allotment day

We're spending a couple of days at the allotment this week, catching up with the hundreds of little jobs that were ignored through the sunshine, because really, no one is supposed to work when it is sunny, are they?

This year has been amazing for flowers, berries and veg on our plot, and we are seeing so many bees at the moment (50% of growing space is covered with self seeded borage which may have something to do with the sheer numbers of bees - that borage gets everywhere) especially early in the morning on a sunny day.

It all looks pretty lovely - which is why I never take my camera...

Today I had a brain wave though, look, I've scanned in some beans to show you instead.  And I've scanned in a courgette too, which slightly messed up the focus.  So now you know what beans look llike, but are still non the wiser as to the look of our vast borage plantation.  Oh, well...

sunny allotment days

Currently growing at our allotment (unless they've been eaten by slugs/deer/pigeons/rabbits since we left today):

Peas ( a lot - can you overdose on peas in a pod?  We'll hopefully find out soon)
Mange tout
Borlotti beans
French beans (my faves)
Broad beans (no black fly yet)
Runner beans (from John, every year, they are a hundred years old these beans)
Onions
Shallots
Lettuces
Carrots (in three places, surely the rabbits aren't clever enough to find them all?)
Parsnips
Beetroot
Radishes (I always plant hundreds at once and most of them get too chewy - I've done it again this year)
Garlic
Potatoes
Salsify
Scorzonera
Raspberries
Gooseberries (these are getting eaten by small humans already - yuck and leave them alone, I want big ones)
Chard

and then there are the cucurbit family, fighting their way out of our bay window and soon to be planted if the weather stays good...

...today we also saw several frogs, a steam train and five hot air balloons, so all hobbies were catered for in full.

guess where I've been today...

...not too hard to guess on a sunny day in the middle of the growing season...

Today was a good picking day - lots of raspberries, although none made it home, radishes, salad, one giant onion, some herbs and the very first broad bean pod (although I probably should have waited a few days as they really were baby beans).

I also gave the gooseberries a good squeeze.

Maybe by Wednesday...