Back to work on the allotment

There's a pattern to the work on the allotment. The same jobs are done at the same time of the year, which makes it difficult as I write my blog to find something different to say. It can become a bit boring. But I do like that repetition. I think 'oh here we go again, we did this last year'. It does make me feel good though and that I might be doing things right.

Three sessions on the plot last week made me feel good. I am making progress, but the weather at this time of year can put a stop to all that so I feel lucky that I was able to go three times in one week. Arriving on the site we saw that some wood chippings had been delivered and the path down to our plot was quite muddy as it often is at this time of year. As it's a job we often do at this time of year that was going to be Richard's job for the afternoon.  

Spreading chippings along the path is not actually working on our allotment but it does help if we get it done, it benefits some of our plot neighbours too. Unfortunately Richard ran out of time and energy to get the whole path done that afternoon, so  planned to carry on with it next time. Imagine our delight when we arrived a few days later to find that someone else had finished the job for us.

       
                                                   

I cleaned out the greenhouse, swilled the floor and left it to dry out. I have started sweeping up the leaves and scraping up moss from the paths. They get very slippy if the leaves and moss are not cleared. I didn't get them all done and realised it was a bigger job than I thought. So next time maybe.

Another job to do at this time of year is to sort all my seed packets out and order what I need for this year. So that has been done and the postman delivered  them this morning.

I also did a new allotment growing plan for this year. You can see it in the photo. It's not to scale and I might still change some things, but it's roughly what I will be doing this year.

Wet, windy weather and time to make plans

Last weekend we made our first visit of 2023 to the allotment.  We haven't done any work on the plot since the middle of November but we went down a couple of times after that, once to cut greenery for Christmas and again to dig up some leeks, parsnips and swede. 

The weather has been very wet this month with some very strong winds and I've been wondering when we will ever get down to the allotment. But we had a short break in the rain one afternoon at the weekend so we thought we would go to check if there was any damage from the winds. I was hoping that the greenhouses would still be standing and thinking that the membrane sheets which we had put over the beds in November might have blown away. 

                                                 

Well fortunately everything was ok apart from the garden chairs and one or two other things blown over, but no damage.   

Lottie the allotment cat came to say hello.  She always pops round to see us when we are there and we give her some food. She looks very healthy,  I know she gets food and has a nice warm shed with a bed on another plot.

As we walked around the plot I was pleased to see that the rhubarb is showing signs of new growth. This is the variety 'Timperley Early' and it always lives up to its name of starting off early. 

                                                 

The leeks are still growing although they are a bit small yet.

While we were there we assessed what work needs to be done when we eventually get some better weather and there are lots. The first and most important job is to take off all the membrane from the beds. If there are any weeds underneath they will be removed and then we will start mulching the beds with manure or compost.  

                                     

We also need to clear the greenhouses of the dead vegetation from the tomatoes and cucumbers and then give them a good clean. Other jobs which I can do at home are to sort through my seed boxes and buy what I need for this year. I also need to work out my growing plan for the beds.

The plot looks really damp and dreary and I'm longing for the weather to improve so that we can get started on all the jobs which need doing. At the moment as I write this blog there is snow outside, so no chance yet.

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.

Indoor gardening

No, I'm not talking about houseplants, I'm talking about garden jobs I can do indoors when the weather is too bad to be outside.  I think most gardeners are like me and are itching to get outside and start doing jobs in the garden or at the allotment. We have had lots of snow recently here in Lancashire, when it hasn't been snowing its been raining heavily and when it hasn't been doing either of those its been too cold to venture outside. Even Holly the cat hasn't wanted to go out.

First on my list of indoor jobs to do was to sort out all my seed packets and list what I need to buy for this year' s growing plan. I ordered seeds from Simply Seed and what I couldn't get from there I ordered from Seed Parade. I was very pleased with the service from both companies, seeds arrived within a few days. 

Since the start of  COVID and lockdown last year a lot of people have taken to growing their own flowers and vegetables.  This resulted in many seed companies being overwhelmed with orders, so I was thankful that I didn't have to wait long for my orders.

Along with planning what to grow this year I needed to work out my allotment plan and crop rotation. I have a very simple plan of the allotment, which I renew every year. Although it's too early to sow seeds outside, I have started a few off indoors in propagators on the kitchen windowsill. It can be a bit hit and miss as there isn't always enough light and seedlings can get leggy. 

I sowed some chillies, peppers, broad beans and sweet peas. So the kitchen windowsills are now taken over with seed pots and trays. I check them several times a day and never fail to get excited when they start to germinate. Upstairs in one of the spare bedrooms are trays of seed potatoes laid out for chitting.

One of the jobs which the presenters of gardening programmes often tell you to do in the winter time is clean up your plant marker sticks.  I have never had the time or patience to be bothered with this until this year when I have spent a few cold wet days sat in the kitchen scrubbing the marker sticks with wire wool and washing in soapy water. I know I will be pleased about all this preparation in a few weeks time when I'm sowing seeds or planting out and  can reach for a nice clean seed marker.