Saturday rush-job

It was a bit of a rush job on Saturday @ the allotment. Half ten til one, so no digging for me. However, I did do lots of weeding and watering, as well as getting on with more sowing.

This time it was some mangetout, 3 sets of 3 seeds next to a bamboo tripod. I covered the seeds with plastic bottle sections to protect the shoots from birds and to focus my watering. 

I also planted some sugar snaps next to the pea trellis. I made a second trellis frame and sowed the sugar snaps. I thought some cornflowers scattered amongst them would look nice, so they went in too.

This is how that bed now looks. Sugar snaps & cornflowers under the two polytunnels on the left, the mangetout tripod in the centre with protective plastic bottles and the far right, 2 polytunnels of peas.

I also planted out some sunflowers into pots as I am worried about the direct-sown sunflowers still not making an appearence. Perhaps I planted them too early? It has been cold overnight. Well, I can but wait and see what happens. If they're all a no-show I'll simply try some more seed. The sunflower plant pots went into my mini-greenhouse with the rest of the potted seeds. The yellow scallop squash has started to show, and some courgettes. Hopefully everything will germinate soon.

I planted two hollyhock plants last time I was at the allotment but I don't think I mentioned it. They're at the 'shed end' next to the globe artichoke there. There is a white one and a scarlet red one. Looking forward to seeing them. They're such magnificent flowers. That's them, next to 'Bob' my plastic pigeon :)

My spring flowers are also coming on well. New to flower are these narcissi...

...and some tulips in red. There are white ones to follow.

There will be irises and ranunculus to follow. The big bushy plant to the far left of the photo is 'Black Stockings', which I put in last year after loving it at Hidcote Gardens. The smaller green plant is a Lady's Mantle (love the fan-type leaves!) and in the plant pot is the mint.

Bad news on the tomato front on my balcony... I did something really dumb and I fed them with too strong a mix, I think. They're looking very sad and I am not sure if they will recover. Damn. Human error!

Sunday's sowing

So, here they are, the tomatoes I wasn't going to grow this year! I've got some of the tumbler variety. They're in a hanging basket, dangling on a long string on my balcony. I've already walked into them a couple of times when I was hanging out the washing! Let's see if they drive me up the wall...

Down at the allotment, the seeds I planted last time are already starting to show through under the clingfilm coldframe. The radish and kohl rabi are doing the best, with the broccoli also poking through the soil to the left of the photo.

I was wondering if a pesky animal has been digging in my flowerbed as I spotted this mystery hole and soil overspill. Hmm...

The tulips should be out soon, and the mint I thought would be dead by now has resurrected itself! I should have known you can't kill mint so easily :)

I did some weeding in the first shed-end bed & planted some Lily of the Valley I got on a shopping trip, as well as some Baby's Breath Gypsophylla.

I am also wanting to plant up some different varieties of lavender as I love the smell & it is practical too. This is a pink variety. Didn't get the name. Will have to check the pot next time I'm in the shed.

The rosemary I got last year was a sorry sight. I think the cold weather finished it off. Rather than have an almost dead plant struggling on, I sent it to the compost afterlife and planted this fine specimin in its place. I also had to move the caraway which is going great guns but was too close to the lupins (behind the rosemary in this pic).

The rhubarb I got for a snip went in today next to the globe artichokes. Hopefully I've left enough room for both to grow ok. The plants look really healthy.

The onions & garlic are doing well.

The asparagus is already coming through
- looking forward to eating that this week sometime :)

Finally I planted lots of seeds in pots (about time!) and put them outside in my mini-greenhouse. Hopefully there will be some greenery soon :)

Making new beds

Well, down the allotment I went today, with a helper - huzzah! My friend, Nick (a star of a friend, if ever there was one) volunteered digging services today. Of course, I happily accepted :) While I waited for him to arrive, I gave my shed's potting bench a dust down and found these bulb cards hiding. Now I know what should be popping up in the 2nd bed, 'shed end'. This is great as I didn't really make a proper note of what I planted. Tut tut! This is one of the great things about a blog - a searchable record of what went where, when :)

I also took some snaps of yet more shopping I did on Friday evening - more seeds for this year:

Celariac: giant prague, sugarsnap peas: sugar bon
& kohl rabi: purple vienna (which I have never eaten,
in any form, so this will be a proper first!)

Sunflowers: sunburst mixed, marrow: long green bush2 

(LOVE marrows!), leek: lyon2 prizetaker (sounds promising!), 

& some mixed annuals - planning to plant these in strips 

at each end of the veg beds.

The crocuses growing next to the shed are also further on than last week. lots more of these stunning purple ones and each one open. Sigh :) Looks like even more will come out soon too.

So, what did we do? Well, I attacked the 'dump mound', left by the last tenants, next to the globe artichoke, on the end of my herb bed. It was full of old potatoes of various varieties and jerusalem artichokes (all rotten), as well as loads of bloody sloe tree roots! Grr! Ahem. My cunning plan for this area is to build a cold frame. It should then be sheltered by the shed and close to it for moving and acclimatising my new plants. The soil, once I'd attacked it for a couple of hours, was perfect. Just right for purpose :) No raking needed - which is good as I snapped the rake before Xmas! I also dug out last year's woody spinach so there is another bit of bed ready for something new, next to my tree onions. The pic above shows how it looks now. I really want to get hold of some scrap wood to edge these beds, now I know I will be keeping them like this. I shall keep my eye on skips...

Nick, well, he's a digger. A digging machine, who will work as long as there is a supply of tea and biscuits (and cake!). I set him about digging over last Sunday's new bed which I'd de-turfed. I was going to bury the turf but he ended up shifting it onto an existing mound behind the shed. Out of sight out of mind ;) One day I will sort it out. Perhaps. This just needs attacking with a rake - which I need to buy. Nick did take one off the shed (read earlier posts if this sounds odd!), but I reckon it will snap soon enough, like the other one.

Bed dug over, time for tea. Nick brought his camping stove and some chocolate biscuits. Nick rocks! :)

His next task was to dig another new bed, a bit bigger this time, between the strawberries and the other globe artichokes/spring onions/asparagus. Safe to say he did this MUCH quicker than me last weekend. But then I am a feeble girl ;) Again, this just now needs to be raked over, once one is purchased!

The other job we did was to move 3 compost bins out from behind the shed and under the trees, into the open. I am hoping being in full sun will create some heat to break things down faster. It also means they are easier to get to. We put lots of the rotted compost onto the beds and Nick dug it in. I was on barrow duty. I also put the unrotted compost back into the bins. To be honest, a lot of what was in the bins was trash, literally! Jam jar lids, sweet wrappers, crisp packets, carrier bags. Doesn't make any sense to me. Hardly going to rot down eh. There were also lots of sticks, stones and bits of metal I also picked out. At least I know what's in the bins from now on will be useful for the allotment!

This last pic shows the 1st bin we moved - the bin far right was already out on the plot. I now have 2 more black bins between the two. I may move the black ones down to the other end of the plot, the 'road end', so there is compost on each half.

Well, might pop down the allotment tomorrow, might not. We shall see! I do need to mow though. Claire's mower wouldn't get going today so I think it needs some 'go-juice'! Hope you're making the most of the finer weather this weekend. :)

Sunday wasn't a day of rest!

So, first things first - I've been away for a week, skiing :) Had a lovely time and contrary to this photo, it was glorious sunshine most of the week. In fact at times it was too hot! I'm the one in the pink, my little bro is next to me, and his girlfriend's the one on the end. I missed my usual ski pal though, my dad, who couldn't make it this time. Next time eh, pops! ;) x

I was still feeling pretty healthy and energetic, the sun was out, so I went to the allotment for a dig on Sunday. It is official - Spring is here! I have evidence...

These pretty purple and yellow crocuses are growing next to my shed. They're so lovely :) Anyhoo, back to digging. Yep, I dug myself a new bed. Aren't I good?! So far I've just de-turfed it. I am going to bury the grass, grass-side-down, a spade's depth in the bed. (I read that is what I need to do!) That will be next weekend's task. I got a bit bored of digging after two hours and had some other tasks I wanted to do too. However, I was very proud of my achievement :) Look what I made...

Yes, it is a pile of turf and a muddy strip in the grass, but it is just so noble and magnificent... :P

Here, I took another pic of it to show the position, next to my two other strip beds at the 'shed end'. The ground was nice and soft to dig, which was a relief. (Cath - I used your Xmas pressie spade. Worked a treat and easier to use than my bigger one, which I try to load up with too much at once!)

Next came the fun part - having a fire. This went reasonably well, until I got a little nervous when the flames got pretty big and I suddenly realised I hadn't got the two watering cans of water ready in case it got out of control! I ran into the shed and got that sorted just after I threw some damp grass on to calm the flames :) Phew! Clears a lot of space, having a fire.

While the burning was happening, and I kept one eye on it, I had a poke about the rest of the 'shed end' of the allotment to see what was coming through, as well as tidying up and throwing any dried dead stuff onto the fire. I was very pleased to see some of the annuals starting to show new growth:

Both the lupins are coming through again, one more advanced than
the other. They were really pretty last year so I am happy they
made it through the snowy winter.

Mrs Bradshaw, my double geum is also showing strong signs of life.
I look forward to enjoying her again this year :)

The aquilegia is also emerging. I have now pulled off all
the dead stalks from last year's growth.

I was concerned last year that I'd wasted my money on the
caraway plant I bought. It spent most of the summer being floppy
then died back to nothing in autumn. However, it seems to still be
alive and has put on some healthy-looking growth already.
Let's hope it fares better this year :)

The tree onions I moved last year are making an
appearance, so they're still happy.

I wasn't expecting to see the spring onions, already in the allotment
when I took it on, coming through again. Hopefully they will be ok.
I'll see, andif not, they will have to go.

The three globe artichokes are all coming through again. I love the
thistle-type flowers they put on and they taste lovely so I look
forward to munching these when they are ready :)

In the strawberry bed there is this line of daffs. They were
flowering when I took the plot over almost a year ago so I
was expecting to see them again.
Note to self: change straw under strawberries once you've weeded ;)

And look at this - the garlic I planted before Xmas is making
a strong start :) The other bulbs I put in at the same time are
all coming through, some slightly more advanced than others.
Photos will be taken to show their progress.

This is a snap of the herb bed, next to the shed. I have now pulled out the dead growth and have tidied it a little. I managed to edge one side and will do the other next weekend. The caraway can be seen on the bottom edge of the photo - a bright vibrant green. I am still surprised to see it!

Another job I did was I finally trimmed out all the old wood from the raspberries and pruned the black/red/whitecurrant and gooseberry bushes, so this summer I can actually walk around them to harvest the fruit, without being impaled so much! They did fight back though and my arms look like I've lost a fight with a cat! I know really I should've done this job in the autumn. I didn't get round to it then, but I found it easy to spot the new canes v the old canes on the raspberries, as the new ones had buds on, the old ones didn't. The buds & new growth on the currants etc also showed me where to cut the branches back to. Maybe I've mucked it all up but there is only one way to see - wait a few weeks :) I am hoping that it is all pretty resilient and I've not messed up the growth too much, if at all.

I worked right up until it went dark and felt a big sense of achievement. Seeing the new growth coming through and anticipating the new growing year ahead I am now officially excited :)

I took my seed box home with me to plan what to do over the next few months. I can see I need to buy some seeds, as well as wait a while and cheat with some seedling plants. ;) I've been perusing my allotment books and I look forward to going down again on Saturday (still too dark in the evenings at 6.30pm when I get home from work). This time I'll have a helper so I should get twice as much done!


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Edit: Oh, I didn't mention that I noticed John, my next-plot-neighbour @ the 'shed end' must be giving up. I didn't see him much over the late summer. His sheds have gone and his plot seems pretty much abandoned. :(

I also managed a whole lottie time without being interrupted, just me and ma tunes! Huzzah :) Get so much more done like that. I will be more sociable soon, I'm sure!