Hot on the Plot!

We’ve had the wettest August on record and then BAM… Summer returns with a bang! This bank holiday weekend has been amazing but boy has it been hot. My parents, brother, sister in law and little nephew were all heading to Swanage on a camping trip and I offered to stay at home and dog sit with plans to go up the allotment during the weekend to get lots of work done… Lets just say I spent 2 hours up there on Saturday and had to come home because it was just too darn hot.

My plot doesn’t get any shade you see and even though this is a blessing it’s also a curse, the poor soil dries up ever so quickly and the plants were starting to wilt a little. I made a mental note to pop back up in the evening to give everything a good soaking when the sun wasn’t so cruel. This weather put a halt on all my plans as I just don’t think I could have coped with the heat, I was sweating just standing still! On my to-do list this weekend was to clear the brassica bed of all the rubbish that had been piled onto it. There’s the old strawberry cages, lots of rotten wood and piles (or should I say mountains!) of weeds that I just keep adding too. This all needs to be moved by wheelbarrow to the car boot where I would take a few trips to the tip before weeding and digging over the bed. Obviously it’s too late to plant out any brassicas in the bed but I was going to sow some green manure to add something back into the soil.

However, part of me is thinking I might just leave this huge job until the Autumn when I can have a big tidy up of the entire plot (and when the sun isn’t blazing!) The allotment is starting to die back slightly and although this is due to me neglecting it this year let’s not forget that it is very nearly September already and Autumn is on the horizon. I didn’t plant out any flowers this year so the flower patch is looking a tad empty, although there are some rogue self seeded cosmo growing which I just adore. The brassica bed isn’t producing anything due to being a rubbish pile and I’ve been busy harvesting a few of the crops that have been producing so they are looking a little sad too. There are however, lots of carrots waiting to be picked, squashes turning colour in the trough and the leeks and swiss chard I planted after the potatoes are growing well too so it’s not all bad. I even spotted 3 munchkin pumpkins growing on the archway and even though this is a tad pathetic it makes me so happy just to get that tiny harvest!

One of my favourite flowers growing this year are the sunflowers which are blooming beautifully and one must be at least 8ft tall, my proudest sunflower growing moment so far! I have plans to grow more along the back of the allotment next year and have my own little sunflower field, I just love the sunny faces!

I came home laden with a small harvest of french beans, a courgette, a rather fat gherkin, a cup full of delicious raspberries and my lovely neighbour gave me some of her rhubarb because she doesn’t like it. Later that weekend I used that very same rhubarb to make some jam with and I’ll be sharing the recipe for that soon because it is so yummy! I also made up some raspberry flapjacks although part of me is thinking I should start freezing my raspberry harvests so I can have enough to make some jam with…

So my weekend of working on the allotment wasn’t a success and that pile of rubbish is still there, but I had fun none the less and deep down I think I needed some family time. I drive down to spend a few hours on Studland beach with them on Sunday and had the best time, we even went for a swim in the sea to cool down and it was bliss.

Sorry allotment!