What can I say that hasn't already been said about the 'lock-down' and Covid19? The world has taken a very disquieting turn. I suppose I'm very lucky that my plot is over the road from my house, I can literally walk across a quiet residential street and in 30 seconds I'm there. It's a small site with a handful of plots. It's unusual to have more than one or two people there at the same time, even in the height of summer, just as well because I have hens on my plot that need sorting every day.
While my wife has her allotted daily exercise time walking the dog, I have mine at the plot. I suppose it's useful too, growing food for an uncertain future. It appears that others think so as well, according to seed suppliers there has been an 'unprecedented' demand for vegetable seeds which combined with a lack of available staff has caused supply issues. As I write this Suttons Seeds has had to implement queuing to access its website (I was 274 in the queue when I took a quick look!), Fothergills are saying that they are 'experiencing higher than normal demand' and Thompson Morgan have been putting daily notices on its homepage saying that due to circumstances and high demand they aren't accepting phone orders, online only.
I suppose that most regular growers have some sort of seed stash they can go on with or probably ordered their supplies before the chaos started. Of course, a lot of allotment members intended to support their own site shop, buying seed communally, I hope they are being supplied adequately. As for me, my site is so small it doesn't have a shop, or anything else for that matter, so I always order my seeds online at the start of the year. I've got a few favourite suppliers on ebay. I was a bit late getting my onion sets and potatoes, which I always get locally, however I was lucky buying them just before 'lock-down'.
So, let me get back to some form of normal allotment banter and write about progress this month. Everything I sowed in the heated propagator in March (I was late) has germinated. The Roma tomatoes (pictured) were first to show and they have already been potted on into separate pots; I'll be potting on the Alisa Craig batch this week. The leeks are up and likewise, they will be transplanted into a more suitable container very soon. The Bulls Horns sweet peppers have just made an appearance, they are always slow to germinate.
A week a go I sowed some Bosworth F1 Brussels sprouts (pictured) and some Primo II summer cabbage. Both have already produced seed leaves in their cells. Everything is out of the propagator and is in an unheated greenhouse, I'll move seedlings into the house if a sharp overnight frost is forecast.
It's somewhat galling that as soon as the awful storms abated and the sun finally came out, the necessary movement regulations began. As I've said, my quiet plot is across the road from my house so I'm extremely fortunate to be able to go there. As such I've actually been able to get some things done at last.
I'll be dividing my half plot into four beds again this year to ensure crop rotation. I've already dug two, the third was dug in the autumn and still has its covers on, the fourth is tatty and un-dug as it contained the winter crops, this will have the squash in June so plenty of time to sort this one out.
As I noted in a previous post I'm only growing earlies in terms of spuds this year. I'm planting four long rows of Rocket at fortnightly intervals, the first row went in at the very end of March. The last row should go in around the middle of May and, if all goes well, I'll be digging the first row around the second week of June as Rocket are ready in around 10 weeks.
Well, that's it for this post. It feels a bit strange making plans for the future given the uncertain times. I suppose gardeners and growers have to be somewhat optimistic on some basic level otherwise why plant seed if you don't expect it to grow and produce fruit? Sowing and planting is an expression of optimism in difficult times.
Go to your plot for short stints of daily exercise only if it is safe to do so.
Bye for now.
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