Came back to the allotment today to find everything had grown, massively (despite the lack of rain). No pics today, but I noticed the mange tout (first ever successful germinating crop of pea type things) are now about 80cm high and about 15cm of that must have been the past week. My second sowings of mange tout have come through and so, inspired by this, I went out and got another pack of peas and sowed those today as well.

On other pea related news, a few years ago I bought some very expensive purple podded pea seeds. There were only about 15 in a packet which cost a lot of pennies, and the few I managed to plant that year were very disappointing. Still, as I’m having a purge of seed packets I started the rest at home this year and they’ve all germinated and were desperately needing a transplant. I know that peas aren’t fond of being transplanted, so we’ll have to see how well they cope to their new allotment home (well protected with both anti rabbit/bird protection and anti slug protection).

I also planted some climbing bean seeds to go up my frame. the runner beans (which I don’t really like, but its good to see something grow!) have started making a bid for freedom and once my potatoes go out, I’m going to plant some dwarf beans and maybe the borlotti seed I have saved from last year.

I planted out the first of the cucurbits plants. I’ve done them ‘three sisters’ style – with corn at the corners of them. Not sure if this will really work, but its worth a try, and I’ve got more corn seed to plant if it all goes too bad. Once the corn plants (currently about 4 inches high) establish themselves, I’ll put some more climbing bean seeds in there. Used a combination of the last of the pelleted chicken manure and blood/fish/bone combo for underneath the plants. I’ve got a Cobnut squash, a pumpkin I’ve forgotten the name of, and some courgettes there. Hopefully, day of the triffid style, they’ll take over the allotment!

Potatoes are flowering, blackcurrants are turning purple (there’s only about 10 of them, but not bad for a very very cheap plant bought last year) and I need to go armed, prepared, and gloved to start harvesting gooseberries. I’m ignoring the weeds, which are growing ridiculously, and just content that my little patch of green is, for the first time in a long while, completely full of stuff – there’s no bare space at the moment in the main patch of the allotment, although once the onions (good crop this year!) and potatoes come out, I’ll have to start transplanting my brassicas and once more taking the caterpillar risks….

(Oh, and today was the Start Of Our Strawberry crop from the back garden. two strawberries, once almost plum sized, and very very tasty. And, just for the record, my £5 morrisons apple tree bought for ‘i wonder if I could espalier that’ stuff is budding and coming out with leaves. Not bad for something which looked really rather dead).