garlic planted

Planted two rows of garlic in back garden, bed A, rows 1 and 2. Variety is Marco. Cost £2.50 for three bulbs; probably about 30 plants.
“In the late summer/autumn, the leaves will start to die down. Lift the garlic out of the soil and leave to ripen for a few days”.
Today was a lovely, still, sunny day. Chilly, but with good warmth from the sun. Dave popped round to help put the roof back on the shed in the allotment.

seed potatoes

Picked up the seed potatoes today:

  • 3 kg of Lady Christl (first early).
  • 8 kg of Pink Fir Apple (salad, maincrop).
  • 8 kg of Rooster (maincrop)

So, er, that should keep us going. For all: plant March-May. 10cm deep, 30cm apart, rows 70cm apart. Chrhistls should be ready June/July, maincrop Sept/Oct.

Cleaned out the greenhouse, washing down with Jeyes Fluid — a real nostalgia hit: it’s what Dad used to wash down the chicken-shed and pigs’ sties with. Then put up the staging and laid out all the potatoes to chit.

I should plant my garlic. And overwintering onions; which appear to have overwintered in the shed. Ho hum.

great, turgid cucumbers

That’s what I’ve got — and loads of them. There must be a dozen cucumbers approaching ripeness on the two plants that Lola was given by the woman at the allotments. And then there are the six lemon cucumber plants that I grew from seed: they are flowering now and should start fruiting soon. Doubtless, in fact, they will do so while we are down in Somerset next week (funny how Lola and Neve end up having “Grandma in Somerset” and just like Tom and I did).
Holidays present as somewhat more problematic now that one is a keen vegetable gardener. While we are gone, the tomatoes, peppers, french beans, cucumbers, and lettuce will all be cropping, and the rest may need watering and weeding. Tricky business.