Vinny's Allotment Plot

More time at the plot again this evening. The flaming pigeons are attacking my brassicas so after watering plants I covered them with some makeshift netting.

I hand weeded a bed and a path, then dug over the bed which was very compacted. I then raked and levelled half of the bed and planted six Evesham Brussel Sprout plants. I healed them in hoping that would stop the sprouts from 'blowing'.
My French beans have germinated so I took the glass off but put some mesh over to stop predation of seedlings (hopefully?)

Back at plot again today............that's three days in a row methinks?

Cleared another diagonal path of weeds, did loads of hand weeding and planted out six cabbage plants where last years leeks had been. Put glass 'jars' around them, mainly to kep the pigeons off.
Gave up on the Beccy's Austurian cabbage I was trying to seed as the flowers have died off but I can't see any seed pods. Cut down the seed stalks but noticed other new growth so wonder whether it's like Daubertons and can be grown from cuttings?, or if it is semi perennial?

I have self sown couple of plants at the allotment which I have no idea how they got there? One is a grass, which has rather nice fronds and the other is an unknown whichis just about to flower. Leaves  look a bit like comfrey but flower stems are different? I'll post a piccie and maybe someone can enlighten me?

Watered stuff I thought would benefit from it andset off for home after a good two hours graft!

Looks like a Foxglove and one of those sedge grasses that spread everywhere.

Definitely foxglove.

If its a foxy it will be interesting to see what colour it is, although I don't mind the basic purple version!

Looks like a Foxglove and one of those sedge grasses that spread everywhere.

Funnily enough, sedge sprang to mind when I looked at the foliage. It has pretty flower inflorecences, although I would say that as as an ex Groundsman I love architectural grasses!

Well, foxgloves are starting to open and they are the common and garden purple version.........which I kinda like!

A couple more hours spent in the sunshine today before I started flagging with the heat! Started by clearing last years tomatoes and pots from the tumbledon greenhouse. Docks and nettles were slowly taking the greenhouse over. Isn't it strange that however you try to avoid nettles, they always seem toget you in the end. With bare legs it wasn't a pleasant experience!
My large water butt at the outside corner of the greenhouse had subsided a bit and broke an upper pane of glass with the overflow pipe that jutted out. I decided to try and manouvre  it slightly away from the greenhouse, on it's stand when it is still 3/4 full of water.  By using shvel and spade I managed to shift it but I will have to manufacture summat toget the water from the hreenhouse roof to the butt?

Anyway, among other stuff I had brought to allotment was a grapeine I was growing in a large pot at home to utilise some of the greenhouse space.This I positioned where the water butt  had been and plan to train it through the broken glass paneand into the greenhouse. This was a cutting I took from a grapevine I had many years ago and I know it gives a good crop of pink grapes under cover. I brroke up the paving slab under the pot to allow the roots to go from the bottom of the pot into the soil as I don't have to be watering it all the time.

I emptied the old potting compost from the tomatopots and as quite surprised that some of the were still moist after being under cover?

Apart from a bit of hand weeding that was allI I got done with two hours graft................so I went fishing!

Don't want to start a post with a swear word so shall we just say pigeons are little tinkers!

All of the brassicas I planted out have been nibbled to some extent and the intention was to plant out 18 cauliflowers today. After preparing the bed, the cauli's were duly planted out and all braasicas were watered.
It was then time to wage war on the pigeons by using makeshift netting covers. Consequently the plot looks a mess and if the wind gets up all the netting will finish up in my next door neighbours plot!

Anyway, that was how I wasted 1.5 hours of my life!

Spent a short time at the plot this morning mainly to water recently planted brassicas.

While I was there I decided to hoe off the weeds from a path. One path turned into four paths and many loads of weeds transported to my compost heap. What I did notice was that where I have veg growing the soil is very dry, but where the weeds are on the paths the soil is very damp. Maybe I should start walking on the beds and growing stuff on the paths!

Planted out a single courgette and a single pumpkin. Both were planted in prepared beds with a heap of compost for each from the dalek, then the soil mounded over the top.
Hopefully once they get ther roots into wet compost they will thrive and I won'thave to water them as much. Supposedly the heaping of the soil stops the neck of the plant from rotting?