Allotment plans for 2022

 My seed order arrived last week and was a reminder that I must soon start off some of the seeds--tomatoes especially. So in preparation for this I had a tidy up of the  potting bench in the shed at home where I will start my work.  I bought a new heated windowsill propagator recently and can't wait to start using it. So out have come the little seed trays and other propagators, cell trays for the onion sets and toilet roll inners for broad beans, peas and sweet peas. Soon the kitchen will be taken over by seed trays and pots.

Last week I bought seed potatoes--Charlotte, which is a lovely salad potato and very reliable. Also Rocket, a first early.  Some years we have had problems with scab on the potatoes, but we grew Rocket last year and it did really well, no scab. I start collecting egg cartons at this time of year to use for chitting the potatoes (as well as the toilet roll inners for seed sowing). The potatoes are now set out in a spare bedroom and should be ready for planting in a few weeks time.

Yesterday I started planting the onion sets in small pots and cell trays. I didn't finish as it was quite cold out, even in the shed. There are quite a lot to do. Two sorts of brown onion--Sturon and Turbo, red onions--Red Baron and shallots. I should be able to move them to the greenhouse on the allotment when they are all planted. I start them off like this so they get a root system going and once planted it's harder for the birds to pull them out of the soil.

I have finally done my allotment plan for this year (See below).  It might change a bit, but  basically the three big beds are my rotation beds and the two narrower ones in the middle are often used as overflow beds from the bigger beds if I run out of space. I also plant the veg which come under the 'other' category, like sweetcorn, courgettes, salad, squash in these two beds. Any other spare areas are used for flower growing. If you click on the picture you should be able to see it in more detail.

The  picture below was taken last year and shows most of the plot. On the middle right of the picture you can just see the corner of the third big bed.  Beyond the greenhouses is the asparagus bed with a small area next to it for flower growing.

This picture below is looking the other way down the plot and you can see the compost bins. 

I usually plant French Marigold and calendula amongst the cabbage and kale as companion plants, nasturtium around the broad beans. In the greenhouses I have pots of marigolds and basil. I grow annual flowers which are good for cutting--mainly Cosmos, Asters, Zinnias, Rudbekia, Larkspur, Ammi. And  Sunflowers just because  I love watching them grow tall and towering over the plot. Some of them produce side shoots which are good to cut.

So there's plenty of work to be getting on with now if I want to see more sunflowers again this year.