Pushing up the daisies

Yesterday I finally got to visit the allotment for the first time in three weeks. Let's say that it was a bit of a shock.
Alright it was a jungle.
A complete and utter jungle.
I kept waiting for some prat to jump out from behind the 5 foot high fennel and yell "Dr Livingstone I presume".
I subsequently spent too much time down there and we had to eat pasta for tea.
Well let's try and make a status report:

• The onions and garlic were completely weeded over so I did a quick hoe-and-hand weed of all that until I could at least see them under the foliage. The garlic has a bit of rust I am afraid.
• The beetroot and fennel and carrots were also weeded over, I managed to at least bring them into the light of day. The beetroot needs thinning, I wonder if you can transplant the thinnings for those?
• The lettuce is growing Ok, not really any weeds.
• The broad beans are on their last legs, I think I will chop them down and let them rot as ground cover for a while, till I want to plant something else there. (It is looking like a likely place for leeks).
• The strawberries had gone completely bonkers, there was masses of fruit but the very wet weather seems to have been detrimental, there was a lot of fruit starting to rot and there seems to be a bit of mildew at the bases. I hope some sun and wind will clear this up...
• The rhubarb was also very big.
• The 3 Sisters are doing well, the beans have taken off and the squash have grown well. The corn is about 12 cm high mostly.
• The tomatoes are thriving despite all the rain. They need tying up.

So I did as much tidying up as I could but I need to attack some parts with the mattock and shovel, and get the melons planted. We are AGAIN going away this weekend but I hope to do that early Saturday morning.
Harvest:
Promising. I took home:

• 3 beautiful artichokes,
• a bag of broad beans,
• a box of strawberries, 1.3 kg. We ate a part and I put 900 g in jam.
• 7 rhubarb stems

I didn't have time for piccies, but took some of the jam making (see above).

Labels: artichoke, broad beans, harvest, rhubarb, spring, squash, strawberry, weeds