Allotment - May

In recent weeks work's kept me from brewing and generally getting on with things I like to do , but I simply had to get down the allotment to plant up some of the plants I'd been raising at home.

First up the sweetcorn. I'd sown these in homemade paper pots and the roots were already making their way through.

My plot is quite exposed, so I plant them quite deep and the row of unsightly pallets across the back of the bed offers some protection from the wind. They're in a block five by five, although one failed to germinate, so I'm left with 24.

Next up were the squash which were raring to go.

My Achilles heel is labelling. I have ten squash, five each of two varieties, but I have no idea which are the 'ugly' squash and which are the 'Honey Bear'. I guess it doesn't really matter as we'll soon find out when they fruit, as they are very different.

As it's been so dry, I puddled them in. Filling the hole with water and allowing it to soak in, prior to planting.

Once planted, I gave them another drink and here's the complete bed with a fair bit of chicken muck around them, to give them a kickstart.

Needless to say, this was all thirsty work, but I had the foresight to take along a bottle of homebrew. It was just the one and at 3.9% it wasn't going to do me any harm. I sat on the bench, in the sunshine and devoured it. Beer's never tasted so good.

I still have to plant out the cucumbers and weed the gooseberry bed. There's also the small matter of the overgrown grass - but I have a new petrol brushcutter coming to help me with that. Pictures soon.