Not edible, but beautiful: this is ornamental Allium season. This one was only planted a couple of months ago, along with the spinach and first broad beans.A quick one, to record how much I've harvested from my garden in the first two weeks of the month. As predicted, it's not much, but it's something - I've saved a couple of quid not having to buy spinach. And my broad beans are covered with flowers - hundreds of them - although no tiny pods are visible yet. The few peas I managed to sow outdoors are also in bloom, and the shallots seem to be bulking up. Tomatoes are looking good, at least the ones I have planted into half grow-bags, but some of the ones I've neglected aren't happy. Squash and pumpkins are sprouting, and looking good enough to sell off the bulk, hopefully allowing me to break even on the plants overall.
The new greenhouse got damaged in storms recently, before my very eyes in fact, but it wasn't anything too bad. I'm adding extra roof cross-beams, and have nearly finished the wooden parts, so it shouldn't set me back too much, but it's been cool, cloudy, windy and rather wet for a couple of weeks, so I haven't managed to do all that much outside. However, a load of mixed beans (climbing French, broad, and runner) I sowed less than a fortnight ago, which have sheltered in there, are now all sprouting, so the summer harvest still looks good!
Totals for two weeks from 1st-14th* May:
1st: 109g mixed chard and spinach
4th: 7g spinach
7th: 18g spinach
13th: 26g chard, 38g spinach, 11g chives
Fortnight total: 209g
Year to date total: 346g
*I won't harvest any tomorrow - too busy preparing for parental arrival.
2 comments:
That photo is so beautiful - the colour and the detail of the breaking flower.
I was on a friend's allotment on Saturday and quite a few now have flowers mixed in to the veg beds. It really adds another dimension - both in colour and especially in movement when the wind blows. Especially on allotments with so much "inventive" recycling being used to build structures and shelters etc - a few flowers go a long way in adding a lot of beauty to veg patches.
I'm glad to hear that! I read recently about someone being told off by their allotment society for having too pretty/garden-like a plot - they had to grow things allotment-style. I'm glad some aren't so strict! I love mixing, but I'm a little scared how much some have grown - broad beans and shallots crowding the Calendula, and Allium growing through the spinach. But it's a learning process! :)
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