21 Mar - A Gap In The Rain

I was lamenting in a previous post that we've had little rain this winter, well, March seems to have made up for it. After the snow the rains have come. Luckily, the third weekend of March when I traditionally put in my early spuds, was relatively fine so, in went the Rocket. Actually I only planted half, I'm going to plant the rest in a month to six weeks time. (Pic - Rocket potatoes go in).

Due to the snow and rain I haven't been able to get the Sturon onion sets planted out, I usually get them in just before the early spuds. Fortunately I prepared the ground for the sets back in February when things were drier. I tilled it, added some fertilizer and gave it a few weeks to settle. So, it was just a matter of gently pushing the onions into the soft soil. I planted eight rows of eight, plenty for us. (Pic - onion sets go in with some temporary netting to stop the birds from pulling them up until they get rooted in properly). 

As temperatures are forecast to be above freezing for the next few weeks, I sowed my Bunyard's broad beans into long root trainers and left them in the unheated greenhouse to germinate. They might take a bit of time but I'm sure they'll appear at some point.

New to me are 'Patty Pan' summer squashes, never tried them before. I've sown a few into individual pots and put them inside the house to germinate. I won't sow my winter squashes for a month or two yet but as these are summer squashes I thought I'd give them a head start - I'm planning to keep potting them on so they are established plants when I finally put them out after the last frosts.

I've cleaned out the carrot barrel, dug the sandy soil mix and added a little fertilizer. Sown are the best carrots you can grow, in my opinion anyway, and they're Sweet Candle. The barrel has been covered with a perspex sheet so things should be nice and warm to help germination. 

Finally a couple of brassica varieties have been popped in. First up is kale, I don't actually each much in the way of kale but it stands well over the winter months and I use it as leafy greens for the hens when there isn't much else around. I grew dwarf curly and cavalo nero types last year with the Nero Di Toscana doing slightly better over all and, they're quite architectural when the leaves are taken from the stem, like little palm trees in the depths of winter. It's also time to sow Brussels sprouts for Christmas! Yes, we need to think that far ahead! I'm trying Brenden F1 sprouts this year to see if they're any good. I always go for F1 sprouts as they don't tend to 'blow' open and stand better. (Pic - Nero Di Toscana kale covered in winter ice).

That's it, things are finally happening on the plot. Bye for now.

 

 

08 Mar - Spring? Nah! Snow.

The first week of March has been cold but fine. I've managed to make a start on some of the allotment beds. There's been very little rain this winter (which is a worry) so my clay has been fine to work, even the winter bed that had no cover. Anyway, I've prepared a bed for the Sturon onion sets which will be going out in a fortnight or so and I've started to prepare an area for salads. Both have been dug, weeded and fertilizer added.

Then today I woke up to snow. I don't mind a bit of the white stuff but around December, not bloody March when I'm looking forward to seedlings and spring! Oh well, every thing's on hold for a few days. (Pic 08 Mar 23).

In the greenhouse I've transplanted my leeks (Elefant) from the small seed tray they were sown in, into a much larger tray. I've spaced them out and hopefully they'll grow on now for a few months before being planted on the plot in their final positions early summer(ish).

The small selection of tomatoes (Roma & Moneymaker) have been re-potted too. While the leeks can take a bit of cold in the unheated greenhouse, the tomatoes are still on the windowsill in the house - it's just too cold for them anywhere else at the moment.

Likewise, the early lettuce I sowed in February are inside too. I've thinned them out to a few per cell as soon as they developed true leaves. I've also sown a few more in a pot as part of my plan to successively sow salad this year. The early salads will go into the plot as soon as the weather permits though initially with protection.

In the heated propagator I currently have a few capsicum peppers (germination has been poor so far), a second pot of lettuce and some salad onions (I'm trying the clump in a cell method). Well, that's it for now, there will be a lot more going on this month as soon as this cold snap passes and we can all get on with spring.

Bye for now.

12 Feb - Early Seed Sowing

We're finally into the middle of February and the end of winter is in sight. Yes, there'll be frost, flurries and frustration to come yet but spring is on the horizon nonetheless. (Pic - a frosty, early morning looking across the site).

This is the month I break out the propagator and warm it up in the house. The first seeds sown are some tomatoes, this year I've gone for some Roma plum type and Moneymaker which I haven't grown for a few years. I've had problems with 'dampening off' in the past so I now raise seedlings in single use bio degradable pots with a decent seed compound. That way I reduce the risk of any fungal nasties attacking the small plants; I find this can happen when the tomatoes are being raised early in the year.

I've also sown my leeks, trying Elefant for the first time this year. I've sown them in a half sized seed tray and I'll transplant into a wider and deeper tray when the plants are big enough to handle. They'll grow on there for a few months before being planted out into their final positions.

The other plant that I always get under way in early February are sweet peppers. They can take up to three weeks to germinate even with bottom heat and the plants take a fair time to develop. This year I'm growing Romano mixed for the first time, a more elongated fruit rather than a bell shape - I've done the usual Californian Wonder and the lovely Torro Rossa (bull's horns) in the past. If I've got the space I'll stick a plant or two in the greenhouse but I've had peppers with the plants out on the plot so most of them will go there.

 

As the propagator is on, I've sown some lettuce seed. Lettuce doesn't like particularly warm conditions to germinate (sowing in a hot, summer greenhouse can cause failure) so I'll keep an eye on them. If there's no sign in 10-14 days I'll put them somewhere a little cooler. It's a little early for lettuce but I hope to pop the plants out with protection at the end of March or, if it's still really cold, I'll pot them up in the greenhouse for an early protected crop.

The lettuce is part of my plan to make more of an effort with salads this year. I always sow too many, end up with a glut then forget to re-sow. This year I want to sow little and often and hopefully I can crop for a much longer part of the season. I've sown two basic types of lettuce, Webbs Wonderful and Little Gem, both have served me well in the past, not particularly exotic but they work. I've also put some White Lisbon salad onions into cells and will plant each cell out in a clump - they seem to do well that way because I thin the clump as I pick them, letting the others grow on. Again, I'll be re-sowing throughout the season.

I've taken the Rocket seed potatoes out of their bags and have stood them up in a couple of seed trays to chit. The shoots, which will become the green part of the plant, are already beginning to sprout. If you leave them in the net bags they grow through and you end up breaking the shoots when trying to get them out.

OK, that's it for this post. Things are getting under way despite it still being firmly winter. Still, let's look forward to spring.

Bye for now!

15 Jan - Welcome Back Allotment Notebook

Wow, it's been three seasons since I blogged here. It's funny, I didn't mean to stop writing this Allotment Notebook, it just kind of happened. No, I didn't give up my plot and walk away, I'm still there every day, feeding the hens and often pottering about. 

I look back at my last posts Spring 2020 and now realise it was the start of the pandemic here in the UK. Lockdown happened at the end of that March and hundreds of people were dying daily from Covid-19. No wonder things seemed a little strange and my normal activities fell by the wayside. The allotment diary being one of them. While the allotment carried on, the writing didn't.

Well, welcome back Allotment Notebook. It's time to add a few more entries, well, for the time being anyway. At some point, this year, next, the year after, I'm looking to move house and I think that'll be the end of this particular plot and, if I can't find another nearer to my new home, the end of this blog - but that's for another time.

So, January 2023 on the plot. I've already bought some seed potatoes and have gone for my old favourite 'Rocket'. I love this variety because they are cheap to buy (get them in Wilko), are quick to develop (plant end of March and start copping first week of June) and, you can leave them grow on to get larger spuds (I was digging them up into late October last year). 

I've bought two 2Kg bags which I'm going to stagger plant, the first can go in around the third weekend of March and then I'll plant the rest three or four weeks later. If I have the opportunity to buy another bag and they're not to straggly, I might pick up another bag in late Spring if they are being sold off in Wilko.

 I thought I'd try some different leeks to my usual Musselburgh this season so I've gone for Elefant. They're supposed to thicker than Musselburgh but we'll have to wait and see how they do.Also, I'm trying some different sprouts, going for Brenden F1 this time around, (I always buy F1 varieties because they don't 'blow' open and stand better). As I've used the last of my 'Big Max' pumpkin seeds I decided to go for Jack O' Lantern this year mainly because I hate eating pumpkin and only grow a couple for Halloween. Jack O' Lantern seem to grow into a nicer looking fruit with a more regular shape whereas Big Max easily produce flat sides and misshapen squashes though they are large!

That's it for now, I'll be sowing some seeds in February. Bye 'til then.