Feed a nation from an allotment: July in the Garden

Well, it's July now but where's the sun? It's been very windy and overcast lately, not that I'm complaining (too much). I was rather hoping to start picking far more from the garden such as strawberries and tomatoes, but it's not been the ideal condition recently. Having said that, I am harvesting some crops.

What's doing well so far:

Tomatoes

All my varieties are growing at lightning speed, whether they were planted under glass or outdoors. There is fruit forming but so far all I've managed to pick is one handful of Black Opal, which were very tasty! To keep them in tip top condition I'm feeding the plants on a regular basis, watering everyday and pinching out any shoots forming on indeterminate varieties. That's not to say that I haven't has any issues. One variety - Roma - has produced fruit with blossom end rot. This is usually due to a lack of calcium, which could be brought on due to not enough water. I've removed the affected tomatoes and given extra feed and water in this case. So far there aren't any signs of more blossom end rot.

The tangy fruit of the Black Opal tomato.

The ugly side of gardening - this is what blossom end rot looks like. I've caught this early so hopefully I can stop more tomatoes getting this.

Cucumbers:

There's nothing to pick yet but the cucumber plants I have in the polytunnel are growing as well as the tomatoes are. There's plenty of growth recorded each day and every plant has flowers. I've been pinching out side shoots of these to let the plants put more energy into forming fruit. What I will do later as cucumbers start to form on the plants is remove one or two where there are too many growing on the plants. This is done to get a better crop of good sized cucumbers rather than so many (that I couldn't probably even give away).

The very beautiful cucumber flower.

Chillies:

Both Apache and Jalapeno haven't stopped fruiting, so I'm storing these in the freezer or drying them for future use. These plants are also being fed and watered regularly, as they are very thirsty and hungry plants, even more so being potted, as they can't spread their roots to find more nutrients. There's no pests or diseases on these plants.

Getting crowded in here! Apache have been producing smaller chillies than jalapeno but more of them.

Carrots:

I've been growing carrots in raised beds this year, where there's good, crumbly soil and no stones. Up until now, they have been crowded but I've started to thin them out to allow the carrots to grow bigger. No wanting to waste the baby carrots, these have been used in family meals. My husband was only too happy to take a big handful to chop up for his homemade cottage pie! They were a lovely, sweet and soft addition to the meal. With carrots, I try to grow them in different areas, or if I can't then to cover them with fine netting as carrot fly can be a problem. The larvae of the carrot fly will feed on the roots, leaving you with maggots in the carrots, making them inedible. To avoid this you can sow carrots after mid May, or grow varieties that are less susceptible to carrot fly, such as Maestro. Netting is the other option, which I really try to avoid as I've found birds trapped under nets in gardens and allotment plots in the past. I once took a juvenile blackbird home that was trapped under netting. It had injuries to its wings but after a good night's sleep, plenty of food and water, I was able to release it back to where it came from. It's parents came to it with food straight away so this was a happy ending but if you are using netting, please, please, please be vigilant and free any birds you see trapped.

These went in to the pot but my kids would happily pull some up to wash and eat fresh.

Everything else:

The peas are still delighting the family. There is now enough to add to dishes but everyone would rather eat these fresh. I'm good with that. There's watermelon plants growing in the polytunnel, which are now starting to flower. I failed in growing these last year so I'm trying again! The onions and beetroots are growing, albeit slowly but I've not lost any more crops yet. The celery and celeriac have had a hard time. Slugs and snails have been eating these. I don't put out slug pellets because I have hedgehogs that come in to the garden, plus I don't really want to use any chemicals so this has been hard to keep on top of. Still, you win some, you lose some.

Trying not to get too excited just yet - maybe I will get some melons this year!

Not forgetting nature:

I felt awful at the start of the week as I found feathers that looked like Jim's below one of my bird feeders. Checking the camera trap, there was a recording of a cat trying to catch him. I was heartbroken as I've taught Jim to trust me and take food from my hand. Luckily, I spotted him later that day. He's been nervous but I'm so happy that he survived. I've opened out areas where cats could hide and moved the feeders so that the birds could be a bit safer.

Spines, the hedgehog, hasn't been around much but there is another hedgehog feeding in the garden. I put out cat food and hedgehog biscuits into a hedgehog house that my husband built for me. This stops cats getting the food. Lately the camera trap has spotted a fox sniffing around but it hasn't tried to break into the hedgehog house to get the food.

The polytunnel now has a few harvestmen on some of the plants and outside I've seen more butterflies. I've found butterfly eggs (probably Cabbage White) on my nasturtiums but none on the nettles I've left to grow for Red Admirals and Peacocks.