Time to get busy

It's that time of year when suddenly everything gets really busy on the allotment. So many things to do, veg plants to get planted, seeds to sow, seedlings to transplant. You just think you've caught up when you notice something else needs doing.

Recently at the allotment I've been busy weeding, trying to get the sycamore seedlings out which are growing along the plot boundaries and up at the top of the plot. There are so many they're almost taking over. I was doing really well and quite enjoying getting areas cleared when I noticed the cabbage plants in the cold frame were getting quite big and thought I'd better get them planted before they got too big for their pots.

Then there were the peas which I'd started off in gutters, they seemed to shoot up while my back was turned and were flopping over, so in the ground they went with twiggy sticks to support them. I'd already sown some straight into the ground a few weeks earlier and these were looking a bit nibbled. Weevils or pigeons? I don't know but we decided to net all the peas in case it was pigeons. That was last week and the peas from the gutters don't seem to have been affected. The others are growing well too. 

Richard had the first of his cataract operations just over two weeks ago and he has to avoid any lifting, bending or strenuous work for a few weeks. So no heavy allotment work for a while. He still comes to the plot with me, usually just sitting or helping me with any simple jobs. He sowed some cucumber, courgette and sweetcorn seeds in pots. And he's potted on the tomato plants. It's not the sort of thing he does as he prefers to do maintenance type of jobs, building, mending or heavy work, but it's all a great help to me.  He decided not to attempt transplanting any delicate seedlings as he felt he might be a bit heavy handed.  As he walks around or sits watching me work he see jobs which he plans to do as soon as he is able to. I saw him with his tape measure the other day which made me think he's planning something. 

I've also been planting strawberries. All our strawberries are grown in containers. I'd noticed that the plants in two of the tubs had not survived, so I pulled them out and as I was turning over the compost I noticed some little white grubs. I don't know what they are and if they are the reason why the strawberries died but I emptied both tubs of compost, gave them a good clean out and refilled with new compost before planting the new strawberry plants.

The asparagus has started growing and I've been picking  spears as they get big enough. We never get very many, but it's only a small bed. It's hard to keep up with the weeding in this bed, it gets a lot of thistles and mare's tail. Once the asparagus starts to grow the weeds seem to grow more and it needs hand weeding very carefully so as not to damage spears just below the soil surface. So this is a job which has been needing  doing for a while and every time we've been to the allotment I've looked  and thought I must tackle that soon. So last week I finally got around to doing it and it didn't take long. It looks much better now but I'm sure the weeds will be back again very soon.

My kitchen windowsill has been full of seedlings for weeks now and gradually as they grow bigger, are transplanted and moved to the greenhouse at the allotment. Last week I transplanted cabbages, cauliflowers, swede, cosmos, cucumbers, courgettes and squash.  Both greenhouses are getting full now and I am gradually moving plants to the cold frame to harden off before planting out.

I got the sweet peas planted and some lettuce, then I noticed the onion bed was full of weeds. There's more lettuce, radish and carrot to sow, more peas to plant out, potatoes to earth up, flowers to plant and more brassicas too.

So lots of jobs needing doing, plenty to keep me busy for a while. And I hope I will  be able to get back to weeding out those sycamore seedlings soon before they grow into trees.

Getting started on the Spring Jobs

We're still getting a lot of rainy weather here and so we've not been getting down to the allotment as much as we would like. Easter weekend though was lovely and we made the most of the sunshine by getting some of the important jobs done. 

I've planted out all the onions now which were started off in cell trays.  There are two varieties, Sturon and Turbo,  I've grown both of these before. They have taken up about half of the bed. The rest of the bed will be planted up with leeks when they are ready. I usually struggle to find room for all of the leeks but this year as I'm not growing  red onions and shallots I should have plenty of space. I will probably grow some salad crops in this empty space until it's time to plant the leeks.

The first early potatoes (Rocket) were planted two weeks ago in potato bags.  This week Richard started planting the second earlies (Charlotte). Unfortunately we have had a visit from a baby rat this week who we think is responsible for nibbling some of the Charlottes which had been left in the shed. This meant we didn't have as many to plant as we'd thought.

I always sow my first lot of broad beans in cardboard tubes. They've been ready for planting for a couple of weeks and were getting quite big, but with the bad weather and trying to get other jobs done this got delayed until the Easter weekend. There was enough to plant a double row with a few left over for another row, the varieties are Super Aquadulce and Witkiem Manika. Once they were in the ground I then sowed another double row directly into the soil, Super Aquadulce again and The Sutton.

The greenhouses are filling up with plants.  I've been starting seeds off at home to grow on the two kitchen windowsills. We don't have many suitable spaces in the house for seed pots and trays so as soon as the seedlings are potted on I take them to the allotment and put in the greenhouses. I cover them with fleece or bubble wrap so they are nice and warm. Seedlings growing in the greenhouses are:

Beetroot (Boltardy)    salad leaves and lettuce (Little Gem)  Cabbage (Kilaton)    Tomatoes (8 varieties)  Sweetcorn (Swift)      Aubergine (Black Beauty)  Basil    Parsley    

Also flowers, Asters, Zinnia, French Marigold and sweet peas at the moment, but others will join them soon.

I made the mistake I always do with sweet peas, they were slow to germinate and I thought they weren't going to grow so I bought a pot of seedlings from the garden centre and within a couple of days the ones I'd sown in pots  were finally coming through. I should have lots of lovely sweet peas this summer then!

The first peas are sown in lengths of guttering in the greenhouse--two varieties, Onward and Meteor.  They are just starting to come through.

    

As well as all this seed sowing and planting, there is much weeding to be done. The beds were all nicely prepared earlier in the year, but we have been plagued with hundreds of sycamore seedlings all over the plot. We have a big sycamore tree at the top of the plot which is to blame. Every year we have this problem but this year there are many more than usual.  Everywhere you look there are these little seedlings. So every time we go to the plot I spend some time hoeing off the weeds a different section at a time. I'm hoping they stop growing soon.

Before

After

Its good to get started on these early jobs and to see vegetables growing in the beds.