Daikon under attack

Remember last week when I said the Daikon was off to a great start? Well I reckon the slugs must have heard me. Because today's visit to the plot showed that they'd been busy munching their way down one of the rows.

Hmmm. Well at least there are a few left so hopefully we'll get something out of them.

Meanwhile the Tomatoes are on a roll. Today's harvest of Toms, blackberries (and a few apples).

Still not sure about the sweetcorn though. The cobs do not appear to be fully formed, despite the plants looking great. Time will tell.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

46

Daikon off like a rocket

It's been rather warm recently, so I pop down the allotment on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do a spot of watering. Sometimes the plot gets a bit thirsty.

So imagine my surprise when last Thursday I popped down the plot to find that the Japanese Daikon Radish had sprouted already.

Two things are surprising about this. Firstly that it's been a mere 5 days in the ground and already you can see the sprouts. It also shows where I failed to space them out properly, which means I've got a spot of re-arranging to do. But that's a different matter.

But the second surprising thing is that these seeds are out of date by SIX YEARS!

Yes these seeds I bought as a "10 pence special" back in 2012. There were already two years past their "use before" date. But not to worry. If seeds are kept cool and damp free then they should keep for a very long time. As these have shown. It's not unheard of for archaeologists to find seeds from digs hundreds of years old and then those same seeds go on to germinate and grow.

Anyhow, looking forward to some winter radish.

Elsewhere on the plot, things are trugging along as per normal. Which means that the courgettes are churning them out (though some I've now let alone to grow into seed marrows). The tomatoes are fruiting. And the Blackberries are now ripe and ready for picking.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

38

How do you know when sweetcorn is ready to harvest?

I read somewhere that when the tassels of your sweetcorn turn brown, then they're ready.

Just one problem with that... they started brown in the first place.

Is it when the tassels as they emerge from the cob turn brown? I really can't seem to find any definitive answer. Other reports say that when you press a kernel and a milky fluid emerges. Nothing like that so far. Maybe I just need to be more patient?

But the Tomatoes are starting to tun ready now.

Not many I'll admit, most are still green.

Still we managed to get a few for dinner.

Elsewhere on the plot, do you like our new Autumn Apple Wings Tree? See that nice yellow flower it's got?

It seems that our Autumn Wings pumpkins have a taste for spreading themselves around. I've already had to head off some of the vines that were making a bid for freedom by trying to escape into next doors plot. Seems like it now wants to reach for the skies.

Meanwhile inside the greenhouse, we've stopped the strawberries from escaping by planting the runners into pots.

Looks like we'll have about 30 more plants next year. Roll on the Strawberry Tower.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

35

Quick Update - Courgette Tsunami

Just a quickie today. Today was the first day I could get down the plot for a week. Been laid up with another damn lung infection again. Seriously not fun. :(

The Wife has been popping down there every couple of days to do the watering to keep things ticking over. But she hasn't really been harvesting much. As is typical, if you turn your back on the courgettes they turn into giant sized marrows. But we've got a few... and some decent sized beetroot. "Decent sized" Yeah. One was almost as big as a football. Hopefully I can get some photos this weekend when I can actually walk 50 metres without getting short of breath.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

33