So much to do, not enough hours...

Sunday evening, arrived back from holiday. Approached allotment with some trepidation on Monday morning on the way to the supermarket - would my bean/pea/tomato support structures still be standing? Would my newly planted tomatoes and runner beans have survived the week without me? Fortunately all was well, just one empty beer bottle, nothing too alarming. Tomatoes and beans hadn't really grown, but it is like a desert up there, dry as dust. Picked a big carrier bag full of broad beans, which we ate for supper - lovely. There are loads more to come.


Yesterday evening I planted out 41 sweetcorn plants. It is far too many of course but last year there weren't really enough, so of course I have gone to the other extreme this year.

Here are the runner beans...


and some pumpkins, squashes and courgettes. There is still room at the end for three butternut squash plants, which will have to wait a bit longer, I ran out of time.



The brassicas have all shot up, but desperately need weeding...



same applies to the onions



But the potatoes (in the background) have got so big there isn't room for any weeds.
The green strawberries are lying in the dust and need to have some straw or something underneath them, and some netting on top. The edges need trimming again and I need to tackle the grass and weeds around the shed and compost bins.

There are still french beans to plant out, chillies, cucumbers and peppers to pot up and lawn to mow (again). In addition I am about to embark on a huge curtain making project - doing virtually a whole 6-bedroom house for somebody at work, which will keep me pretty busy over the summer, so I am trying to do as much as I can on the allotment before the first lot of material arrives.

And the asparagus beetles have taken advantage of my absence to start procreating. I was doing so well before we went away, removing them each day, but now there are eggs as well.

It's overwhelming sometimes isn't it?