19 Jul - Squashes, Onions & Wine

A quick round-up on the plot as it's sort of mid-July. First in the greenhouse. The tomatoes are just coming on stream with the first few proper sized 'Alicante' picked this week though I did have a few cherry 'Gardener's Delight' at the end of last week. I've taken a load of lower leaves from the plants to help with ripening. The 'Californian Wonder' sweet peppers are developing well; a fair number can be seen per plant along with more flowers which will hopefully produce more peppers. The Cucamelons are forming; I'm still not sure whether they are worth the effort or not but I can definitely see a couple now. (Below - cucamelon forming).

The onions looked a bit small a few weeks back but they are bulking up nicely now. The thunderstorm that brought heavy rain with it last night will no doubt add a few more grams to the Sturon onions before they start 'going over' next month. I noticed that the tips of the thick green leaves are just turning yellow so they are right on time.

The parsnips and carrots have put on good top growth; this doesn't guarantee anything below of course but, as I've used a bar as part of the sowing process (see 11 Apr 2014 post) and I'm hoping for my best carrots ever - this shouldn't be too difficult as my carrots have been tragic in the past.

The squashes are forming well and I've been doing a bit of hand pollinating every time I go to the plot just to help things along a bit. The Sweet Dumpling have now taken over their allocated space and I have a number of squashes already well formed - this gives me hope of a decent crop by the Autumn. The Hunter F1 plants have been slower to develop so are smaller than the Sweet Dumpling, nevertheless there are fruits developing on these too. (Below - Sweet Dumpling forming).

Occasionally I remember that I have two pumpkins, Jack O'Lantern, planted on the far edge of my plot. Despite the fact that I tend to miss them out in routine inspections, watering and feeding, they are doing OK. There are a few small fruits forming with one decent sized pumpkin that has already required a tile underneath - I'm hoping this will become a prize specimen by Halloween. (Below - Jack O'Lantern pumpkin that's looking good already).

I've hand quite a few handfuls of 'Cobra' French beans already despite most of them not even making it to the top of their canes yet. The runner beans 'Scarlet Emperor' have really 'bushed' out and are well beyond the top of their canes - I've only had a single handful of early beans but the vines are covered in flowers so I've my fingers crossed for a steady supply both for eating fresh and for the freezer.

Needless to say that the courgettes have gone mad - the plants are massive and I've got to pick fruit everyday or I'll end up with marrows. There's a fair few jars of lovely blackcurrant jam already in the fridge and five gallons of gooseberry wine fermenting away in demi-johns. I've just put on another five gallons of nettle and fennel wine - there will be more wine-making in the coming weeks when the top fruit and blackberries are ripe.

The last word for this post is that my 'rescue' hens will be arriving early in August - everything is in place for them though I'm slightly nervous as I've never had poultry before. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to having a few hens on the allotment, fingers-crossed they will settle in and will have a happy time with me and my family.

That's it, until next time, bye for now - I'll leave you with a piccy of the plot in mid-July.