Planning and Reviewing June In Previous Years

Reviewing the diary over the last seven years for June

2013 - Potting up tomatoes & peppers, potatoes, cabbages, sprouts and sweet corn, dug beds 7 & 8  

 

2014 - Watering system installed on Mill Green plot 1A, Potted up Tomatoes into buckets, installed bed 12, Marrows in manure covered in cardboard. Beetroots, Harvested the first bunch of Spring onions. Harvested first early potatoes from buckets. End of the month bed 13 completed, second bed of runner beans sown.         

2015 -  Not many posts in the blog for this month in this year, it was however my first Vlog from the plot. first year trying French beans the family didn't like them and it they have not been grown again since. Potted tomatoes from vending machine cups into pots that were taken to the grow house on the plot. First year growing Marketmore cucumbers. Sweetcorn planted on Fathers day, First year for successfully growing a whole bed of Parsnips. First year for peas. Cherries on the cherry trees. Sent two Crimson Crush tomato plants.   

2016 - Very cold June. Grow House heaving with plants, Burpless Cucumber transplanted into pots, Tomatoes potted on from vending machine cups, Sprouts failed and I had to buy some. Third sowing of beetroots, First year for celery. Flooding at Wallington Railway Bridge

Second sowing of sweetcorn due to slow germination then the first sowing germinated after the first ! Drying Coffee Grounds

Mill Green - Runner beans planted out, sweetcorn planted out into beds mulched with cut comfrey, Sprouts planted out,    

Spencer Road - Onions, Potatoes, Beetroots and infrastructure works. 

Home - Tomatoes finally get transplanted into flower buckets.  

2017 - Due to wife being very ill and in hospital a couple of times, everything was late and many things just didn't happen. Sweetcorn was sown about a month later than usual, so were Beetroots, and the first early spud in buckets experiment for SoilFixer was also a month late. Very large double size Dalek picked up off Freecycle for Mill Green

2018 - Community work, clearing weeds from plot 4 for Sarah who has burn injuries and can't work her plot.  Crimson Crush & Rapunzel tomatoes planted on the plot.  Lark Sweetcorn planted, Moving slabs and kerb stones from Spencer Road to Mill Green, Sold my Handy Tiller & Generator that I had bought and had never used, Trimming tomatoes and giving a Comfrey feed, Butternut Squash in the bottom of Plot 1. Clearing Spencer Road Allotment and bringing items to Mill Green. Sowed more carrots, Spring Onions in cut down flower buckets, 24th June Cucumbers transplanted, Fixing the chairs, Comfrey pipe from Spencer Road plot set up on Mill Green, Shed maintenance replacing feather edge board, Trees from Jersey Plants Direct, 

2019 - Lots of potting up and growing in the Space Saver Greenhouse, Purchased CMH Heavy Duty Plastic Trays,  Lots of rain and flooding in the early part of the month. The contractor working on the property behind the wall cut down the trees and left branches on my shed. Lots of plums on the tree and the some bastard picked them all!  Beetroots disappointing this year wiped out by the intense heat and slugs. 24th June Butternut squash planted out, cucumbers starting to climb their framework, Trial of Nemaslug sent but they had to be stored in the fridge!, Weekend Heatwave with temperatures in 40C .Watering visits as a very dry and sunny June, Potatoes in buckets drying out very quickly, must consider toeing into the bed next year.     

Planned for 2020

Coronavirus UPDATE

Early into March I ended up self isolating because my wife is very high risk and from the looks of things we will be in isolation for a lot longer than the 12 weeks that Boris Johnson was originally talking about. 23rd March we went into Lockdown, however Allotments can still be visited as it's a form of exercise and mental relaxation and therapy, however in order to shield my wife, I have refrained from taking advantage of the lockdown loophole. 

The To Do List below will remain and be added too with fighting the weeds that will come due to the neglect. As someone who is on his plot all year round and does not leave it alone during Autumn & Winter and who uses it instead of therapy and for my mental well being it's tearing me apart not being able to get to her.

Yes I have decided my allotment is a woman, it is dealing with mother nature after all.

Three storms in February 2020 which was the wettest in recorded history, April 2020 turned out to be the sunniest in recorded history. It was as if the weather was mocking us as we were all isolating and in lockdown. There is no doubt that as the aircraft stopped flying and the cars on the roads reduced that the air quality improved, the skies looked more blue that I had seen for many a year. It's a shame we can't maintain the lack of use of polluting forms of transport. 

To Do List  

I've been very fortinate in that my Daughter Emma and Son-In-Law Andy have been visiting my plot and dealing with weeds, tidying up and installing new beds on Plot 1. They even managed to find me two new compost bins to match those I already have and have extended my Dalek Army complete with woodchip paths. 

Below is the to do list in no particular order of what has slipped because I can't get to my plot, a few items have been completed courtesy of Emma & Andy.  

Mill Green - Plot 1A

• Clear Bed 2 of Cabbages and cover - TBD
• Progress on the wall rebuild behind Shed - Contractor pulled off site due to lockdown
• Remove and dispose of Corex on the roof - TBD once wall has been rebuilt
• Re felt the roof of the shed - Tree removed from roof, temporary cover in place   
• Fix the potting Bench - TBD
• Clear the Wasp Nest in greenhouse 1A - To Be Done once the wasps have gone! 
• Rhubarb Bed to be created - clearance of weeds in current location and move when ready
• Tidy Up the Allotment  - Courtesy of Emma & Andy 
• Weeding - Courtesy of Emma & Andy    
• Clear Seating Area - Courtesy of Emma & Andy 

Mill Green - Plot 1

• As much infrastructure works as the weather will allow - Seven Raised Beds Constructed in Feb two installed in March and waiting for areas to be dug and weeded 
• Install the kerb edging along the bottom of Plot 1 - TBD
• Clear the weeds and install a 600mm margin around the perimeter of the plot - Ongoing
• Woodchip the Margin around the perimeter of the plot. When able  
• Beds and Paths -  Four Bead and Paths installed by Emma & Andy others to be formed when I'm able to get to the allotment again.  
• Erect the greenhouse - New Timbers to be cut and treated   
• Tidy Up the Allotment - Courtesy of Emma & Andy 
• Remove remaining Hawthorne bushes from the wall - Removed by Wally for me what a star my plot neigbour is.  
• Stock pile Hawthorne to dry before burning - Now covered to keep dry until September 
• Stockpile Timber ready for burning  - Now covered to keep dry until September 
• Planning - Ongoing

Home 

• Planning - Ongoing
• Catalogue Seeds - Vegetables for 2020 done just flowers remain.
• New Cut Path Weed Membrane - Completed during April 2020   
• New Cut Bed Weed Membrane - Ideal Isolation Job in dry weather 
• New Cut Planting Membrane - Ideal Isolation Job need to make some squash sheets c/w watering points

Reminders

• None at the moment.- Add when remembered.