More planted (including 2nd batch of beans)

Spent the morning at the allotment (weather: bright, warm, light breeze) and planted out:
courgettes (1x gold rush (yellow skinned), x3 black beauty (green skinned)) I had 2 spare so planted these on the compost
squash x4,
leeks x5 rows of 10,
sprouts x7 plants,
sweetcorn x14,
runner beans x8
french beans (x6 climbing green, x6 green, x6 purple)
The beans have been covered on netting (as have sprouts) and sprinkled with slug pellets. I hope this time they don't get eaten.

The allotment is looking really full now, no room for much else to go in. This is the fullest I've ever had it!

I harvested a cabbage and handful of strawberries :)

This afternoon it began to rain - perfect timing!

Tomatoes need moving on

My tomatoes are still at home & should really be up at the allotment in the grernhouse, so tonight I'm potting up as many as I can & will get them installed this weekend.

Fungi in my pots

I have a collection of this fungi growing in my courgettes, squash and gourds. I had some of this at my old allotment in Jesmond, I'm the horse manure which was spread under my raspberry plants.

Using my river cottage book on mushrooms & fungi I've identified this as Cup fungi, from the Peziza family. This is a poisonous variety, because it always grows on soil.

I originally wondered if it was Jelly Ear, but his grows on dead tree branches, not bare soil.

Thank you John Wright (whom I've actually met), for your informative book!

Violent attack on innocent beans

I was worried that after yesterdays weather: severe gusts of wind, I'd go to my allotment & find it minus a greenhouse and severe damage to plants caused by the wind.

Instead I was met by carnage: the entire planting of beans (runners, French) and peas had been eaten by birds (probably pigeons). I only planted them last week :(

I was cross, no not cross livid, no not livid fuming! And I wasn't going to let these f*****g pigeons win. I vowed to plant more & not be defeated. The stalks that remained seemed to look like they might sprout but they wouldn't be strong plants, and so I went home & planted more.

1 tray (40 modules) of peas
42 French beans
12 runner beans

17th May: transplanting

Took afternoon off work to plant stuff and give it a good water, we've had a lot of dry warm weather recently.

Here's what's gone in/happened this week:
20 Swedes in
Potatoes earthed up
Harvested Cabbage
Purple beans in 12
Dwarf green beans in 8
Runner beans in 7
Peas in 1 row
Watered up & seeded paths. I seem to be growing masses of creeping buttercup, bloody annoying stuff, but in this dry weather you can pull it out (roots & all) fairly easily.

The plot's looking good, still plenty in the greenhouse at home, but looking better than last year.

Tomatoes in the propagator & germinating

I was a bit worried about these fellas, but I think we're okay

Peas & beans - a day after planting

Weather: bright, mild & breezy.

Planted these yesterday, 9.30am, which is early for a Lisa.