Enjoying the waiting game ahead of the harvest
Early summer is one of the best times on the allotment. The rush to get the ground in good shape and seeds planted has passed. Longer daylight hours make for more relaxed days on the plot. Dealing with a few annual weeds doesn’t take too long but perennial thugs like thistles and docks need digging out before they seed.
It’s a waiting game until the first fruits of one’s labour can be picked. First up are some salad leaves and asparagus followed by strawberries. With the prospect of an imminent bounty on my own plot, it’s easy to forget to make some successional plantings allowing me to carry on harvesting late into autumn. It’s a good idea to sow some pinches of seed of whatever salad veggie you like. Lettuce seeds don’t always flourish in the heat of summer but there are plenty of other salad vegetables that do. Oriental vegetables such as pak choi and mizuna do well for me. It’s not too late to sow carrots. Later sowings usually escape being wrecked by carrot flies. Swiss Chard and Perpetual Spinach planted now will keep going on and on and even into the winter.
It’s an ideal time to go out and about visiting other allotment sites. I’m often surprised at the variations from one site to another and how many different ways of cultivation are employed. Just chatting with plotholders on different sites can spark off all sorts of new ideas. These visits are both fun and a learning exercise.
It’s an ideal time to go out and about visiting other allotment sites
Scotland’s Gardens Scheme’s Yellow Book lists gardens open to the public for charity throughout the year. The majority of gardens are ornamental but some of them will have vegetable plots. However, there are a growing number of allotment sites opening under the scheme. Some of my favourites are ones, including Arbroath, where two sites are open. Here they demonstrate that allotment plotholders are past masters at finding new uses for what would otherwise have been thrown away. As befits their seaside situation, I noticed old fishing nets finding new life as covers for fruit cages and fish boxes used as planters. This is the Year of Young People and many gardens are making an extra effort to include activities for children making a great day out for all the family. My own site in Musselburgh is open as part of Inveresk Village open day on Sunday 17 June. n