This is the start of the third year at the plot. Last weekend we were digging the soil over ready for planting the potatoes. Unlike with previous years digging we did not encounter any weeds (well, not proper ones like couch and bramble) and there was barely any glass. It was really enjoyable to dig.

This, of course, has come as a result of two seasons of hard work. The plot was a mess when we took it over, but now it is cultivated. The soil is easy to dig; I never thought I would be saying that two years ago!

The sprouting broccoli is in flower and ready to eat. It is the most tender broccoli that I have tasted, much better than the stuff in the supermarket (which is pretty good itself). The seed for these plants was sown at about this time last year, and it has taken a lot of love and care to get the plants to this stage. We really are reaping the benefits of last years hard work, which is a great motivation to get going and invest the time again this year.

The glorious rhubarb is back, and again, this year it is better than ever. We have four strong rhubarb plants which we have looked after for the last two seasons. Careful not to pick to much last year, our self restraint has payed off as the rhubarb is growing like rockets shooting out of the ground.

Allotmenteering is delayed gratification. It’s time for payback.

I’ve been struggling with the allotment recently. Struggling with finding time to tend to it, struggling with the motivation to tackle the carpet of weeds that grow bigger ever day, and struggling to find any good weather that allows me to do anything other than pick off the ballooning courgette fruits from their persistent parent plants.

A break in the weather today, however, allowed a brief visit to the plot. The rain is encouraging everything to go bananas. Everything is proliferating; runners on the strawberry plants, the tubers on the potatoes, broad beans in their pods, the carrots in their compost, slugs and their frog enemies – it’s all gone a bit mad and just a little bit out of control.

So faced with the uphill struggle that is the allotment in August, I packed up and came home, resolving to have a really good go at it next time I visit!

There’s standing water on parts of the allotment, something which is usual in the winter, but not summer. That said, the squashes are loving the heat and rain. The photos below are Polo (Patty pan) and then Crown Prince.

Keen readers will know that I shifted some raspberry canes back in March this year. They were in the way of the fence we were building. I didn’t expect to get any fruit from them this year as I thought they were tricky to grow and wouldn’t have liked the manhandling.

Well, apart from weeding around them I’ve done nothing to the raspberries since planing them, but to my surprise I’m getting quite a bit of fruit off them.

I’ve not put a cage around them so the birds have been nibbling, I wont be getting a big harvest. But there are enough there to pick one or two every time I go past.

The question is what to do with them now? Do I cut them back so they fruit again next year, do I only cut back the fruiting canes, or do I not cut at all? I’ll have to get the book out…

OK. This is my last post on  the strawberries. We’ve been picking stawberries for about the week now and apart for the odd one which has got a bit too damp, its been a huge success. Unlike most of what I grow, I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of eating strawberries.

Strawberry success

Courgette flowers sure look pretty and according to the likes of Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fernley Wittingstall they taste pretty good too. But Miss M says we will have to wait until we try deep frying them (phew!) as she wants the fruit. Apparently she is on a courgette fast in preparation for the feast of fruit we’ll be getting in a couple of weeks. We’ve got about five courgette plants on the plot just on the verge of producing a glut. Now in all honesty I’m not a huge fan of courgette, so I’ve been on a courgette fast since about this time last year and I’m not looking forward to breaking it. But break it I will, at least for one meal. After that friends of mine will most likely be getting a bag full of courgettes every time they see me, as I doubt even Miss M could eat all of the produce these plants are about to spew out!

I’m really impressed with the potato plants this year.

28th June

I’m not going to dig any up for another two weeks just to let the little beauties beneath the soil put on a touch more girth. These are all earlies, which take a bit longer to come to fruition here up north compared with some of you in the south. It was a slow start…

3rd April

..but we got there in the end. I’ll post a photo of the first crop as soon as I dig it. I can’t wait!

I think I may be pampering my strawberries too much. Not only have I put down a bed of straw for them I have just spent time (and a bit of money) putting up a netted frame to keep the birds away. During my last visit to the plot I spent quite a long time going along each plant making sure each berry was on the straw, not the soil. So the berries on the whole are looking very clean and very happy. Just look at this beast!

But with gardening it seems you solve one problem only to discover another. The recently constructed compost heap which is next to the strawberry bed is providing shelter to a mouse. Said mouse seems to be happily feeding on the big juicy strawberries. No cheap flimsy net will keep a determined mouse out. Looks like I’ll have to up my defences.

I’d not been to the allotment for over a week due to other commitments so I was pleasantly surprised on Monday when I popped in to do some watering.

Everything, and I mean everything, is growing like crazy. The strawberry fruit have swollen and there is masses of fresh green growth. The rhubarb, which has been very slow this spring, has finally taken off. Even the weak rhubarb has recovered and is doing well (must remember to leave it to gain strength strength, even though it looks so tempting!). Even the raspberries that I moved in March have begun to fruit, which I did not expect in the first season.

The potatoes clearly recovered from the frost scare and are really going for it. All of the rows are up and growing fast. Some of the plants have little flowers on, but it is still too soon to harvest (as I discovered when I pulled one of the plants up for a quick look – I couldn’t resist a sneaky peek!).

The broad beans have doubled in size and are full of flowers, although still no sign of bean growth.

The mangetout have gone wild! They too have doubled in size but have not yet grown any flowers. Last year they were pretty small plants, so it must be the soil from the compost heap which has made the difference.

Of course the weeds have gone mad too, but we don’t want to see photos of that do we?

A kindly friend donated some straw for my allotment this week. Just in time to protect the bulging strawberry fruit from the dirt beneath.

Last years wet summer caused havoc with the strawberries. The fruit got damp and muddy by the continuous rain which meant we had a poor harvest. This year we have done the sensible thing and put straw under the fruit to prevent splash-back.

It’s good to know people with straw.

The best thing about the allotment at this time of year is realising that all of the hard work you have put in over the last couple of months is beginning to pay off. Nowhere is this this shown more visually than in the flowering fruit and veg.

I love eating strawberries; they are one of my favorite fruits. But I get just as much pleasure from the plants at this time of year when they are in flower. The tiny plants we put in just over a year ago have grown into big flower-producing machines and are looking fantastic. We rather foolishly took cutting from the runners last year (as you’re supposed to cut the runners off a strawberry plant in the first year to let the plant put all of its energy into growing). But from those cutting we have managed to fill two whole beds. A bit extravagant, I know, but hey, I like strawberries.

It’s not just the fruit who are putting on a show at the moment. The broad beans are in full bloom also and are capable of being spectacular.

I like most types of legume flowers, whether they have edible fruit or not. But broad beans score bonus points for satisfying the palate as well as the eyes.

When living in Ireland I used to collect and cut wood for a fireplace I had in the living room. Someone once told me a folksy saying about collecting wood for a fire. ‘Wood warms you three times; once when you collect it, again when you cut it and a third time when you burn it.’ I think a similar analogy can be used for flowering fruit and veg. They give you joy when you plant them, more when they grow and flower, and more still when you get to eat them!