good! Watch this space.

I'm trying to catch up with all of the blogs I follow. This is a great time of year to be in the garden, rain or shine!

I am also giddy with excitement like a child at Christmas with the prospect of going to Gardener's World Live on Friday. I can't wait!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Martin