Easter Monday on the plot

With lots of family things going on over the last week, we haven't had time to get down to the allotment to do any work, apart from occasional visits to feed Ziggy the cat and to check the seedlings in the greenhouses. So it was good to be reunited with my plot on Easter Monday. I had a long list of jobs to do.

Ziggy was there as usual wanting to be fed. I think she would eat until she burst if we kept feeding her. She certainly doesn't look underfed. And she now lets us stroke her. When we first adopted her she wouldn't come anywhere near us and didn't have a voice, just a snarl. Now she follows me around as I work and meows all the time which can be a bit annoying, but I am learning to ignore it.

 I am really loving my two new greenhouses. The seedlings are coming along great and I never fail to get excited when I see new seeds coming through. There is something so amazing about new growth. I was especially pleased to see that the peas I sowed in a length of guttering a few weeks ago are now starting to come through.

 One of my allotment neighbours gave me some cabbage 'golden acre' seedlings which I potted on and put in the greenhouse. I also had some spring cabbage plants which I'd started off at the end of last summer. These were ready to plant out, the first plantings this year. I covered them with some netting frames to protect from the pigeons which are constantly flying around the plots.

Whilst I was doing this Richard did some weeding. Now the weather is warming up the weeds are starting to grow and there are lots of sycamore seedlings from the tree at the top of the garden. We are also seeing some Himalayan balsam seedlings starting to appear. This is an awful weed which can take over if not kept under control. Unfortunately the plot next to us is not well looked after and the seeds are blown over from there, which causes much annoyance to us and several of the neighbouring plots.

The grand children's woodland den is looking very spring like with tete a tete daffodils, blue pulmonaria and anemone. The daffodils which I rescued from Helen's old plot are just starting to flower too.

I managed to tick one or two jobs off my list before it started to rain, but I'm hoping to get down to the plot again this week to get more done.

Time to get seed sowing

 

 March has arrived and in just a couple of weeks we have had a mix of snow, sunshine and showers. But in the last few days the weather has become drier and we have had some lovely sunny and warmer days. These sunny days make me want to just be outside as much as possible and after a fairly quiet January and February pottering around the allotment, suddenly I am aware that there is plenty to be getting on with. I won't be planting anything outside yet as the soil will be too cold, but now that we have two new greenhouses on the plot I can't wait to get to work with some seed sowing indoors.

The potatoes are now chitting in trays and egg boxes and the onion sets have been planted in module trays.In February I started off seeds of leek, broad beans, sweet peas and lettuce. Now that March is here there are so many more seeds I can be sowing, the list has got longer.

 

It's good to see the greenhouses filling up with seed trays.  At the weekend I sowed some pea seeds in a length of guttering and put these in the bigger greenhouse.  These will get an early start and when they are ready I will be able to ease them gently out of the gutter and into the soil.

 I have also sown, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and cucumber, and with a list as long as my arm, every time we go to the allotment there's still more to be done.

What are you growing in your greenhouse at the moment?