Using the sunshine

[watervole]

 Spent a couple of hours down the allotment.  

Planted a row of Swiss Chard (Silver chard 2) next to the row of beetroot I did on Tuesday.  

Chard are related to beetroot and have very similar seeds, so I soaked the seeds for about an hour before I planted them.  With large seeds (ie. those that you can actually handle as opposed to the ones that look like pepper or poppy seeds) it can improve germinate if you soak them first.  The bigger the seed, the more likely it is to benefit.

Weeded, trimmed grass and removed various nettles and brambles encroaching on the runner beans.  I may buy some more runner bean seed tomorrow if I can find a late variety.  We lost about half of them to the bad weather/slugs - and it takes a fair bit to kill a runner bean as any gardener will tell you.

On the plus side, I picked some more sugarsnap peas - they've done well and I'm looking forward to growing them again next year.

Picked some rhubarb stalks as well and a couple of turnips.

The French beans are finally showing some decent growth and the squashes are no longer static.  The sunshine seems to be helping a lot on that front.

If my feet are up to it tomorrow (I've been having problems with my Achilles tendon for the last couple of months), then I'll plant a row of something else - haven't decided what yet - probably between the carrots and the mange-tout.

Comments

[raspberryfool.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the tip on soaking seeds, i might try that with my beans next year; I usually rely on them absorbing moisture from the compost. Do you think that would work with tomatoes? I have some really old seeds (1978) I'd like to germinate.

It's been a bumper year for slugs and snails here too - they've been making beelines for my cauliflower and bean plants. I know it's not P.C. these days but I've found methaldehyde slug pellets are the only effective way to keep them off.

According to Nicky's Nursery page (http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/veg1-runner-beans1.htm) you can sow runner beans until early July, so it might be worth a try. My Frenchies are now developing a crop and I expect to start picking them next week - i might germinate more seeds for later cropping.

[vjezkova.livejournal.com]

I am glad your plants are doing well. Here we still have that monsoon.like weather, too wet, some plants are affected by fungi and all is soaked. The humidity at the moment is 80%! Not wery healthy fot people either.
I have quite nice tomatoes but they are still green, we need sunshine very badly.