Better Weather

March has arrived and with it better weather. It was bright and sunny, but still cold. I headed to the allotment myself, and got lots done.

• Fixed some wind damage – blown over rain barrels.
• Dug over bed 1.
• Got 10 barrow-loads of manure.
• Distributed some manure to the raspberries and rhubarb.
• Started digging over bed 2.

The digging was a bit of hard work and I’m really suffering for it now.

Also, got some new neighbours in the empty plot next to me. They have started well and cleared a lot of bramble growth. They will still need to dig the roots out. But a good start, let’s hope they keep coming back.

My potatoes are chitting in the porch, some growth started.

No Improvement in the weather

Still cold and wet, with snow showers occasionally.

Had another trip to the allotment with Heather and Mary. I tried to do a bit of digging, but it was too wet really. Contented myself with some weeding of the raspberry bushes.

I also finally got around to measuring the plot, 20ft by 94ft. I used GrowVeg.com, who have a rather excellent planning tool. I plotted out my plot as accurately as I could. Then chose my which veg was going where, based on crop rotation from last year. The GrowVeg planner should help with this for next year as I think it helps with the crop rotation planning.

It also provides a planting/harvesting calendar based on your plants. I need to go through this and work out a monthly task list.

GrowVeg is £15 a year, I’m going to look at it a bit more, before I commit, but I think it might be worth it.

I’ve got my seed potatoes in egg boxes in the porch chitting away. Hopefully, weather permitting, be ready to plant the earlies in a couple of weeks.

Let’s hope for some drier weather.

Cold & Wet.

Another cold, wet weekend with snow on Saturday, luckily it didn’t lie.

Went to the allotment on Sunday with Heather and Mary, who were excellent little helpers.

I finally pruned the raspberries, hopefully not too late. I’ve also realised that I had planted them in a different order than I thought.

I have Malling Minerva, an early variety. Glen Ample, a summer variety and Joan J an autumn cropper.  Anyway, they are now all pruned. I need to weed them, then mulch them down with some manure or compost.

I also got a wheelbarrow of woodchips for the strawberry bed to cover the black sheeting. I’ll probably need to get another couple next time I’m over.

I started to dig over one of the beds, before rain called a halt. While doing that I dug up 4 parsnips that I had missed before. Two average sized ones, and a couple of monsters, the largest being 625g (1.3lb).

To do:

1. More woodchips
2. More manure
3. More black sheeting
4. Chit potatoes
5. Fix greenhouse window
6. Clean out Greenhouse

Hiding Out

Whilst over at the allotment yesterday, the rain came on pretty hard, and Beth and I hid out in the shed and had a cup of tea. Best cup of tea of the day. (oh, the biscut tin has the remnants of last years seeds, no biscuts I’m afraid).

A wet visit

I headed over yesterday, with Beth my 7 year old. It was cold and wet, but I dug over one of the beds, and turned over one of the compost heaps.

Bed 1

Last year had Jerusalem Artichokes, sweetcorn, courgettes and cucumbers.

Grass has encroached over it, needs dug over and weeded. Still has some Jerusalem artichoke.

Bed 2

Last year, Brassicas including Brussell Sprouts. cleared out and dug over.

Bed 3

Last year, potatoes, courgettes and cucumbers. Currently covered with manure.

Bed 4

Last year, Cabbages and cauliflowers.

Bed 5

Last year, lettuces & parsnips. Currently covered over.

Bed 6

Last year, Runner Beans. Little Gem lettuces in the wooden bed.

Bed 7

Last year - Weeds

I’m currently working on a proper crop rotation plan for next year.

This year’s seeds

• Beetroot – Boltardy
• Broad Bean – Bunyards Exhibition
• Brussels Sprout – Clodius
• Cabbage – Hispi F1
• Calabrese – Samson
• Carrot – Flyaway F1
• Cauliflower - All The Year Round
• Chard
• Climbing Bean – Blue Lake
• Courgette – Astia F1
• Florence Fennel – Chiarino
• Garlic – White
• Gherkin – Bimbostar
• Leek - Musselburgh
• Onion – Stuttgarter
• Parsnip – Archer
• Pea – Kelvedon Wonder
• Pea – Mangetout  Delikata
• Potatoes - Arran Pilot (First Early)
• Potatoes - Desiree (Maincrop)
• Radish – French Breakfast
• Radish – Zlata
• Runner Bean – Scarlet Emperor
• Salad Leaves Baby Leaf Seed Mix
• Spinach – Hector F1
• Spring Onion – White Lisbon

An unexpected visit

I unexpectedly found time for a flying visit on Saturday. The sun was shining, but it was seriously cold. This is a shot of the ice on the water trough.

I didn’t have time to do much.

• pinned down sheeting on strawberry bed that had come loose.
• covered up another bed with sheeting.
• weeded round raspberries.
• dug up some artichoke.

I have a little little shopping list:

• More black sheeting
• More strawberry plants?
• Manure
• seeds & potatoes

I also need to take over more empty plastic milk bottles as weights for the sheeting. And most importantly a tea cup.

I need to get lots of wood chip for the paths and to cover the strawberry bed.

We’ve got little planned for the upcoming weekend, so hopefully I’ll manage a longer visit.