The Great Beans Disaster of 2020

Since the last allotment update, our beetroots have grown well and we've been bombarded with courgettes! (We've enjoyed many of them, some of which were turned into to the most awesome courgette cake ever, it was SO GOOD) Our parsnips were maybe planted in the wrong type of soil because they never sprouted, and in the place of kale, we have last year's tomatoes growing strong! The smallest rhubarb plant suffered a fatality and we thought it was lost but it has recently sprung up again and all three are looking good.

We also cleared a little space at the back of our allotment from which we can have a cuppa away from the wind or sun and watch the birds take to the feeder, it's very peaceful.

So, as the title may have suggested, we had a bit of issue with the beans. Not the ones on the tipi (although you can see how we tried to support it in the photo), but the ones on the green arch by the courgettes (not pictured). They were growing really well, they had flowers and baby beans appearing, and they were looking really strong. We'd even supplied the arch with some bamboo supports.

Then we had a small run of thunderstorms which then turned into violent winds. Mum and I travelled to the allotment the first chance we got, and the wind had effected everybody in some way. There was a trail of broken fences and fallen trellises leading across everyone's plots.

And then we saw our allotment, but not our beans.

The arch had toppled over sideways, the beans all seemed to still be in the ground but the arch had broken at many of its intersections and was more like a really long nunchuck than a metal pole. As the light was fading, mum and I did our best to lift the beans from the floor and rest them at an angle in order to save them from the worst of the slugs.

All three of us, mum, dad and myself, then returned the next day and fashioned a makeshift arch from bamboo sticks and string. Our engineering proved strong as the arch is still standing after a battering from the wind, however I fear that the beans have had enough as they're looking, ever increasingly, worse for wear. We did manage to pick a few handfuls of beans from the plant, however, and they were super tasty. It's just a shame that the storms struck when they did.

I'm proud of our efforts, even if they may not have worked. We tried our best and did get to enjoy some beans, and we also have a lot of other things to look forward too, like more courgettes (and cake) and yellow beetroots! Plus everyone else will get to enjoy the tomatoes.

Well, that's it for the allotment update so far.

Thanks for reading this far, see you next time,

Mort.