End of March

The weather this weekend was cold but much brighter. Finshed off the seed bed, tidied up next doors fencing and started fencing the other sides. These fence panels are made from old wood pallets broken up and nailed together.

All the seedlings and plants are doing well if a little slow but the cold weather will slow things down. The forecast is for milder weather which usually means rain.

These are my brassica seedlings. Kale, broccili and calabrese

You can just see the first shoots from the salad potatoes.

I have been busy with work and other commitments so have not posted for a while. Getting up the allotment most mornings for an hour before helping get the kids ready for school. Still extending beds and sifting through old soil to clear out weeds and stones.

The weather has been much brighter but still cold. A slight frost on Friday morning but no damage done. Made a couple more cold frames at work, just need glass for lid. Saturday was supposted to be nice and sunny but turned cloudy and cold. Kids had a good time playing with their cousins in the next pen. Managed to plant most of the seed potatoes into three beds. One bed has been covered with polythene for a few week to warm up soil and the other two were uncovered but are now covered to protect from cold and cats!

Started to sow onion sets but a lot were mouldy and soft! Tried a stick of forced rhubarb and was well impressed with the taste, even raw. Extended the edges around the conifers and planted some sweet william or wall flowers i think. I dug them out of some planters at Dan's.

Finally got some sort of crop rotation plan going. There are 15 beds plus seed/nursery bed. From a chart off the internet i have divided the beds into four which can form part of some rotation each year. Its not too strict or rigid as some crops take up more space and beds than others. The beds are numbered 1-15 from left to right looking north.

This year

1. Strawberry 2. Strawberry 3. Strawberry 4. Potatoes 5. Rhubarb

6. Herbs 7. A 8. C 9. C 10. Potatoes

11. Salads 12. A 13. A 14. Asparagus 15. Potatoes

Some plots are permanent and do not fit into rotation eg herbs, rhubarb and asparagus. The strawberries will need moving every 3/4 years. The south and west borders have fruit in them and will double for the B plots this year

The groups are:

1. Potatoes
2. A. Roots- Beetroot, carrots, corgettes, celeriac, celery, garlic, onion, leek, peppers, squash and tomatoes.
3. B. Legumes- Broadbeans, french beans, runner beans, peas, spinach, sweetcorn, chard
4. C. Brassicas- Cauliflower, calabrese, broccoli, kale, radishes

Some crops will be grow in the greenhouse or in the salad bed so this list is not final. The purpose is not to grow the same crops year after year in the same spot which could lead to a build up of diseases etc

This plan may change because on a gardening forum it was suggested that the brassicas can go in after the potatoes have finished which would free up some beds. Also looking in what is called a three sisters planting were sweetcorn, beans and squash are grown together. The idea is that the beans are supported by the sweetcorn and the squash sahde and keep moist the roots of such thirsty plants.

Archway

Made an archway for the gate from old ceiling timber. Now i can train the honeysuckle over it.

Rhubarb and Eggs

Early Saturday morning. It was a little warmer and the sun was trying to get out but the wind made it feel cooler. Just finished extending the nursery/seed bed to create more space. This is the first time i have had the space to have one so it will free up space in the green house and not have too many plant in pots waiting to go in. The pile of soil and weeds at the front of the picture will soon be sifted used for containers and topping up beds.

I had a peek under the dustbin to see how the rhubarb was doing. You can see the difference between the forced stalks and those growing normally. These crowns were divided from a larger plant last year but i think you are supposed to leave them to settle for a year before pulling any stalks but i couldn't resist. Apparantly you can't force a rhubarb crown every year and must leave it for 2/3 before you do it again, so with 3 crowns to go at i should be able to rotate the crowns.

Nothing better than freshly laid eggs for your breakfast. My mother in law keeps chickens on the next allotment so they can have fruit and veg from me and i can have some eggs!

Cold Frame

Yesterday i extended some more beds and put some shelves up in the shed. I now have a work surface to work from although i do like to work on the greehouse staging. The chitted potatoes are now in the shed ready for planting later this month. Got some snowdrops from margarets after clearing her garden and have split them up and potted them up for home. Made a small coldframe to go in front of greenhouse

Inside are some 'jacobs ladder', clematis, laurel, gooseberry and blackcurrant cuttings

Bluebells and Aqualegias

These are some blubell seedlings just coming through. I collected them late spring from my other allotment and sowed them in 3" pots and left them in the green house. Finally signs of life!
Below are some aqualegias that were sown last year just been pricked out ready for growing on

Early Potatoes

Spent a couple of hours up the allotment on Sunday afternoon. It was very windy and cold but occasionally the sun came out to warm things up a bit. Sowed some seed potatoes into some pop up containers. 4" of compost in the bottom and 3 potatoes per bag then just covered with more compost. As the shoots come up then i just keep adding more compost until the container is full

Extended a couple of beds and covered one with fleece to warm up for some early salad crops.

Snow

Weather turned cold again with some snow.

First of March

First of march brings better weather though it is trying to hail! On sunday did a couple of hours on the allotment. Dug over 6 beds and put plastic on the potato bed to warm it up a little before planting. Tidied up some edges and weeded the herb bed. Found some daffodils trying to grow near the gate so moved them to a better place.

In the greenhouse the plants seem to be doing ok. Tulips that were put into pots are coming through now and along with the daffodils i will take them home for the garden.

Sowed: carrots 'early nantes 2 & 5' into 9" pots with multipurpose compost.

These should grow in the greenhouse for an earlier crop and with successional sowing should keep us supplied with carrots. The last time i grew carrots the carrot fly larvae spoiled them all so this year i will protect them with fleece.

I am still trying to work out my planting for each of the beds. There are 15 in total. Beds 1, 2, 3 have strawberries in so they will stay thier for 3 years then they will need moving to prevent diseases building up. Bed 4 has rhubarb in and bed 6 is the herb bed. Bed 10 and 15 are for potatoes and bed 14 asparagus.