Planting out at last...

Another weekend of warm weather saw us planting out at the plot. It was warm, sunny, quiet and the soil was dry and crumbly, the fine tilth you hear so much about. I love planting out, checking the distance between the plants, digging the hole and settling them in before a good water to settle them in. I learnt the hard way last year after squeezing in too many savoy cabbages in a small space. I’ve gone a bit mad with the calabrese this year and we have about 30 plants in now and another dozen for our own plot.

One of the reasons we bought a chest freezer was so we could fill it full of produce for over the winter and apart from a few loaves and some rhubarb it’s still pretty much empty, so at least this way we can top it up and have veg for the winter.

We’re trying a new tactic against cabbage white butterflies this year, a concoction of rhubarb leaves, steeped in water for several weeks (longer actually as my dad forgot where he’d put the bucket) and then diluted to spray on the leaves of any brassicas. Apparently the smell masks the scent of cabbage and keeps the butterflies away.

The spinach has already provided us with a superb meal of nalesniki, and so easy to make. There was so much spinach last week we had to freeze three bags of it and I was grateful a carrier bag full of spinach wilts down to a fist-sized freezer bag. Next job is to take some beetroot leaves and make botwinka, a lovely light summer soup. That’ll keep us going until the beets are big enough to make barszcz with, can’t wait.

The lovage has also picked up and shows signs of vigorous growth which is heartening as it looked quite ill for the first couple of weeks. If you've never eaten it, it has a lovely delicate celery taste and is perfect as an addition to salads or soups. Not too much, though, as it can be a little overpowering.

Finally, the most glorious sight on any piece of land, potatoes as far as the eye can see. Well, not really, but not bad. Agnieszka was surprised at how much they’ve grown over the past few weeks. The weather has been good for them, plenty of rain followed by a few dry and sunny days, then plenty more rain.

Finally, the foxgloves given to us by my mum last year are in full bloom, bursting with bumble bees and swaying majestically in the breeze, a lovely sight.

Yours are bigger than ours...

The weather at the moment is strange. For one or two days the sun is cracking the flags, then it clouds over, goes chilly and rains for three or four days before going back to being sunny again. Last weekend, with my parents away, we spent the day weeding, tidying and watering on their plot. The previous day I went to our plot and had only been there a few minutes before the heavens opened and I got soaked to the skin picking some spinach for tea. Saturday, however, was completely the opposite: hot, sunny, dry. We spent ages watering all the plants and baskets, pots and beds and then later that evening, and all the following day, it rained almost constantly.

One thing I have noticed is the difference in size and quality from things grown on our plot, where the soil is crappy, shallow and devoid of nutrients, and my parents' plot onto which tons of muck has been shovelled over the years. Our plot will catch up, but it takes time. These onions are on the good soil and are twice the size of the ones on our allotment, despite them both being planted around the same time last year and despite both sets sitting through the extended snow-filled winter.

The lettuces are doing really well, started off at home in a tray, potted on and then planted out a couple of weeks ago. We can probably start tucking into them in the next week or two.

Finally, a strange occurence in the garlic bed. It appears that the single bulb has added a few siblings which have now decided to make a break for it. I have never seen this before and wonder if anyone else has. Is it caused by the extreme cold followed by warm days? Too much / too little rain / watering? A genetic malfunction? Any thoughts are most welcome.

This week it is time to pot on the ogorek and some Romanesco Calabrese, a new type we're trying this year. I also need to find out why my dwarf French beans won't germinate. I have tried several batches of a dozen but so far only have five plants. What am I doing wrong? Answers on a postcard please...