Strictly speaking the fennel shouldn’t be in the flower section, but seems quite happy there! We don’t actually use the fennel for anything, but it is nice to brush against it to get the aroma before opening the compost bin!
No flowers yet on the nasturtiums, but they’re looking nice and health.
Next year’s fruiting growth on the blackberry is looking particularly good. Hopefully that’ll lead to plenty of fruit!
I’m still not too sure what this odd growth is on the gooseberry, or if I should cut back the affected branch or not….
The rest of the gooseberry is looking healthy though, so maybe it’s not anything to be concerned about?
Up to shaded herb corner, which is looking a lot better since I cleared a lot of the weeds and grass from the base of the plants. It’s almost impossible to clear all of it though.
Originally I had three mint plants in this area (you can just make out the rim of one of the pots I’d used to try and contain the mint roots). I guess it’s a waiting game now to see if any mint plants actually remain, having cleared the weeds & overgrown grass from this section.
An atmospheric shot of the raspberries, just for something different.
I planted the rosemary and didn’t do anything with it at all…. but it hasn’t minded, and it particularly tall now!
The top raised bed is a little more under control, although I do want to concentrate on getting more runners saved from these, so I can add to my strawberries for next year.
The second raised bed, now I’ve planted some replacement strawberry plants in there. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to grow some runners from these, so the raised bed should fill up nicely.
Up to the first raised bed, and as you can tell, there’s not been much worked on in here yet. This one should have various different strawberry varieties plus chives.
Wild flower corner still looks like it needs a little taming, but I can’t work on it while the bees are buzzing around.
Not too sure what this is on my gooseberry – I couldn’t find it in any reference books….
“Half raised bed” is looking good, despite the grass encroaching from the pathway to the back.
My shaded herb patch clearly needs some bindweed removing, but other than that, it doesn’t look too terrible.
I should thin out some of those stinging nettles around the compost bin as well – not much help if you can’t get close enough to add to the bin!
Bindweed is trying to take over raspberry jungle as well. The raspberries can be challenging to weed around, as these aren’t a thornless variety!
Part way through weeding the rhubarb, and its surprising how tall that grass is!
This year we’ve grown two varieties of runner bean, one with white flowers, the other with red flowers. Both seem to be growing equally well.
I do think we should’ve planted those runner beans a little further apart though – it’s not easy to get between the rows!
Of course even the best laid plans don’t work out, and once again it’s been quite a while since I’ve been on the allotment.
The second raised bed was a total failure. I had one solitary strawberry plant surviving (from around 36 originally), so I took all the soil out, lined the base with cardboard (a good use for all those boxes from courier deliveries!) and replaced it with fresh compost, some grit sand, and home-made compost.
I do still need to replace the net though!
Looking at my ever so well-named “3rd raised bed”, ‘Just Add Cream’ is in flower. These plants don’t grow as large as my other strawberry plants, but the strawberries have a fantastic flavour. I have had a bit of a problem with some of them not liking cold winters.
Heading down to the runner beans, and we have flower!
Not the world’s best photo but the Blackberry is currently supported on some wires which aren’t attached to the posts any more, so it kind of ends up dropping over the path. I need to get on and get some new wires to keep it off the ground.
The Blackberry in front of the runner beans (the netting around the beans is just to protect them from Roe Deer)
I’ve got three blackcurrant bushes, and this is the healthiest looking of the lot (I know it needs weeding!). The other large blackcurrant doesn’t seem to have as many leaves and fruit as this one, so I’m not sure if it needs feeding, or if it’s just a different variety.
Cabbages! Ok, I admit it – these were grown to “fill a space” and be a form of green manure, But it looks like they’ve kept the slugs & snails occupied, which hopefully keeps them away from the fruit!
My creatively-named “half raised bed” (it’s only half the depth of a regular 1m square raised bed), with the rest of the chives, and a newly-planted herb.
Nasturtiums
There’s a strange space at the end of one my my planting areas, so that was just the right shape to plant some lavender. My aim is to keep this one cut back as necessary, so it doesn’t end up with woody growth.
Up into “wild flower corner” and you can make out the Penstemon through the long grass.
This seems to be a pink nettle (doesn’t appear to sting), but the bees seem to prefer this to a lot of the flowers I’ve planted!
Down to Raspberry Jungle, and it’s starting to live up to its name! These are wild-growing Autumn Raspberries, so apart from cutting them down to the ground in the winter, and making a pathway through the section each year, they’re pretty much left to their own devices each year.
The rhubarb came with the plot, and apart from splitting a plant several years ago, it’s very much just left to fend for itself!
As you can see, the bindweed is starting to take over again – this will be quite a bit of work to untangle everything, as there’s also some stinging nettles growing under the rhubarb that I don’t want to catch my arms on!
And the inevitable slug – I try to move any slugs and snails over to the rhubarb section, as they can munch on those leaves as much as they like!
