Spring on the allotment

 

April is a busy time on the allotment. It's time to get sowing and planting. The soil is warming up and the weeds are starting to grow. Despite the awful wet weather we've been having over the last few weeks we've managed to keep up with our winter jobs and are fairly well prepared now as once the growing season gets underway it can get to be very busy on the allotment.

I've pruned the fruit bushes, and tidied up the strawberry tubs then gave them a feed and mulch. The fruit cages needed quite a bit of weeding too. 

The shed finally got it's big spring clean out, I'd been putting it off but it's always good to see it clean and tidy again. While we were cleaning we found holes where the rats had been able to get in. And lots of  rat droppings! So Richard blocked the holes up and after cleaning I sprayed round with a peppermint oil spray which is supposed to help deter them. They don't like strong smells apparently.  Camphor, garlic, coffee grounds are other smells they don't like. Putting pots of mint around the plot is supposed to help keep them away. It won't get rid of them completely I know, but if it helps to keep them out of the shed I'll be glad. We've seen them running around outside on our plot and neighbours plots, they seem to be quite active at the moment. 

I've also cleaned the paths of debris, weeds and mud and swilled them with a cleaner. I always think that if your paths are clean and tidy it helps to make the rest of the plot look good too.

The green houses and cold frames are filling up with trays of seedlings. The broad beans and peas look almost ready for planting out. I started planting the onions a few days ago. It's a back breaking job especially for me with my back problems. I did three rows before I had to give up. That was 66 onions. There are still plenty more to plant so it could take me a while to get them all in the ground. 

The first early potatoes (Rocket) were planted in potato bags two weeks ago. I have been transplanting tomato and flower seedlings this week and  have now moved them to the allotment greenhouse because there is no more room at home.  I will be growing the flowers in the cut flower bed on the plot and anywhere else I can find space for them. I wish I had more space to grow  flowers for cutting I always seem to grow more than I have the space for.

I always seem to be going on about the weather, but it's important for gardeners to have the right conditions for sowing, planting and growing. So many people I know have got really soggy allotment plots and are finding it difficult to get started on their new seasons jobs.  So let's hope we get some drier weather soon. How are you getting on with your allotment at the moment?

Looking good on the allotment

 It's quite some time since I last did an allotment blog. So much has happened since then, but although things are not good in the world at the moment we have been able to spend a lot of time down on the allotment. In fact it has never looked as good as it does at the moment.

We have prepared all the beds and started planting and sowing. The potatoes-- Swift and Charlotte are planted in the containers.  Richard has been cutting some height off the privet hedge which runs down one side of the plot. It takes a lot of light off our plot. It has been hard work sawing through the branches but he has finished that now and it has made a big difference.

My kitchen has been full of seedlings for weeks now and it will be good to be able to see the windowsill again soon. I start most of the seeds off at home, then gradually the seedlings move out to the greenhouse at the allotment as they get stronger. It is filling up now, tomatoes and chillies are in there, flowers and leeks.

The allotment beds are starting to fill up. Peas and broad beans are in. I started broad beans ( Bunyards Exhibition) off early on in cardboard tubes and planted them in the ground in a double row when they were big enough. After I planted them I then sowed some more broad bean seeds (Super Aquadulce)  straight into the ground. I have been watching for ages to see signs of them coming through and last weekend there they were all through. I never fail to get excited by the sight of seedlings poking their heads through the soil.

The first lot of peas (Douce Provence) to go in the ground were started off in the greenhouse in lengths of guttering and as with the beans, once they had grown enough to be planted I then sowed another row straight into the ground.

This second lot are Onward. I'm hoping I will still have room for another row of beans and peas. These are vegetables which we really love so I try to grow as much as I have space for. We put three cane wigwams in place at the end of the bed for the climbing beans. I have started some off at home in the shed in cardboard tubes. I have done two varieties--Blue Lake and a purple bean Blauhilde. These will be ready to plant out in late May.

In another bed I planted the onions a few weeks ago--Sturon and Stuttgard. These were started off in cell trays and planted out when they had formed a root system. I find them easier to plant this way and they get a head start so are stronger and less likely to be pulled out by the birds.

In the brassica bed are two rows of cabbages--Kilaton and Greyhound. I covered them with netting as there are a couple of pigeons which keep coming on the plot and eyeing these cabbage plants up.

So things are starting to happen on the plot, it is all looking good. We are enjoying the time we spend there, it is a good place to be at the moment and we are happy that we are still allowed to go to our allotments.  It is quiet and we are well away from other people, we feel quite safe.

Spring has arrived at the allotment

We've not been down to the allotment much recently, partly due to bad weather,  but also because of my ankle injury which meant that when the lane was muddy and the allotment paths slippy it was a bit of an unsafe place for me. But at last Spring arrived and fine weather, so off we went to get some much needed work done.

I was greeted by one of my favourite flowers in bloom, the marsh marigold in the pond. As I took a closer look I noticed that there was no sign of the frog spawn which had been there for a few weeks. I wondered if the rain had washed it away as the pond was pretty full up of water. But no, on closer inspection I could see little tadpoles swimming around happily. Peeping out from under the marsh marigold was a frog, I spotted another one down at the bottom of the pond. The frog was very quiet and still and didn't seem to mind me. 

Another welcome sight was the daffodils bordering the path, the bright lime green euphorbia under the sycamore tree and the tulips flowering in the big tub.

The last time we went to the allotment a few weeks ago, we moved the blueberry bushes from the fruit area where they were a bit overcrowded to another bed where they would have more space. They were looking fine after their move. The mulch you can see in the photo is shredded pine needles. We always shred our Christmas tree branches to keep for the blueberries as they like an acid soil. I have heard that this is a good thing to do.

Looking at the rest of the fruit bed we could see that the fruit frame was falling down, so some work will have to be done on it soon before we need to start netting the fruit against the birds. Richard dismantled the frame and repaired the support for the apple tree.

The rhubarb is growing really well and we should be pulling some of the stalks soon.

I'm a bit late planting the potatoes, I would normally have them done by now. So that was an important job to get done. We started work on preparing the potato containers with compost. I planted the first earlies in six of the potato bags. The variety is Maris Bard. I put compost in the bottom of the bags to about a third of the depth and sprinkled in a bit of bone meal. The bags are quite big so I put four potatoes in each bag. Then topped with more compost. When the potatoes start to grow and the shoots show through the compost I will top up with more compost. The next lot of potatoes to plant will be the second early Charlotte a salad potato.

Another important job was to weed the asparagus bed. I also fed it with some blood, fish and bone. I was pleased to see a few little asparagus spears starting to come through.

The fine weather didn't last long, it started to rain, but at least we got a good number of jobs done.

Slowly

Slowly things are starting to happen down on the plot. For a few weeks there's not been much going on and I've tidied up as much as I can, in readiness for the Spring. I've enjoyed pottering about, there's always something to be done.  It's good to be down there, it's a good place to switch off from things at home, or think things out.

We have just a few little areas with bulbs and flowers and now we can see there's new growth. The spring bulbs and primroses are gradually starting to come through.They will soon be seen as little splashes of brightness.

The rhubarb is growing and there are buds on the fruit bushes. The strawberry tubs were looking a mess, they were full of leaves from the tree which overhangs the tubs. I removed the leaves, cut back the old leaves from the plants and got rid of the straw left over from the summer. I can now see the new growth and today I put a layer of compost around the plants. I have some new plants in the cold frame which are from the runners. I'm thinking of planting some of these up in troughs to put in the greenhouse for an early crop. 

Once my seed potatoes and onion sets arrived I felt things were really starting to happen. The potatoes  are now chitting in the back bedroom and the onion sets have been planted in cell trays to start them off. 

My seed order arrived too. There's always the dilemma of when  to start sowing seeds. My greenhouse is unheated and in the last couple of weeks I have started off chillies, sweet peppers, tomatoes, leeks, lettuce, and broad beans. The chillies and tomatoes I brought home to keep in warmer temperatures. This week the chillies, tomatoes and lettuce seedlings have started to come through. As usual it is so exciting to see those first seedlings germinated. 

And so little by little things are getting done. Soon in March there will be the mad rush of more seed sowing and planting. But in the meantime I am enjoying slowly pottering about.

Growing

With the coming of Spring and warmer weather everything is coming to life at the allotment.  The weeds are growing fast now, those little sycamore seed pods which fell on the plot in the autumn are now sprouting all over the place, the Himalayan balsam which grows all over the lane and explodes its seed pods everywhere is now germinating all over the plot.  They're all easy to pull out but they are a nuisance and it means I have to spend a lot of time on my hands and knees or worse still I'm constantly bending down to pull them out. No wonder I have back problems!   The sight of these weeds seeds tells me that the soil is warming up and I can now start planting some things outdoors.

We planted the first early potatoes last weekend--in bags and pots.  The onion sets which we started off in cell modules weeks ago have now been planted out. I sowed broad beans direct into the ground a couple of weeks ago and this week planted out some which I'd started off in the polytunnel in cardboard tubes.  We also sowed salad leaves, radish and spring onion last weekend.

I've been sowing seeds under cover for weeks now and I'm watching them carefully every time I go to the plot to see if any have germinated. Some take weeks to come through and when I've  almost given up hope there they are with their little green shoots emerging.

I never fail to get excited over seeing things grow, this is such a lovely time of year.

All ready for planting

As the weather has gradually improved over the last couple of weeks we have been able to do more at the allotments.  On plot 10a our potatoes are now planted up in containers.  The containers are a mixed bunch of deep pots, potato growing bags or old compost bags. They are grown in a mixture of rotted manure and multipurpose compost. We've always grown our potatoes this way and we get a lot of success.

Richard has been making  paths around the raised beds, using much of the rubble and bricks we found as we cleared the plot. It's good to be able to use the things you find around the plot.

We have been preparing our raised beds ready for planting up with veg started off in the polytunnel.  We are very fortunate on our allotment site to have a regular supply of manure delivered, so we can keep our manure bins topped up. We have also recently had a supply of soil improver available through our allotment association. Our beds are new so we have mixed  rotted manure and soil improver into the fairly heavy soil. Hopefully this will help to break the soil down over a period of time.

In the fruit beds we planted our gooseberries and blackcurrants into their final positions at the front of the plot and their new growth is starting to show now.   The rhubarb is also growing well. The winter veg are coming to an end now and although the brassicas got attacked by the pigeons we were pleased to see that the purple sprouting broccoli is recovering and we were able to harvest some at the weekend.

The raised beds are empty at the moment except for the leeks and kale, but as the sun warms the soil we are ready to get sowing and planting.  The polytunnel is full of seedlings and it's so exciting to see them growing more each day.

What's happening on your allotment/vegetable plot?

Not completely useless

Here I am recovering from a broken wrist. I'll try not  to dwell on it too much, but sometimes I feel useless. I'm trying to get back to normal, I'm told to do things to exercise my wrist but then I suffer with pain and I'm told I'm doing too much. What I really want to do is dig the allotment, but I know that's a long way off. The very thought of digging makes me want to squeal in pain.

So, longing to get out in the garden and do things, I've been thinking about what I can do in the garden, gentle things which don't overtax my wrist. I 've been able to do a little bit of tidying up in the borders, clearing away dead foliage and a bit of hand weeding. I enjoyed that. I  chitted the potatoes. That was an easy job. At the allotment my daughter Helen and I planted onion and garlic sets in modules. That was a nice gentle job, it didn't hurt.

At home I have been sowing salad seeds for micro greens and baby leaves. I can manage that. I sowed pea seeds for pea shoots, rocket, radish, mustard, mixed leaves, kale, cabbage, beetroot. All these can be sown at this time of year for baby salad leaves. They grow quickly if sown indoors and are kept on a windowsill. They are great to cut and add to salads and sandwiches. I even got the grandchildren involved one day when they got home from school. I filled a big tray of compost and brought it indoors. I then found some recycled plastic food containers to use as seed trays. I let them choose what they wanted to grow. The fact that they were going to grow salad leaves was of no interest to them, as they said they didn't like salad. I suggested that mummy would like to have some, but the thing which really grabbed it for them was that it was a messy job. They dug their hands into the compost, got dirty and made a mess.

So in the end they enjoyed their after school activity and they had a tray of newly sown seeds to take home. Their mum was pleased. I just had a lot of mess to clear up afterwards. It was a bit painful, but I managed. (ouch!). Hopefully they will get more interested when they start to see the seeds germinate.

 

Polytunnel or greenhouse?

 

The work on the allotment polytunnel is nearly finished. Last weekend R started covering the frame with the sheeting and he managed to do all but the door.  On Sunday morning he covered the roof and in the afternoon Helen and I couldn't wait to get started so we moved in to dig over the soil. We plan to have a flagged path in the middle with a border each side.  The soil is like the rest of the soil on the plot--heavy clay.  So we will have to incorporate plenty of organic matter to break the clay up before we can plant directly into the soil.

I brought some pots of chilli plants from home and put them in there standing on some wooden boards and Helen planted up some potatoes in bags of compost.  We've both tried before to grow potatoes a this time of year for cropping at Christmas, but without success.  We thought we would try them under cover this time and see if that works.

Working away in the growhouse we were full of ideas and plans for what we could grow in there.

Since then we have had two days of continuous heavy rain which has certainly tested out the drains which R has built recently. Unfortunately the rain was collecting on the growhouse roof in places so some adjustments had to be made.

So there it is, still things to be done, but very nearly complete. Most of it has been made from the frame of the old cabin. We've had to buy the polythene covering and a small amount of extra wood.

We're now trying to decide whether it's a polytunnel, greenhouse or growhouse. We originally set out to have a polytunnel, but it's not really a tunnel. It's probably more like a greenhouse. Polyhouse maybe?

A busy week at the allotment

Visiting the allotment with children can be good or bad in the case of our grandchildren. Last week they were not very enthusiastic about going, there was a lot of whinging. Once we got there though they soon settled down and enjoyed themselves. They did some digging although we did have to try to persuade them not to throw the good soil out of the raised beds!  And they found some worms.

Meanwhile my daughter and I  planted the onions and garlic which had been started off in module trays. They were easy to plant and because they were more established we didn't have the worry of the birds pulling them out.

We never get as much done as we would like when we have the children with us so a few days later I returned with my husband and he set to work barrowing manure from the communal heap to our own manure heap, whilst I did some digging and preparing of the beds. I also put some manure around the fruit bushes.

At the next visit a couple of days later we planted the potatoes.  We plant them in bags or containers, usually old compost bags. We planted some in the garden at home and the rest at the allotment. We have planted 'Foremost', 'MarisPeer', and 'Aran Pilot'.  We put a layer of compost in the bag then plant  3 potatoes to each bag and cover with more compost. As the potato foliage grows we top up with more compost until the bag is full. This is a good way to grow potatoes if you are short of space. I have about 12 bags in my garden, my daughter has 6 bags and we have another 12 bags at the allotment.

We also did some weeding at the bottom end of the plot and put some membrane down.  Weeds are are big problem here especially the Himalayan balsam which grows through the fence and can take over in the summer. Last year we covered the fence with membrane to stop it growing through and this  worked well.  So this week we covered another section of the fence and also covered the ground which we weeded first. Hopefully this will now be a good  area clear of weeds.

Our plot is a communal area which means we have no fenced off area separating us from other plot holders, it is made up entirely of raised beds built by the council of which we have 2 and our daughter has 2 and the council also has provided us with compost bins and storage boxes. We are limited with with what we can do with the space, but we are trying  to keep our area 'ours' and keep it tidy as well as putting our own personal touches to it.

This week we've also harvested baby leeks, kale and purple sprouting broccoli. I'm feeling really pleased with the progress we've made this week.

If you are new to my blog then you can read about our allotment here.

Preparing the ground

It's amazing what a bit of sunshine can do to lift the spirits and give you a bit of enthusiasm to get out in the garden.  We have had weeks of rain  here in Lancashire, the days have been so dark and dreary, but this weekend we had sunshine and I couldn't wait to get outside and do a few jobs in the garden.   It was quite cold and frosty so there was some doubt as to whether we would be able to do any digging.

My daughter and I went  to the garden centre first and bought our seed potatoes. We bought Foremost,  Maris Peer and Arran Pilot. These will be grown in tubs, potato growing bags and old compost bags as we don't have enough space to grow them in the ground. We  find this a good way to grow them. I've got plenty of egg boxes in the shed ready for when we start chitting the potatoes and we'll start on that soon. When we've harvested them all the old compost goes on the beds, so nothing is wasted.

At the allotment we picked some brussels sprouts and pulled up the rest of the beetroot and parsnips. There was a pile of manure left for the allotment holders to help themselves to so my husband  filled several bags of it. My daughter and I dug over the cleared areas of the  raised beds and manured. At the end of the summer I had dug over the areas where the vegetables had finished and covered them with membrane.  So despite the frost this weekend I found that when we took the membrane off that it was quite easy to dig over. The soil is now exposed so that the frost can do its work on breaking up the soil and killing off any bugs.

 I'm feeling quite pleased with the work that we have done this weekend.  It  looks well prepared and tidy now ready for the spring when all the work will commence.  Now we need to think about what we are going to grow this year and start buying seeds.