The Beauty of Nature

It’s been foul weather this past week, so I have only been occasionally up to the allotment. Also at the weekend I was away so I couldn’t go then. I am going up tonight though to check what has been happening and seeing if anything has been decimated by the weather. 🙁

Does anyone have a clue what this plant is? I’ve asked around at the allotment, but no one seems to know. It is growing quite near to my plot, so I’m interested in case it is a weed and will try to take over.

Thanks.

It’s been a no go so far this weekend for the allotment. I haven’t been able to get up due to the horrendous rain and lightening we have been having.

So here is a picture of my Cotoneasta – albeit in infra-red.

You remember the cucumbers I was so pleased with last week? small ones. Well, they have put on some growth since then and are now getting quite big.

Cauliflower is a cool-season vegetable and is more difficult to grow than other members of the cabbage family, so I am hoping that my not so good season so far will come good for this.

You should space plants 18 to 24 inches apart. The main problem they face is the any extreme changes in the weather like cold, heat, drought can stunt development of the edible portion. Cauliflower needs an ample supply of soil moisture to grow. You can also give it some nitrogen fertilizer when the plants are half grown, but I try to be organic as much as possible.

When the head begins to form it is ready to what they call ‘blanch’. You have to tie the outer leaves together over the centre of the plant to protect the head from sunburn and to keep it from turning green and developing an off-flavour.

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What to watch out for? Well, cabbage worms and black rot are the worst. Also if growth is interrupted, the heads may not develop or may develop poorly.

You remember that I netted the sprouts last week? Well they have come on leaps and bounds now that the greedy birds cant get to them.

I am quite impressed with them – despite having to spend ?10 on the hard netting. I know it will come in handy for next year, but it is still ?10 that could have been spent on plants and the like.

Oh well, at least the sprouts will be good for me and will make a tasty addition to winter meals.

The good thing about spinach is that the slugs don’t seem to eat it? This means there is more for me to eat.

I am going back up to water later and to cut some for a spinach and ricotta ‘pie’ I am fond of. It only takes 15 minutes to make and is really tasty when I have put in a few of my secret ingredients.

If I remember, I will put the recipe up here later. 🙂

Well, for once we are winning against the slug menace. 😉 The runner beans have been able to grow a little taller, though I fear it will be a long battle with the little blighters.

The one that I thought could survive as it had a little green shoot left in the centre – after slug munching – has not done a thing, so we are one down to the slugs this week, boo hiss!

They need to get a little taller and I will start to wind them round the stakes. (click to enlarge the photo)

At last, the dwarf beans have started to arrive. I was worried that the slugs had got them as they have taken ages to poke their heads through the soil and there have been a lot of slug trails across where they are.

Now I have to protect them from all comers until they are large enough to fend for themselves.

The cabbages seem to be doing very well under the netting. I have to admit to not being so keen this year with watering every night. I don’t have the time to be up there every five minutes and have left them to their own devices for a couple of days before watering.

Still my moist soil seems to do the trick and they are growing nicely as you can see. I’m not going to take the netting off just yet. I prefer to let them get a little more established before that.

Here you can see them just after watering (click on the picture to enlarge).