Scorching Hot on the Plot

Gosh it’s hot. Sticky heatwave weather arrived the end of last week sending temperatures rocketing back up to 30C and beyond. The temperature could climb even higher over the coming days. Ugh.

The watering cans are getting plenty of action on the allotment, it’s enough to keep crops ticking over but the parched soil is begging for rain.

On the flip side, tomatoes and chillies in the greenhouse at home are loving the heat. The sunny yellow chillies are a variety called Kristian. I don’t find them particularly hot but a number of them used together in a dish produce enough heat.

The plants are very productive, I’m picking a daily handful from 4 plants at the moment.

It’s just a matter of time before the tomatoes start turning red. This heirloom Bulgarian tomato is called Ruby. Apart from the excellent flavour, the best thing about these tomatoes is they don’t grow too tall so you can squeeze a good number of plants in the greenhouse, even at the shorter edge. They produce large tasty fruit over a long season.

Back to the plot and the berry picking shifts to the redcurrants. It’s far too hot to spend any great deal of time standing around picking so I’m taking small punnets at a time to use fresh or freeze, no doubt birds will help themselves to keep hydrated.

In other news, Plot 11w now has a shed for all my allotment gubbins! The shed casts shade until early evening on a small area I plan to use for seating, just in front of it, which I’m delighted about. I’ve longed for a shady spot to enjoy, my other plot has absolutely no shade until the sun sets.

The shed went up just a day before the heatwave came, below is the photo I took after it was put together – a VERY different sky!

I was hoping to paint the shed this week but to avoid the possibility of melting (even in the shade) I will be sensible and wait for the weather to cool down.