I went to have an overall check and to pick gooseberries, but did not manage to do much: there was a new rat trapped in the cage, and all my energies were drained by planning for disposal.

One useful thing I did though: as shallots grow in a bunch around the set you plant, they tend not to grow too big. So I tried pulling out a couple to make more space for the others to develop. I have also picked a couple of mono-clove garlic heads, not clear how they came to be.

The leek flowers are quite spectacular now that they are all in flower, purple spheres on their tall stems… and bumblebees seem to love them!

Should have been in Switzerland for work but I had to cancel so I found myself with half a day of the weekend free for the allotment, perfect to catch up, and blimey there were things to do: where to start?

Maybe with the fascinating purple mangetout that are in season now, or the carrot seedlings timidly emerging, that I covered with fine netting.

Overall I spent the whole afternoon digging, weeding, picking, sowing, transplanting. It felt really good, it was such a long time since I managed to go at the weekend, and it did not feel like a was on duty but leisurely as it shoud be. I got knackered nonetheless.

I have now two beds cleared and ready for brassicas, and sowed it all over again: kohl rabi, cabbage, cavolo nero, caulifower. More sowing involved capers and beetroot.

As planned, I dug out the greenhouse potatoes (almost 2kg of them) and transplanted tomato seedlings in their place.

Fingers crossed for some strategic rain this week, which is forecasted to be hot and sultry.

I went to water tonight, as tomorrow I am having a day off at Wimbledon and it is unlikely that I can make it over the weekend.

Gloom on the brassica patch is confirmed, but yesterday’s poor soft fruit crop was just because it was the wrong day: I get enough red fruits for two portions every other day. To tell the truth, it’s more than enough for two, and in just one week since their first appearance, raspberries seem to be overtaking strawberries in number.

The seedlings in the greenhouse are doing very well, even the soya bean is sprouting, although reliability of the seeds seems very low.

After I got over yesterday’s horrible discovery on the brassica patch, I can npw say I have most definitely learnt to soak seedlings for a good while before doing anything with them. And possibly check the weather forecast, so as not to transplant anything before a scorching sunny day.

Condolences accepted as 90% of the brassica seedlings transplanted yesterday have wilted away. I was so happy they looked healthy and strong…

To boot, I am bloody tired again and dragging myself home I tripped, so today’s rather meager crop of strawberries and raspberries went crushing in the middle of the road.
— Post From My iPhone

Being that a good number of the people I know are collapsing with tiredness, including myself, I am not doing a lot at the allotment lately.

However, I am picking strawberry every other day, and on Friday night we got the first raspberry as well. Broadbeans are cropping, albeit not too heavily and so is spinach and beet. In a while we will have carrots and beans as well.

As it is quite sunny in England these days, I have to keep watering, which takes most of my time on the plot, especially as we get a severe water pressure problem when more than three people are watering together, which, incidentally, is the case every time I have to do it.

However, yesterday I spent three hours planting out and watering the brassica seedlings, and – as I have run out of space again – digging new small beds here and there where there’s a bit more space along the paths: there’s so much I should be planting now and it really bugs me that I do not have enough stamina to keep up with it: capers, kohl rabi, salad and pak choi, new leeks…

I dug out the old parsley in my search for space: today there’s a complimentary bag for all my colleagues that want some!

Next step will be picking the potatoes in the greenhouse to make space for tomatoes: if I’m lucky I will manage to do it at the weekend. In the meantime, tonight I will have to go and water the seedlings – urgh.

— Post From My iPhone

Cleared the weeds that had covered it once again, now that it’s time to plant out.

Sowed some more carrots, as it seems that the previous batch are actually growing, then it was time to go, after picking today’s strawberries and some spinach.

Wonder whether I shoud put plastic bags around the spinach flowers, to collect any seed that might develop: the plants are now 2m tall – there’s plenty of them!

— Post From My iPhone