Week 24 - Bed EX3

The carrots and parsnip have all started to sprout - we watered the carrots on the left with some ofht every limited supplies of water that we have at the allotments (we are waiting for a connection to the town supply) and the green seedlings can be seen at the far end.

Week 24 - Bed EX2 Planting

The beans in this bed have sprouted and this week we added two plants:

• Blue Ballet Squash (5 week old plant in a pot) - a soft blue-grey skined variety with sweet orange flesh fruits up to 2kg.
• Connecticut Field Pumpkin (5 week old plant in a pot) - a large trailing variety with bright orange oval fruit up to 10kg.

The Blue Ballet Squash was transplanted into the empty area to the south of the bed, and the Connecticut Field Pumpkin was transplanted into the space in the middle of the climbing french bean 'tipi'.

Week 24 - Bed EX1

At least 3 seeds have sprouted in each hill.

The three week old seedlings are healthy and have sprouted the first true leaf.

May Weather

The weather was warm and sunny, for the most part, but more unsettled than April and generally drier that usual, especially at the beginning of the month, continuing the dry conditions that have been affecting the growing conditions since the middle of March.

A total of 53mm of rain fell (recorded at the closest weather station in Birr), which is slightly less than normal. The mean temperature for the month was only slightly above normal at 11 degrees C. The mean soil temperature was almost 2 degree higher than normal at 14.5C and the total amount of solar radiation for the month (intensity of energy from the sun including overcast days) was slightly higher than normal (53560 Joules/sqcm). The wind levels for the month were normal and there were a few episodes of hail. All of these conditions affect the growth rate of the plants, and the limiting factor was still the lack of water in the soil.

In the temperature charts above (extracted from the Met Éireann summary) the maximum temperature ranged in the mid teens for most of the month, but the low temperature dropped significantly at the end of the month, creating frost conditions on the night of May 29! This was a very late frost, and hit many of the potatoes hard. Fortunately we had not yet planted any other tender plants.

The top graphs shows the general lack of any heavy rainfalls for the whole month, with much of the rain evaporating from the surface before it could seep in and replenish the moisture in the soil. The bottom graph shows a couple of spells of strong sunshine!

Week 22 - Bed DD1 Planting

We prepared this bed by double digging this week and sowed:

• True Gold Sweetcorn (27 stations with 3 seeds each) - a heirloom variety with golden yellow kernels and rich buttery flavour, which will grow to 180cm tall and mature in September

Week 21 - Bed EX3 Planting

This bed was dug and worked down into a fine seedbed into which we sowed:

• Halblange White Parsnip (2 long rows) - a thick, pointed, half length root variety, which does well in shallower soils
• Danvers Half Long Carrot (south 1/3 of a long row) - a broad shouldered, short, maincrop variety
• Chantenay Red Cored Carrot (middle 1/3 of a long row) - an early maincrop variety with smooth stump roots, fine taste and texture
• Autumn King Carrot (north 1/3 of a long row) - a thick pointed half length maincrop variety which does well in shallower soils and is frost hardy

Week 21 - Bed EX2 Planting

We finished preparing this bed as a rough lazy-bed (not worked down to a fine seedbed) and sowed:

• Neckargold Climbing French Bean (2 seeds at 12 stations) - high yield medium-late variety, with long round yellow beans.
• Blauhilde Climbing French Bean (2 seeds at 10 stations) - maincrop variety with long oval purple pods.
• White Emergo Runner Bean (22 seeds) - an attractive and vigorous variety with white seed and flower.

The two varieties of climbing french beans were planted in a circle at the base of a 'tipi' of long tree branches. String will need to be added (tied at the top and to a stake at the ground) to make sure that each of the plants has a support to climb up.
The runner bean seeds were also planted in a circle, in the center of which a dead tree was planted. The top branches of the tree were trimmed and rocks were piled up around the base to help stabilize it. Lengths of twine will be tied to the branches of the tree and then to stakes driven into the ground beside each seedling, so that the plants have something to climb.

Week 21 - Bed EX1 Planting

We prepared this bed as a rough lazy-bed and created 4 small mounds onto which we sowed:

• Nero di Milano Courgette (1 station of 4 seeds) - a dark green variety with lightly mottled fruits
• Genovese Courgette (1 station of 4 seeds) - a pale, early variety with fine lightly mottled green fruit
• Yellow Straightneck Courgette (2 stations of 4 seeds each) - an early maturing yellow variety with smooth yellow fruits

The raised hills were used to warm the soil to help germination. All but the strongest seedling will be removed to leave 4 plants with lots of room in the bed.

Week 20 - Bed DD7 Planting

We finished double digging this bed and sowed:

• Bastion Dwarf Peas (approx 160 seeds in a double long row) - a mid season main crop variety, with a high yield and up to 10 very sweet peas per pod
• Record Maincrop Potatoes (13 seed potatoes in one long row) - an oval potato variety with mealy yellow flesh

The peas will need a structure of chicken wire or similar for support.

Week 19 - Bed PC5

Dug bed and in prepared seedbed we scattered a polycrop mix of seeds including:

• White Globe Turnip
• Helenor Swede
• Early White Vienna Kohl Rabi
• Cherry Bell Radish
• Minowassi Radish
• Storuman Beetroot
• Rainbow Chard
• Perpetual Spinach
• Chicory
• Spinach
• Mizuna