Update

So after all the wishing for rain, we have had it. the grass is starting to green up again and the weeds have gone wild. Rain stopping play has given me the time to cook off 2/3 of a bed of beetroots, slice and for some dice then preserve in vinegar. Lack of some surgical gloves did delay the process a day, but this year I used the Pyrex dish with lid, 13mm of water and the microwave to cook them off.    

A visit to Wilko on Sunday as rain stopped play resulted in a purchase of  Wilko PVC Coated Green Garden Fencing which is made from a triple strength, heavy duty wire that's ideal for border or low boundary fencing. Highly durable, this fencing is made from heavy duty steel wire, hot dip galvanised and then plastic coated. The wires are welded together forming a very rigid sheet. This precludes the need for support wires or concrete-set posts necessary for more traditional forms of fencing. 

This versatile fencing can also be used as a plant support or garden arch. 50mm x 100mm mesh approx. Overall size: H 900mm x L 10m approx.

Reduced to £4-50 a roll I picked up one roll as difficult to carry back to the car with the two bags of shopping, to make some sloping climbing A frames for the cucumbers next year and some circular support frames for the tomatoes grown on the allotment.

I picked up 4 packs of "Cylindra" Beetroot seeds as 25p each for 150 seeds so that's a pack a bed for next year, but they are good until 2021. A single pack of Ramrod Spring Onions and three packs of seed tray modules at 50p a pack. 

It appears that not all Wilkos are selling off seeds at 10p a pack as has been said on a number of forums and asking the guy at the service desk it appears that there are different size of store and it's also a regional thing and they don't all do the same thing at the same time. At 25p a pack I'm happy to pay full price for the Beetroots.

Monday evening a swift visit to the allotment and with the rain comes growth of yet more cucumbers & courgettes that believe they are marrows, and what I believe will be the first and the last crop of runner beans, the hot weather really screwed up their growing potential this year.

  
What was good to see what that there is a Beetroot seedling in nearly every planting location in Bed 1 

There is a similar level of germination in Beetroot Bed 10, this initially brought joy to my heart, and then dread to my mind at the thought of two beds worth of beetroots to cook off and preserve, but I'm telling myself that these will be smaller and easier and faster to cook.

I will ensure that next year I sow in batches and harvest in batches of 35 beetroots every 3 weeks, and that I start them off earlier under cover and extend the planting and harvesting season and reduce and spread the load of processing the harvest. No point getting older if you don't get wiser based on experience. 

I screwed some tool hooks again curtesy and cheaper than the £1 Shop from Wilko's (75p) on the door to the shed and now have my hand tools ready and accessible on Plot 1 as well as Plot 1A

The brambles had enjoyed the rain and had taken off over the paving and had started making headway under the shed, so they were cut back and I think that I need to remove the rest of the Hawthorne and brambles during what's left of August and September ready for burning in October. 

The perfect weather for me for working on the  plot is semi overcast and dry, I have done snow, I don't mind cold but I don't do wet, well not until I can get into and potter around in the greenhouses once the first one is finally clear and the second one is actually erected.