Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Hello
It's almost dark now but today has been a lovely day. I've just planted out some lettuce seedlings and another row of carrot seed and watered the new leek bed. The water content of the soil must still be pretty high, we've had very little respite from the rain for nearly two months so watering is one job we haven't had to do. I usually have arms like an orang outang by this time of year from carrying two watering cans up and down the allotment every night. Very feminine!

The rain has brought problems though. The whole site has got tomato and potato blight. We dug up all the potatoes last Saturday and so far they look ok but I'll have to keep checking them. Once one gets mushy the whole bag goes. I haven't culled the tomatoes completely, just cut off the brown bits but if they get any worse they'll have to go. It's a real shame but I'm not surprised, this humid weather provides ideal conditions for the blight to develop.

The french beans, runner beans and courgettes are doing very well though. The fruit's been good too. I'm jamming this week (a bit like Bob Marley...you know the one I mean) I've made josta jam and redcurrant jelly so far. I'm busy tomorrow but Friday's going to be bramble jelly day. I've got millions of blackberries so they may as well make jelly as well as crumbles. It's ridiculously labour intensive but I love that row of deep red and purple jars when they're finished. Goodness, I'm exhausted thinking about it!
Time for a well deserved cup of tea I think!
Happy gardening.

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