Monday 11 May 2015

The view from 39a

The countdown begins

This past weekend Sam and I took to the plot to try and get things tidy and in order before I go to Boston and New York in less than two weeks!!!  (This trip is approaching quickly and I'm feeling really disorganised, last year I had every detail of our San Diego trip planned but because it's just me this time I'm taking a much more relaxed approach, not necessarily a good thing.)

In the polytunnel we found our first strawberry of the year and it tasted gooooooooooooood.  I seem to remember we had more fruits by this time last year but then it was considerably warmer then it has been this year.  


Getting ahead of ourselves?

In March I started some runner beans off in the polytunnel, as you can see they've come along nicely and have completely outgrown their tray so we planted them out which is a touch early and a bit of a risk but they really needed some root space.  We don't have a cold frame or a particularly sheltered spot on the plot so we planted them, tied them to the bean supports and put fleece around them.  I'm really hoping this coupled with the thorough blanket of slug pellets I set down will protect them and we'll get lots of pods.  Last year our plants were completely destroyed by slugs, and birds, and rabbits in fact pretty much anything that happened to be passing by had a go at my runner beans *huff*.


Returning to the plot

I've mentioned before how last year was a bit of a dip for us on the plot, enthusiasm hit a low and not an awful lot got done, one of the things that slipped off the list last year was planting sunflowers which was a real shame as the bees love them.  I suspect the lack of flowers on our plot resulted in a number of the butternut squash flowers not getting pollinated so we've rectified that this year and put in three different types of sunflower to cater to all the bees.

With a little bit more work on the plot this week and next weekend I'm hoping there won't be lots left for Sam to do when I'm away, and for that matter when I get back!  One of the next tasks we need to tick off is to construct the pumpkin pyramid (in actual fact we're going to be using the structure to grow butternut squashes - butternut squashes proved too much of an alliteration challenge for me).  Fingers crossed there will be enough time to get it all done...


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