The allotment in June 2017

It's been an exciting month at the allotment. June is the first proper month in which every time you visit the plot you come home with baskets full of home grown goodies.

First up is boat full of strawberries. As we only put the plants in last year this is our first crop from them. We selected three different varieties and you can easily tell the difference between them. The Elsanta ones are huge! Apparently this year has been particularly good for strawberry growers thanks to the mild winter and the combination of rain and sunshine to plump and ripen them.

Where there are strawberries there are also raspberries! We've been having to visit the plot on a daily basis to keep picking what has ripened during the day. There doesn't seem to be any problem eating it all though.

The rhubarb is never ending at the moment. We are using it in crumbles and cordial. Batches of it are being passed on to be used in jam and chutney.

We've also had our very first pick of peas. I sowed them directly into the ground and I was worried they might not germinate but they did and have produced a nice selection of plump pods. We had our first taste of them with our Father's Day meal and we have never tasted peas as sweet. We're planning to sow a much bigger patch next year.

Our other crops are coming along well. We have rows and rows of potatoes and the ones we didn't have room for in the ground have gone in a bag in the greenhouse. Hopefully next month we should be able to dig up our first earlies.

The courgette trial is continuing. We are seeing which provides the best results between growing in the ground, in pots in the greenhouse and outside at home on our patio. There's also two types of courgettes with one yellow and one green variety.

The last report of the month is the onion field. It takes quite a bit of weeding to keep it in order but it is worth it. Here's to July!