This is part of a weekly (or fortnightly if I'm lacking content) series about owning an allotment. Click here for the Introduction Post. I am NOT a keen gardener, so this series will be telling tales of stuff I learn as the seasons progress. Hopefully you find it interesting, you might find some of it useful, and if you have any comments, questions or even better, some useful tips to share, then please add them below
Hairy Shieldbug Dolycoris baccarum
I'll be honest, this wasn't meant to be an Allotment Post. I originally wanted to go on a Garden Safari. But I sat out there in my garden for 20 minutes and apart from this Hairy Shieldbug there was nothing else to see.
I did see these little Small White caterpillars outside the front door.. there was literally nothing left of the plant they had been eating! All of the Large White caterpillars have presumably left to find food elsewhere.
Slightly disapointed, I decided to go for a wander up the the allotment ans see how it was getting on. The weather has been a bit grim here recently, heavy rain and really strong winds
When I arrived, it looked ok to me (yes there are weeds..). I walked up to the shed and realised the window was broken...
This is almost certainly due to the strong winds we had a couple of days ago. Fortunately it just needed a bit of poking to wedge it back in its slot. I didn't actually take a photo of the fixed window, so you'll just have to trust me!
In the Allotment Diaries post I wrote Last Week I mentioned clearing away a large area of Brambles, its good to see that it hasn't started growing back yet. In the middle of the picture you might be able to spot a grey-green piece of carpet...
When the previous plot holders left the plot, someone in their infinite wisdom decided to place large bits of old carpet down across the whole area. It was done to apparently stop the weeds growing, and has you can see here, that has totally failed.
This of course means that as we are slowly clearing the ground of weeds, we have to keep digging up old bits of carpet, which is why it has take us so long. Anyway, I don't have time today and there is rain forecast later, so I'll tackle that at some point
It has been a difficult year for growing stuff. It has been either too hot, too dry or too wet, and often at the wrong times of the year. This pumpkin squash thing is doing pretty well though, and we have 5 of these growing at the moment.
However the tomatoes are struggling. We have used a different variety this year, a type of Plum Tomato, as it is better to make sauce with. But they are not doing well.
We have wondered if its just a poor variety of plant, or if there is something like tomato blight on them, but speaking to a couple of the more experienced guys on the allotment they are all struggling with tomatoes as well, so it is more likely due to the conditions
We have a couple beginning to ripen, but not many. All we can do is make the most of what we have, and try again next year
Bonus wildlife
Field Grasshopper - Chorthippus brunneus
I did see some of these adult Field Grasshoppers next to the plot which was quite interesting to see, and made up for the my failed Garden Safari in the end.
This was a slightly disjointed post, but thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time with hopefully some more interesting stuff to talk about
All images taken by
All wildlife names confirmed and checked via Wikispieces
