Beans, beans everywhere!

This afternoon I headed down to the plot with only a vague idea of what I needed to do. Weeding clearly, but I hadn’t decided where I would start. I opened up the shed and surveyed the mass of weeds. Where to begin? To put off this difficult decision, I went to go and catch up with Will and Cliff. In the summer, Cliff always brings down his beautiful spaniel, Dolly. She’s a furry ball of energy and never tires of playing fetch with her favourite ball. Cliff and Will had some spectacular potatoes to show me – they had planted some in Will’s compost heap and they were huge! It made me curious about how our potatoes were doing, assuming I could excavate them from the weeds.

Before I began, Cliff showed me a spectacular plum tree which was absolutely heaving with plums. Plums are a tricky fruit, they can so easily over-ripen and must be picked at exactly the right moment. Before we had the allotment, I disliked plums. Their skins seemed tough, their insides stringy and the taste, watery. However, the plums on the trees at the allotment are spectacular. Freshly picked, they are delicious and I often end up eating two or three in one sitting, savoring the flavour. My plum tree has yet to fruit. Each year it mocks me, throwing out blossom then stubbornly refusing to produce fruit. Spiteful, that’s what I call it. The tree’s refusal to play ball has led me, yet again, to rely on the kindness of fellow plot holders for my yearly fix of plums. I may have muttered as I walked past my plum tree later, that I would dig it up if it didn’t produce some fruit next year. I’m not sure threats will work, but it was worth a shot!

Full of plums, I decided to work on the raised beds on Geoff’s plot that needed urgent attention. I’m particularly conscious about keeping the paths clear to make sure Geoff can walk around the beds without risk of tripping over. Clearing the path along the tallest bed was straightforward until the last few feet. The end of the bed was beginning to be taken over by nettles. A veritable wall of them were growing on the boundary between Geoff and Cliffs plots. They seem to thrive there, catching the sun and growing to well over five foot in height. I approached these nettles with caution, having had to retreat covered in stings the last time I did battle with them. The more careful approach paid off – I pulled out the worst of them! The remaining ones needed full body armour (long sleeve tops, boots and thick trousers and elbow length leather gloves) so I left these for another day.

With the tallest raised bed cleared, the nettles removed and the path visible, I turned my attention to the other beds and paths. It took me a couple of hours but when I finished, I was really pleased with how it looked. A massive improvement on the eyesore it was beforehand. Hoping Geoff would be pleased, I headed back to our plot.

My next challenge was to clear the top two beds of weeds, I started on the plot side before transferring across to the path side. Typically, this left a weedy middle section. If only my arms were a little bit longer! However, I preserved until the beds were pretty much clear. By now, it was getting towards dinner time and I was dusty, hot and rather hungry! I picked an apple from the Jonagold tree and although it was edible, it was probably a little early to be eating it. Needing a break from weeding, I grabbed my secateurs and hacked back the comfrey which was overgrowing onto Wills plot as well as threatening to completely hide Maude and Mavis’s coop. I’m not sure they appreciated the disruption but it will make it easier to get the door open to feed them, which should mollify them.

With my mind bent on food, I decided to check how the neglected courgettes were doing. They were massive and much more like marrows than courgettes! However, the chickens adore them, not caring at all what size they are. As I peered through the weeds, I discovered some of the climbing purple beans. There were only a few which were edible, the insects hogging the rest, but it’s the first time I have ever successfully grown some.

This made me wonder about the beans which I had planted in the raised beds on Geoff’s plot. I went back and was overjoyed to find that despite being completely overrun with weeds, they had produced lots of french and dwarf beans. The red mottled bean casings are really eye-catching and I just hope they taste as delicious as they look!

Once all the beans were picked, I dashed around the chicken coops to make sure everyone had food and water, leaving them with a hurried promise of fresh courgette for their breakfast tomorrow, I headed home victorious!

On my return, I managed to get Gertie to drink and eat a little. She has been very lethargic over the past 24 hours so I have brought her back inside. I managed to get some scrambled egg laced with brewers yeast down her as well as some corn. Although her crop wasn’t full, it had a bit of food in which is more than it has had the last couple of days. I’m not sure what’s wrong with her but I just hope she pulls through. Gertie is a real fighter and despite being blind, she has always had a happy and content personality which is very endearing.

So the next few days, I’ll be concentrating on clearing the weeds from the next two beds on the plot. This will mean that the path side of the allotment will be clear and I can begin to think about putting in winter crops of potatoes. The other side of the allotment and the fruit section will be the last to be cleared as I’m hoping to have help in clearing it.