Well, it is not quite a year since our last post and so it seems as good a time as any to get back to blogging about the allotment! Fear not, we didn’t take a year off the plot. We were busy as always digging, sowing and growing. Last year was a strange year for allotmenting with the weather-a heat wave in March and then a very wet summer made for some difficult conditions. Lots of things that we had always had good crops of struggled and if it wasn’t for the greenhouse we would not have taken home anywhere near our usual quantities. We said we were glad it wasn’t our first year as it would be easy to believe that we were doing something wrong and to give up if we were just starting out. Anyway we thought that 2013 would be much improved…so much for optimism!
We didn’t have a lengthy list of over winter jobs. The main task was soil preparation. We ordered a ton and a half of compost to be delivered at the end of January. Forty four wheelbarrow runs later it was spread out on plot 118! It is a much finer grade than we had delivered last year and so it seems like it will be really good at improving the texture of the soil.
Due to the crazy weather we’ve had so far we were worried about starting our onions just as another snowy spell was forecast. We followed Bob’s lead in trialling a new technique by planting the sets in seed trays that were covered with clear lids and kept in the greenhouse. This at least would give them a chance of putting some roots out until it was warm enough to plant out. Varieties are Red Baron and Sturon.
We were a bit bolder with our garlic as they prefer a cold snap so we put them straight into the beds on plot 97. Varieties are Lautrec Wight and Solent Wight which we’ve had lots of success with in the past.
Sadly Neil’s grandma passed away at the start of the year. In the big clear out of her house there were some old gardening tools looking for a good home. I don’t think anyone believed us when we said we wanted them as they thought they were passed their best but they are just the job for us and includes a good shovel which will make Bob proud! We put one of the spades to good use with all our digging of compost-thanks Grandma!
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