09 Mar - Planting Out Broad Beans

Well, what a weekend it's been. We've had two lovely days with a promise of further high pressure over the country for the rest of the week with temperatures of around 14 degrees. The weekend has been warm with Sunday being the nicest day of the year so far so, I took the opportunity to plant out my early broad beans. I knocked up a light wooden frame and used a staple gun to secure some thick plastic I found somewhere to make a large cloche for the next few weeks though if the weather stays like this the broad beans won't need to be covered.

I've also been doing some digging on the plot. I've prepared the section ready for my onion sets which will be planted out in the next fortnight. I've added a little general purpose fertilizer and have raked the area to a decent tilth, this will help dry the ground out a little too. I'll probably give it another rake before planting.

The final crop of the Brussels Sprouts have been picked this weekend and the ground cleared of the stalks. Some of the tops went to the chickens on my neighbour's plot and the rest to the compost bin. I'll leave the main stalks on the side until I can get around to hammering them to break them up a bit before adding them to the compost bins. I gave the ground a quick fork over as my early potatoes will be going in this bed in a week or two. (Below, a pile of sprout plants dug up and destined for the compost bin).

Talking of sprouts, I sowed this season's crop this morning in modules. This year I'm trying Trafalgar F1 though I'm wondering if I should have stuck with the Bosworth F1 because they have been really fantastic this year. Well, it's a full season in terms of Brussels Sprouts, the old plants are dug up an hour or two after the new ones are sowed. It does show though that the vegetable grower has to think ahead, I want to be eating this season's sprouts on Christmas Day, to do so I have to prepare now. For me, this is the 'black art' of the allotmenteer, sowing and planting at the right time, it's a skill I'm still working on.

I've also sowed some other brassicas today too. I've done a few modules of Primo II green cabbage and a few Ruby Red cabbage as well. Added to these I've sowed a few Kohl Rabi, Korfu F1, an unusual vegetable which always reminds me of a mutated shuttlecock. You can cook it like turnip but we prefer it raw, grated in a salad. I've only done a few, I'll do a few more in a few weeks as I want to try and get successional crops growing throughout the summer and autumn. The cucumbers, Marketmore, I sowed on the 1st March are already up, taking about a week in the heated propagator. It has been so warm I've already moved everything that was growing in the house, including the tomatoes, into the greenhouse as it's been over 25 degrees in there. I'm covering the tomatoes and cucumbers up with plastic covers at night as it's getting down to about 4 degrees. If it looks like it will freeze I will being them inside again.

That's it for now - what a lovely weekend it's been.