Thursday 11 May 2017

Cuckoo Update - And The Allotment

In may last post, I expressed my concern at the lack of cuckoos here this year. Seems like I was a bit ahead of myself - we are hearing a cuckoo every day now, and as ever, they are cheerfully waking us up at 4.00 every morning. Hmmm... However - I remain certain that there are fewer of them around this year than in previous years.

As to the allotment - we have been enjoying a period of dry and mostly warmish weather for the last few weeks. This has enabled me to get on with all the planting, and I am now pleased to report that I have peas, runner beans, broad beans, carrots, onions and potatoes all planted and, in some cases, showing above the ground. I also have baby plants of sprouts, broccoli and kale in the cold frame in pots, all waiting until they are big enough to be planted out. That just leaves the swede, which I will be planting in a few days time.

It's a lovely time of year on the allotment - as it all looks so neat. As the spring turns to summer, our very long hours of daylight encourage incredibly rapid growth of a jungle of weeds of all shapes and sizes. Having an allotment which borders rough grazing and open moorland doesn't help - as the unwanted plants all grow there unchecked and eagerly spread their seeds onto my carefully cultivated plots. Every year I vow that I will make a big effort to keep on top of weed control, and I haven't really won the battle yet... so maybe this year..?

Here's a couple of pictures of the bare, weed-free beds, taken a couple of days ago...




3 comments:

Canadian Book Lady said...

Looks wonderful, Richard! I find the raised beds are much, much easier to keep free of weeds, easier to cultivate and harvest now that my back is getting older, too. I also farm them more intensively.
Hope you have a bumper crop!

Tante Jacqueline said...

Looks great. How do you keep rabbits and other wildlife from eating your crops? We've planted up one bed in our field (one day to become a garden!). But it only seems to have served as a meal table for the vast numbers of rabbits we have here in Colbost. We've had to put chicken wire around the bed.

Richard Dorrell said...

Tante Jacqueline - Thank you for your comment. PLEASE don't send your rabbits our way. There are none here at Roskhill just now, and haven't been any since we have lived here. The weather is more of a problem to my crops than the wildlife. We occasionally see a stoat... which is probably why we don't see rabbits. Also - we have many hares here-abouts, and I have heard locally that rabbits and hares seldom live in close company.