Spring Sunshine

Got a good few hours on the plot finally. Every time I think I might have a bit of spare time it goes and rains, but eventually the sun shone long enough to stop the mud sticking to my boots so off I went.

Managed to do:

Onion bed re-dug (where it has rained so much my previously dug area had a thick 'crust' which made raking impossible so it had to be forked over first) and sets put in.

Mange-tout (as above). I've only put about 30 peas in which was about half a row. Reminder to self: Sow another 30 in two weeks time! I've put some chicken manure on and a net cloche over them to try and stop the mice and birds but will need another one for the next sowing. Another reminder to self: buy new netting/cloche.

Neighbour gave me some lettuce plants - no label and he didn't know what they were either as someone gave them (and about 300 more!) to him. Planted them quickly as they were already wilting under the glorious spring sunshine.

Finally found all three of my rhubarb plants just poking through the soil. Yum - can't wait!

Didn't get done:

Was going to sort out area for runner bean wigwams and dig trench/hole to start filling with scraps and paper shreddings but back was aching from all the above.

Didn't re-fork over crusted potato bed either - ditto.

Didn't manage to sow first half-row of carrots - cloche is still warming soil so not worried.

Still haven't moved the second compost bin to new position.

Still haven't dug over area ready for rest of the roots, squash and herbs.


At home though my first tomato plants have germinated and the aubergines are mostly through and just getting their first proper leaves. The lettuces are a bit straggly though. No sign of the chilli and the squash yet.

Frustration Friday

Yesterday was positively spring-like here and in my head I put aside at least a few hours on the plot. Tescos (without petrol!) done, I changed my clothes and headed out. Dig over the green manure ready for the potatoes; sow the first spring onions; sort out the fleece to warm up the bed for the first carrots and beetroot; dig a bit; weed a bit….I had it all planned out and a flask of coffee to see me through.

But the shed wouldn’t unlock. The combination padlock wouldn’t budge. I lined up the noughts (not very inspirational I know) again, nothing. I went back to the car for the WD-40, nothing. Ten minutes of fiddling and it still wouldn’t unlock. Vague memories of it being twisted round when I locked it last time finally convinced me that my three noughts had been reset to some unfathomable combination and I was firmly locked out.

With the warmth of the sun teasing me I knew I could do nothing there without first gaining access to the tools inside. I went back to the car again and drove home to get some money before traipsing off to the nearest DIY shop for a new latch and lock.

Back on the allotment with a screwdriver and the new bits and pieces it quickly became clear that this wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d first thought. Without a drill I had to use my penknife to make some sort of guide holes, as of course the new ironmongery wasn’t the same size as the old ones! I managed to thread one screw half-way in but eventually managed to get the new latch ready for its new KEY padlock.

So, with at least an hour of my time gone, I quickly dug over the green manure – still squidgy in the middle – and sowed a half row of spring onions before I had to leave to pick up daughter.

Not quite the day I had promised myself, and I never did get to drink my coffee!

So that oil leak...

Since Christmas we have been in limbo at home with our garden. It’s a very long story involving a leak in our heating oil tank and ending up with the tank company having to remove most of our garden to get rid of the 300 litres of oil spilt and decontaminate. It was very muddy at times and more than once I wished we hadn’t started. At one point we had a hole the size of a small swimming pool instead of a garden but three weeks since they moved in with their mini digger it’s finished and we have been left with what can only be described as a ‘virgin garden’!

I have newly-laid turf and newly-laid paths. I have a new shed.

That’s it. All the plants have gone as they were contaminated and the grass goes from end to end and side to side with no beds at present. We have a blank canvas and although I have had plans for the garden spinning through my head on numerous occasions now I have the chance to get it right I’m petrified of getting it wrong!

I’m not going to rush into it as I want the turf to take properly before we start digging beds and laying patios but I have today painted the shed to match the grass. It took longer than I thought and my arms are aching from trying to work the paint into all the corners of the slats.

Daughter No. 2 wants a pond which I think would be lovely but having had big holes dug everywhere lately I’m loath to start digging it all out again. I might call in a landscape gardener for some of the work as we have a big tree at the front that has to come down and I want the tiny patch of grass (well moss actually) gravelled over - we need the parking space and have visions of beautiful pots sprinkled everywhere.

So that’s where we’re at now back home. After finishing painting I was going to forgo a trip to the plot but the sun was shining still and having bought some plastic stackable shelving I popped up there to sort out that shed. I also dug another row just to make the trip worthwhile and pumped up the tyre on the collapsible wheelbarrow. I think it’s a puncture actually but I’ll see when I go next if there’s any air left.

I’ve been buying seeds like crazy and also some onion sets. I’ve three types of potatoes chitting in the conservatory and a dull ache in my back that is strangely satisfying!

Honey - I'm home!

I'm ashamed to say this is my first post since the summer. What happened? I'm not sure really - I guess the frantic season caught up with me and just getting to the plot before the courgettes took over was more important that sitting writing about it. But the sap is rising (as they say...) and inspired by the first good couple of hours I've managed to spend there this year I'm ready to get going again. So much to write about to catch up but I imagine it will come out in dribs and drabs.

First things first - successes and failures of last year -

Grew and ate:
Courgettes - loads (and loads)
Lettuce
Butternut squash - lovely although not many
Radish
First early potatoes
Tomatoes
Leeks
Garlic
Onions
Aubergines
Runner beans (eventually)

Waste of time:
Sweetcorn (something enjoyed them but it wasn't me!)
Swedes (just didn't do anything)
Carrots (very hit and miss germination)
Celery (all leaves)

Don't think I'd bother with the celery again but would like to get the others going if possible this year.

Also had in fruit bushes, rhubarb, strawberries and asparagus but resisted harvesting from these this year so can't wait!

Bed system has gone and am just cultivating in normal rows. Battled against a particularly stubborn weed (which I've yet to identifty) that took off everywhere during the warmer months and I note is still around in patches even now.

Love my shed. Have a cold frame waiting to be built. Used my first batch of home-made compost this week and have planted some Autumn fruiting raspberries.

Yep - I think that brings me up-to-date on the plot. We haven't got a back garden at the moment due to major heating oil leak and subsequent extensive excavations but I'd rather finish on a high so will leave that story for another time!

Glad to be back!

Confused by Celery.

I have a blister on my thumb from so much weeding! Spent a good couple of hours up the plot today trying to get it a bit tidier before I have to go back to work next week. I weeded all around the celery, fruit bushes, strawberries, leeks and swede. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were quite a few swede still growing once the weeds had been removed - thought I'd lost the lot - but some were in need of thinning. I've replanted the ones I had to remove but I have a feeling swede don't like root distubance so that's another gamble! The cherry tomatoes have had their day and were looking sorry so I pulled them up and cleared the stakes away.

I've put a note on A4A about the celery. It's self-blanching and although it was cold after putting in at the beginning of June it now seems to have perked up and is nice and bushy. It's not white though and not tall - does it grow under the earth? I wonder if I tied newspaper around it a bit it would encourage it up - also would the newspaper stop the earth getting in the stems - celery is such a pain to clean up!

Anyway I'll wait for the as-always invaluable help from A4A and let you know.

Was that Summer?

So long since I last posted - sorry! I have spent the summer hols in Mallorca and Devon with a week here and there to tidy up the plot. It's still a battle with the weeds...

On the good side my aubergines are still fruiting. We've eaten some which were lovely. The two plants that have been outside from the start are growing madly but I don't think will fruit now. Tomatoes in the garden are now being eaten by slugs - the wet weather we've had at home the past few weeks has seen to that. The ones on the allotment are still coming along although I notice the that few don't seem to be ripening as fast now. Courgettes, although no where near a glut, have been steady. I donated one marrow to my neighbour when I got back from Devon at the weekend but there were four or five nice size courgettes and more to come. The butternut squash plants again are growing and flowering but no sign of any fruit - I hope it's not too late. Oh and I had about a dozen runner beans!!

My sweetcorn is pathetic compared to other plots and I think I will pull it up next week. I did spend some time collecting sweetpea seeds and have dismantled their wigwam now.

A man from a few plots down (he has three!) offered me some strawberry runners. I had to dodge his bees to find them but collected a bucketful and just managed to get them back in the ground before the rain.

I have a few precious days left before I go back to work so would like to get up there if I can before I'm confined to the office..... :(

Brrrrrrrr!

Today dawned wet and windy so I hung on for a few hours until the rain stopped before going to the plot. I did manage a couple of hours yesterday and another today, spent mostly weeding as the soil was nice and damp and the weeds didn't put up too much of a fight.

There were some tomatoes and courgettes ready for picking - in fact one or two of the courgettes are a bit big - and I lifted the onions right out to dry off (when the sun shines again!).

I managed to weed the strawberry bed and found that about half of what went in look okay. A few are very dead looking but there are some sending out runners so hopefully these will compensate for any that didn't make it.

Next to the stawberries are the fruit bushes so I weeded around these also and then finished by weeding the asparagus bed. Again some of the fronds(?) look a little dead so I'm not sure if the plants underneath will be alive.

I'm hoping to get some more weeding/clearing done before the weather hots up again - forecast for next week I think - and bakes the ground once more. Just as well I'm not at work for the summer hols!