You spin me…
Another long day at the allotment. We got there bright and early to find two gifts – a bottle of homemade banana and apricot wine from Chris (thanks Chris!) and Bob had rotavated all of the ground that we had turned over last week (thanks Bob!). This was a huge job giving us lots more usable space and must have taken ages because the soil was rock solid. – the soil looks perfect for planting in now. I tried on a section I had turned over on Saturday and whilst Iwas struggling with the rotavator Pilla was busy feeding and watering the garlic and shallots on plot 97.
We made a quick call in to the stores to buy netting and canes (you can never have enough canes it seems) and also returned with a massive amount of wire fencing, which should easily be enough to cover the full side and the back of our plot. After lunch I used hoops to make the tunnel covering the cauliflowers and red cabbage, while Pilla sowed a couple of rows of swedes. Hopefully this should protect them from attack better than last year as the mesh on this netting is much finer.
Back on plot 97 we planted out our sweetpeas across the front and up the bamboo arch and filled up their place in the cold frame with the runner beans and purple sprouting broccoli. I did some more weeding on plot 118 and Pilla planted out kale (dwarf green curled), savoy cabbages (tarvoy) and sweetcorn (sweet nugget and mini-pop, a mini variety from Bob) in the greenhouse and a few more lettuce varieties out in the plots. We also potted on some of remaining chilli plants.
Our first fruit shouldn’t be too long away now, the strawberry flowers will soon turn to fruit and the red current bushes already have little green berries on-exciting!
Bank holiday special – Finale
Final day of the long weekend and we still had plenty of jobs we wanted to accomplish. Having spent most of the last two days on plot 118 we needed to spend some time in the greenhouse on plot 97. There were a few things that needed potting on, having outgrown their seed trays. Neil constructed the rest of the staging to give us some extra space to spread out. We then potted on some marigolds, tomatoes, sunflowers and cucumbers. The latter are not strictly supposed to be transplanted once they have been sown but when you don’t know how many will germinate it would use far too much space to put four or more in large pots. We just made sure we were really careful not to damage their roots!
We then did some more sowing, almost nearing the end of our pile of seeds for this year. I planted three varieties of carrot (Flakkee, Flyaway and Ingot) into one of our clear beds. Carrots were a sore spot for us last year as they were pretty much the only thing we planted that didn’t work out. We used a series of pots but they went from looking quite healthy and bushy to having roots that were a mushy mess. We never established the reason for this, whether it was too much/too little water or some form of blight or insect. Rather than repeat our mistakes we decided to try a different tactic and put them straight into a bed. Considering our parsnips were successful and pretty straight we used the next bed along and sowed neat rows, fingers crossed for some seedlings.
We then returned to plot 118 and made some huge progress. Neil did some neat painting of the fence and got halfway along before rain stopped play (I’m sure the lifting of the paint lid is the allotment equivalent of a rain dance!). He then used some membrane we got from Bob (thanks Bob!) to cover the last big patch of grass and weeds between our large mound of soil and Debbie’s fence. Even if it doesn’t diminish the weeds it makes it look a lot neater for the time being.
We then tackled a job that wasn’t even on our list! Bob has kindly offered us the use of his rotavator next week to loosen the large area just behind the fence. It was pretty full of weeds and because it had been so long since it was turned over it was really hard and dry on the surface. The rotavator will do most of the work but we needed to get it started and also remove some of the deeper rooted weeds so we don’t chop them up and spread them further. It was a really good job to do as it made us feel like we have achieved a lot and certainly makes much more of the plot look like it is being worked effectively. I christened Neil the manic depressive gardener as after a brief visit on Friday he was feeling quite down and anxious about all that we had to get done yet by this afternoon he was grinning from ear to ear at how far we had progressed! Let’s hope the highs continue!
Bank holiday special – Part II
A mammoth couple of visits over Saturday and Sunday meant that we have ticked quite a few jobs off the ‘things to do’ list. While we didn’t have much sunshine (not totally unexpected for a British bank holiday weekend!) it was great weather for getting lots done and plot 118 was our focus. On Saturday, Neil planted out the last of our chitted potatoes, Charlotte this time, whilst I weeded the onion bed. The weather last week has been the perfect combination of warm and wet so there were weeds absolutely everywhere you looked. It’s difficult to know where to start but the priority had to be those beds with produce in them. So next for a blitz was the raspberry bed. They really need to be weed free as they are so shallow rooted so to try and keep on top of it we covered the cleared bed with a few sheets of dampened newspaper and then plenty of hops to form a barrier, which will hopefully last a couple of months. In a lucky twist of timing, Simon was wanting rid of several heavy sheets of tarpaulin so we relieved him of them to lay at the back of the plot where weeds and grass carpet the area. They should provide enough coverage to prevent further growth until we clear that fully, which might not be until next year.
On Sunday we planted out some flowers and evergreen plants that we had bought from the garden centre on Friday, after some more weeding of course! We have some echinops, lupins, tulips, iris and a lovely rhododendron (had to check the spelling on that one!) and Bob very kindly gave us some plants he had grown extra of which should give us plenty of coverage throughout more than just the summer months. Neil completed the front fence in almost record breaking time, but sod’s law meant that as soon as he took the lid off the woodstain to finish the job we had our first shower of rain.
To complete the general tidying up, Neil worked wonders with the area just behind the fence where there were a fair few neglected strawberry plants hidden amongst a mass of weeds. We know from experience that they are hardy little blighters so as he cleared the weeds he replanted the strawberries into their own raised rows. Fingers crossed that they take to their new location as it will mean many more strawbs this year than we first thought!
I managed to get out of any more weeding and set to planting out those seeds that can go straight outside at this time of year. So we now have neat (although not as neat as Bob’s) rows of parsnips (Countess and Imperial Crown), a half row of turnips (Purple Top) which will be successionally sown again later on and three rows of beetroot (Bolthardy, Chioggia and Golden). Lines of string mark them out until we can differentiate the seedlings from the ever appearing weeds. On plot 97 I also planted some 60 day broccoli (Raab) and two types of spinach (Medania and Perpetual).
Having seen everyone elses broad beans popping up outside over the last few weeks it was time to move ours from the coldframe to a bed on plot 118. I planted them out in a block but also included a further block of seeds which should mean a longer crop and greater chance of many more delicious broad beans than last year! Just seen the weather report after the news and there is a risk of frost tonight but hopefully this will be another example of them getting the forecast wrong otherwise some of our good jobs today may be scuppered!
Bank holiday special – Part I
We’ve both been really busy lately – walking marathons, running marathon training and work which had somewhat restricted our ‘plot time’ and definitely restricted our blog time, so we were dead set to change that this weekend. This post relates to the previous two weeks and we’ll add another one with the bank holiday weekend work.
Two weeks ago..
After Pilla walked through the night I really didn’t have much time to spend at the plot on the Sunday. I finished putting the fence posts up on plot 117 and started clearing the front. It was a bit of a weedy mess both in front and right behind the fence and it was really making the plot look unloved. I managed to do about two thirds of it before I got hungry and came home.
One week ago..
The day was cut short due to rain. Before it started Pilla did manage to get quite a lot planted out in some very neat rows on plot 98. We literally have about a hundred varieties of lettuce and lots went out across the plot. I re-jigged the staging to provide us more room if we need it. Once the rain started Pilla heroically tried to carry on sowing seeds but we discovered the rain makes the seeds stick to your hands and makes the whole things rather frustrating! After potting on the chillies we called it a day.
Website update
I’m sure this will affect exactly 0 people but I have updated this blog to be iPhone and other touch screen phone compatible. You have to visit the site on your phone to see how neat it looks, otherwise you’ll just have to take my word for it!
Sowing the seeds
After a slow start to the big seed sowing months we tried to seriously redress the balance this weekend. We took advantage of the sunny weather and managed to get loads planted on Saturday afternoon in the greenhouse and even a few directly outside. We now have growing at the allotment at least:
– purple sprouting broccoli
– spinach
– red and green lettuces
– Brussel sprouts
– sunflowers
– marjoram
– globe carrots
– marigolds
– petunias
– dahlias
– lavender
– more sweetpeas
The lavender is exciting because we have a rough plan to grow it and perhaps use it as part of the table decorations at the wedding. We also planted a fair few things at home to give them a head start in the propogater.
Whilst Pilla was busy sowing I got to work increasing the staging in the greenhouse, eventually it should be about twice the size of last year, which was pretty warm work in the sunshine.
After missing out on an apparently interesting monthly meeting on Sunday we got to work on the new plot which is still quite weedy in places. We tackled a small corner around the rhubarb and in the same area planted 4 rows of potatoes – this space must be about twice the size of the area we gave them last year. We covered the freshly weeded area with some spent hops to try and stop some of the weeds growing back.
The goods news is we took our first crop home this week, our rhubarb has taken off on plot 97 this week with the warm weather so we managed to pick a few stems.
Sorry for the lack of picures – we left the camera at home again 🙁
Busy Bank Holiday
It’s suddenly very busy on the allotment – both with people working their plots and with the number of jobs we have to do! The seeds we planted out in the greenhouse have had mixed results. The sweetpeas, cauliflower, basil and oregano have sprouted but there is still no sign of life from the tomatoes. It is hard not to peer into everyone’s greenhouses to compare their results with your own at this time of year! We have brought some pots and compost home this week to start some tomato seeds here in the warm with the hope that they might get off to a quicker start.
On Sunday I was on light duties to preserve my muscles for my training walk the next day but I managed to clean the greenhouse out, which was very satisfying and had been bothering me for ages. Everything has had a good sweep down, ready for Neil to start constructing the extra staging that we will need in the next few weeks.
Neil was doing more heavy duty jobs on 118 while I was tidying, as he was cementing in some of the concrete posts using a dry mix of sand and cement. Although he was a bit worried about one of them being wonky, we checked on them today and the cement has hardened nicely and they are all pretty straight. Only seven more to go!
We had some exciting deliveries over the last week. Our onion sets arrived, two white varieties (Fen Early and Hytech) and one red (Hyred) and so we planted really long rows on 118. Only a few are showing signs of growth just yet but at least none have been plucked out by hungry birds or squirrels! Even more exciting to receive was our asparagus crowns (Backlim) as this is a new crop for us. Bob has some growing which he started from seed but we weren’t sure we had the patience (or the expertise!) for this, particularly given that it is recommended that you wait for three years before harvesting even from crowns to allow for them to get established. Neil dug a long trench in a raised bed on 118 and we then made a small mound all the way along the trench as the spidery crowns need to be supported rather than squashed flat. We had ten crowns so we planted them generously apart and filled the trench in and added a little bit of organic fertiliser to help them on their way. We are hopeful that they will be successful, especially as we didn’t really have any opportunity to carefully prepare the soil in the bed, so fingers crossed.
We will have a busy few visits over the coming weeks as the pile of seed packets ready to plant is quite large! But as for the things already growing, there were even more signs of life cropping up all over the place. Each visit we are looking forward to searching out the new bits of greenery and it is amazing how fast everything happens, so no slacking off for us!
PS Thanks to Debbie for her kind sponsorship for my walking marathon!
A new day, a new fence (or two)
Great day at the allotment today. The sun was out, there were lots of people, and thanks to Eddie coming down we got absolutely tons done. The plan was to move the two trees from plot 97 onto 118 and put up the posts to form the back fence whilst Pilla got on with sowing the years first seeds. We’ now have four types of sweet pea, three types of tomato (tigerella, marmande, vanessa), cauliflower, oregano, broad-beans and scabious all sown in the greenhouse. That reminds me, I need to increase our bench space in the greenhouse soon.
Soon enough the trees were moved (we should have done this a week or two ago as the trees have actually started growing again) and we had the four concrete fence posts in place. We used a dry cement mix the hold these in place, I’m not sure it is as strong as wet mix but it should be fine for an allotment fence. We then got to work sorting out the front fence, this was a bonus job – I had most of the parts but didn’t think we’d get it done today. I borrowed a couple of pieces of wood from Bob, and It’s still not quite done, but we have the rails attached to posts and a working gate – something this plot hasn’t had for a while. The nice looking sign we inherited is proudly in position on the gate.
Elsewhere, Pilla managed to dig over a huge section of the big plot and plant a couple of currant bushes that Debs kindly gave us. The plots are slowly coming back to life, some of the garlic and shallots are beginning to grow, and the raspberries have leaves growing again.
Bring on the summer!
Friday night update
I’ve been meaning to get this post done all week, but just had one of those weeks. We couldn’t really spend any time at the allotment for a few reasons, one of them being a huge pile of work for Pilla, so it was just me this week. The only jobs I could do/had to do were planting the new raspberry canes and blackcurrant bush. We both love raspberries and the ones we got from the allotment last year were so tasty we’ve decided to double up this year and get some more canes. We’ve gone for a variety that fruit off this years canes (the other ones we have grow on last year’s wood, so you have to chop down this years growth, and separate the new stuff. It’s not a massive pain, but it is more work). The new variety you just chop all the canes down at the end of the year and they all grow back the following spring. This should hopefully mean we get early fruit from one set and late fruit from another – in theory we could have fruit from May until November.
The blackcurrant bush is looking a little sorry for itself – I’m not sure if there was a problem with the delivery but the one we got looked like it had been in the post a while. I’m not hugely convinced it is going to thrive. Elsewhere, I was desperately looking for signs of growth (I know there will be more this week because I had a sneaky mid-week-post-work visit) and found a couple. No signs of growth from the garlic or shallots disappointingly.
I’ve been looking at the pictures from last year and I think we must be at least three weeks behind spring last year.
Spring has sprung
Ok, well maybe it hasn’t quite, but it definitely felt like it today. We spent all day at the allotment, there was the monthly meeting this morning, followed by a bit of noseying about the place and signing some new people up. By the time we got to plot 97 the morning frost had disappeared and we got to work. List of things we did:
1. Pilla planted a full bed of two types of garlic (I think this is about three times as much space as last year.
2. Pilla planted a full bed of two types of shallot (about twice as much as last year)
3. I broke down a lot of pallets to finish the fence
4. I finished the raspberry support I started last week
5. We emptied the old compost pots from the greenhouse and filled up some of the beds with it.
This last job is particularly satisfying as the dark compost gives the plot a kind of instant make over – masking the weeds and just making everything look ready for planting in.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures, I was quite looking forward to taking some but the camera batteries were dead.
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