A tour of my allotment, 30 June, 2024

Let's have a look at my allotment.  Photos to follow!

At the very top of the allotment (not pictured) is a small bed of beets, some of which have been harvested already.  But it's also getting weedy/grassy again so the empty parts of the bed have had some cardboard laid down in anticipation of more sheet mulch.  I just keep on sheet mulching!  There is also a stack of semi-usable wood and other bits of allotment detritus at the very back against the perimeter fence, and to one side is the very grassy/weedy raspberry bed;  we've been picking plenty of rasps over the past week, mostly to freeze.

Then further on is the chicken yard (seen obliquely in a couple photos below), currently not occupied.  I was excited to see some self-sown squash in it but that disappeared about a week later--so disappointed.  I was going to plant it up but maybe I should just put the chickens back in instead.  There is a small bed on the side of the chicken yard, newly sheet mulched and planted with some purple sprouting broccoli.  Slugs love this, but they don't love the new sheet mulch, so I'm hoping it'll grow enough by the time the slugs work out where it is.  Also on the same side (at the very edge of my allotment) are a couple each of:  redcurrant, gooseberry, rhubarb (shown below: broccoli at the very top left in rings, leafy rhubarb top right).

Snap peas at the very front, small squash and corn in the bed, rhubarb and raspberries at the back right, June 2024

The bed pictured above is towards the middle/back of my allotment and has been newly sheet mulched.  The plastic rings are surrounding some of the corn seedlings to protect them from getting stepped on (as they are still pretty small) but also to keep them a little moist and warm as they grow on.  I really like putting one of these rings around all of my transplants if possible, to ease the transition from pot to ground.

Leeks and grass, with climbing beans to the back right, June 2024

This is the other side of the same bed, now fully planted with leeks.  The furthest rows of rings I only just planted out at the weekend;  the ones around the other three perimeter sides are there to prevent us accidentally stepping on them, as these are even smaller than the corn.  This bed has some grass growing through the sheet mulch but I can't deal with it as it will disturb my precious leeks.  I do know through experience that most of my plants will still grow reasonably well while swamped with grass, so long as they get a good foothold before the grass takes over.  There are also my climbing beans at the top right, some starting to grow up their supports.

Broad beans to the front, a climbing bean structure behind (and the chicken house and yard at the back), June 2024

Moving on.  Closer to the front of the allotment is this bed of broad beans which I've been picking every day for a week, but think they're about done now.  I'll sheet mulch over it as soon as I've got every bean.  Next to it (to the right), where it looks so grassy, is a smaller bed of snap peas which have also come into their own.  We've been eating these (and freezing most of the broad beans) and they are still flowering/producing well.  

At the very front of the photo is a bit of insect mesh covering a newly sheet mulched bed I sowed with beet seeds at the weekend.  The son helped me lay the mesh and bury all the edges in the hopes that no slugs and bugs will penetrate it.  I've found they don't care much for beets--even smaller seedlings--but will eat the shoots just as they emerge;  I hope my fortifications are sufficient to keep the beets alive long enough to pass this stage.

Lots of artichokes, all of them tall with small heads, June 2024

Again moving forward (the other side of the broad bean/snap peas bed are more squash, climbing beans and corn, not pictured) is my row of artichokes, stretching across the width of the allotment.  I think there are about 12 plants?  They are very tall:  the artichoke heads at the top are out of my reach entirely and I have to grab the lower stems and bend them over to cut them.  These are coming in at about ten heads every two or three days;  I expect this sort of production over the rest of the summer.  But it's not much to get excited about:  these ten heads give about 3 oz total of edible hearts--not a lot of produce for a whole lot of plant.  Luckily I like the flavor and I have a fairly quick method of extracting the hearts (don't bother washing, just dump in slow cooker and when soft: let cool and peel);  and it's free food after all, being a perennial with basically no maintenance other than harvest. 

Cherry toms and pickling cucs, June 2024

And last on my tour is the front of the allotment, sporting my collection of motley containers and shed.  There are more containers on the other side of the shed (slightly visible behind);  also beyond are my black plastic composters.  The other side of the bed itself has my in-ground plum tomatoes (one white tomato support is just barely showing at the top left corner).  Some of these containers lost their first planting of cucumber seedlings to slugs.  I will be replanting them with a later sowing:  the son emptied out the old compost (and mounded it around the toms, so as not to waste it), gave them a very thorough spray with the hose inside and out--and we moved them to a new spot just to be on the very safe side.  I hope to replant by the weekend.