Stubborn beans

The Observer Organic Allotment Blog arrives and with it a photograph of their thriving Cherokee Trail of Tears.

Not only is the photograph better than any I take, but also their beans are way ahead of mine. They are racing up the pole, while I have had cause to lament that mine remain stubbornly tiny, perhaps not more than six inches in height. But there is hope as they have put on a bit of a growing spurt since I began to moan out loud a couple of days ago.

Talk about them and they reform their act, it seems. I hope.

Bringing the crops home

I can't believe it. I've picked some of my spinach and had a raspberry from the garden. That's the raspberry.

Dorothy used the spinach in fishcakes she made us for tea, also some of the chives given to me by my friend Alex 'Pip' Paton. Jolly nice meal.

I remain optimistic

Managed an inspection and a quick session with the hoe in the garden between showers today.

Really excited that little red buds have appeared on two of the runner beans. But, as I suspected, Susan has confirmed my fears that one of the others has become a victim of the slugs and died off.

Still no sign of flowers on the potatoes, a fortnight after they appeared on the ones I gave my friend Kate. They do appear to be growing, all the same, so there's hope yet.

Progress & setback

It has rained at last here and I have had a bit of break from dashing backwards and forwards from the kitchen to water the garden. I don't really mind the trips as I find it strangely relaxing and therapeutic once I get in the rhythm.

Something has destroyed one strong of runner beans. Slugs, I guess. The good news is that the others are climbing well. Fascinating to see how they have curled round the poles all by themselves.

My mate Steve contacts me to say he has lifted their garlic. I must admit I have not looked up the literature to see when this should be done, but Steve tells me the time is when rust is covering the leaves and any green foliage is yellowing. Without going outside to look, I think mine must be near that stage. If that's so, it will be nice to have crops at last. My first.

We live in troubled times

More confirmation that growing is a difficult business this year, this time from my former work colleague Hilarie.

She emails that she is having a disastrous gardening year on her allotment about three or four miles from me. Half the seeds they planted haven't germinated and everything that did is looking a bit sickly. Only the strawberries are doing well and if the dampness continues they'll all get eaten by slugs, she says.

I tell her that I've had problems with my peas and she replies she is kind of glad to hear that. "We thought we must have bought some bad seeds," she says.

Looking at the TV news today, I see film of flooded streets and people having a miserable time because of the downpours. Where I am, though, the weather continues to be dry and there is no let up in my trips between the garden and the kitchen tap for "copious" watering.

Serious stuff

Among the websites I like for inspiration is Blagger, a blog which documents a move towards a self-sufficient lifestyle. I find it interesting as a read in itself and as a source of ideas.

I've previously complained about my peas not germinating and ditto the first batch of lettuce and salad leaves. Now comes the latest posting from Blagger complaining about a hard year on their plot and a succession of crop failures. The writer cannot understand it and hopes it is not an indication of wider global problems.

One person who has responded to the blog posting reckons recent weather changes have played havoc with bringing crops on for a lot of people. I reckon that if that is indeed the case, all the more reason for persevering. We're going to need all the food we can get.

Brave new world

Beetroot is a food I have never really rated, right from being a young lad. I think I was put off by the colouring of the pickled variety we used to have and the fact that it ran all over the plate. Recently, however, I have come to change my view and have quite liked it on the few occasions I have given it a try.

With that in mind, I have decided to try out the beetroot seeds supplied by the BBC Dig In programme. This morning I planted one line outside in the patch next to the lettuce and spinach and the remainder in two big pots in the conservatory. Borscht here I come.

While having a general tidy around, I ditched the mushroom growing kit that Dorothy gave me for Christmas. I followed the instructions to the letter, but the crop has been most disappointing. Only about five mushrooms in all, I think. Not sure at the moment if I will get another.

Talking of disappointments, I noticed this morning that one of my potato plants has snapped off overnight. The rest seem all right, however. The spare seed potatoes I gave to my friend Kate have begun flowering, she tells me, so mine must be imminent.

Kate has given us some parsley, half of which has gone in the ground outside and other half in pots inside. They look very nice.

That darn cat

Our cat Mish has followed up her wee on the growbag with a crap. More accurately, the poo was near the growbag. Naughty, naughty. What can I do?

There's been a lot of rain here today and I have been prevented from going in the garden, but a bit of wet is very welcome after the heatwave of the last few days.

Things seem to be going on well, although I am a bit worried about my peas. The seeds I planted seem not to have taken in pots in the conservatory or in the garden outside. Give them a bit longer, I suppose, but I am resigned to fate. My friend Kate says she never has much success with peas either. She seems not to know why and neither do I.

Ain't she sweet?

Anyone want to buy a cat called Mish? She is out of favour after doing a wee on one of my growbags.

There's always a butt

Glorious June continues in scorching fashion and the question of water butts has arisen following my posting about watering the garden.

All I can say is that they seem to have a design fault. Or perhaps I should say the concept appears to be faulty. Fair enough, they fill when it rains. But then you use the water as soon as a drought begins, the dry period continues and the result is that are left with an empty butt because it hasn't rained again.

There's a man called John Harrison who runs an excellent allotment website and sends out a monthly email. He reckons we may be putting too much stock on watering.

This is what he has to say and I think it's worth quoting extensively:

When we get hot and dry weather, the temptation is to give the plot a sprinkle every day but that can be really counter-productive. A light sprinkle will hardly soak into the soil and so the plant roots will be encouraged to stay at the top of the soil instead of searching down. Shallow roots are easily damaged by hoeing and, of course, the nutrients at the top of the soil are quickly exhausted.

Don't try and water the whole plot in one go, take a section at a time and give that a really thorough soaking. That way the water goes down and the roots will follow. Even if it looks bone-dry on the surface, there may well be plenty of water underneath. Stick your finger into the soil and see if it is damp underneath. Honestly, most of the time it won't need watering anyway.

The exception to this is seedlings, they're obviously shallow rooted to start with and will benefit from a daily sprinkle until they establish. Hoeing between the plants will not only keep the weeds down but, because it breaks up the surface, preventing capillary action from sucking water out of the soil in hot weather.

It's best to water in the cool of the evening if you can and one great way to get water into the soil is to use soaker hoses. The water comes out slowly and soaks in rather than puddling.

Nothing is ever simple.