[clairebeau]

Well due to a very naughty hip that has been hurting like crazy  and causing me to be sent home from work  I have had to miss going to the allotment for FIVE WHOLE WEEKS!!  It was actually at the allotment that I hurt it so I've now got to be careful, pfft!

Anyhow...we nipped down this evening and oh boy I LOVE what I saw!  Yeah it's over run with weeds to the point of it being lost in a jungle but the broad beans are ready (I think) gooseberries are ready (I think) some early potatoes have a couple of flowers on (ready??) strawberries and raspberries are about to BURST with fruit (must get them netted  but...
I need to ask all my lovely knowledgeable pals on here some questions...are you ready?

If the goosberries are big are they ready to pick? I've never even eaten gooseberry before, I wonder what I can make with them. (no idea what variety)

Do I need to wait for lots of flowers on the spuds or just 1 to appear and the whole row will be ready?

The onions look in a bad way  some have broken stems, could this be the pesky wood pigeons and pheasants? Also, 2 I think have bolted. There is a little bud forming on a very advanced plant compared to the others. What would you do?

On another note, the sweetcorn, leeks, b.sprouts and the flowers are all looking fantastic!

The PSB has been munched. The squashes are ALL looking poor with yellow leaves and not a lot of growth and blooming heck weeds are HUGE! ha ha.

Sorry if this is too much to ask in one go. But I've missed you guys 

Hope you're all ok and bearing up. xx

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Claire, welcome back!  Sorry to hear about the hip.  Hope you feel better soon!

The onions that are bolting I would pull up even if they are a bit small, although some people take teh flower bud off and leave the onion in.

With the gooseberries, when my gooseberry actually had fruit on it, if they felt too hard, they were probably too sour to eat unless of course you are making a crumble, but I waited until the fruit was just beginning to soften a little, but again net the bushes or the birds will get them first!

With the potatoes, some people loosen the soil around a plant and have a little furtle to see if the spuds are big enough, but I just used to dig one up to see.  Some potatoes don't seem to get any flowers and others just have a few, so that isn't a good indication.

Its nice to see you are full of enthusiasm still!

Good luck with the rest of it!