21/28 March 2010 - Spring cleaning

A blog in two halves - well what with one thing and another...

21 March saw the planting of the first - and second (a bit of a risk but hey) - potatoes in bed 3. These were Arran Pilot, Blue Danube and Orla. We then faced a quandary about the maincrops as there wasn't enough room for them too. We then decided to tidy up the patch behind the shed, move all our infrastructure stuff (useful bits of wood etc) and use that to take the overflow of the maincrops. It's still too early to plant them yet, though I know of at least one plotholder who has just put all his spuds in. Beware Jack Frost.

The new three sided bed was finished, and filled up with more topsoil and shop-brought compost, as well as a lot of our own compost from the black bin. It is amazing how it rots down. To make the extra room for all the stuff from behind the shed, N cleared the second of our compost pallet areas - this was the place where we dumped stuff like old brassicas - and quite a lot of it had rotted down very nicely. This is officially bed 6. We sowed some more early carrots and spring onions in it. So lots of getting in with the muck and sorting stuff out, which was very therapeutic. We marvel yet again at the seemingly limitless possibilities of our plot.

We sowed wild flower seeds in the Pagoda and added nasturtiums and sweet pea. Here's hoping for lots of lovely flowers. A few radishes for fun and that was about it (but it took a long time because of shifting all the poo about - I didn't mention the well rotted manure that we had stored - this had to be moved into other bins).

As the peas were proving mutinous we sowed some more of a different variety on bed 1. We'll probably end up with far too many. We also put more compost/manure on the fruit trees (did we mention that we now have a plum and a cherry, as well as a new blueberry to keep the other one company?)

Roll on another 7 days, and the first of the leek seeds sown in a little space in the Pagoda are beginning to show, as are some of the broccoli. Bloody slugs had already tucked into the cabbage seedlings so now they have cabbage collars, three lots of slug repellant and a plastic bottle thingy to protect them. We just won't have such nonsense this early in the season.

Weather is just what you expect at this stage in March, mixed but warm in the sunlight. So we took advantage of it by digging the new bed behind the shed - as yet unnumbered, but looking like bed 8, moving some more stuff around and, yes, for the first time in months, doing some weeding.

Another nice surprise was the appearance - finally - of the rhubarb. Last weekend there was hardly anything to be seen, and now there is the proud flush of a great looking plant.

14 March 2010 - Rites of Spring

Signs of life are beginning to be seen on the site. Several of us convened on Sunday morning to clear some vacant plots of rubbish prior to new tenants taking them on. We used it as a jolly excuse to have a bonfire (apologies no pictures) and generally reflect on the fact that it had been 6 months since we had last done anything communal on the site. This was almost entirely due to the dire weather which thankfully looks to be settling into the beginning of spring. Amazingly, there are no daffodils out yet and things are certainly at least a month behind in terms of sowing and growing seed etc. Or alternatively it's how it ought to be, we're just not used to it.

The weather being not too bad, N carried out some valuable infrastructural work. Firstly, the finishing of the construction of the fab new carrot/parsnip bed, started last week. It's J-shaped, darling and no-one else has one like it. We were going to sieve the soil for stones but in the end opted to buy a whole load of compost. We sowed four small rows of early carrots and covered them with a makeshift cold frame. More soil needs to be put in but in the meantime a great addition. We remain continually surprised at the amount of things we can do in such a small space. Maybe it's the Tardis of allotment plots.

Another one was the replacement of the table top which had somehow fallen to cardboard-like bits over the winter. It was never the most robust object anyway, and N has replaced it with a far sturdier and more elegant solution. This was in fact a small pallet but very stout. It will do us just fine.

Onto matters horticultural. Many seeds have now been sown in the greenhouse. We have: aubergine, various peppers, various tomatoes, broccoli, chard, marigold, red onions, leeks (though not many), rocket, lettuce, cucumbers - coming up - and still awaiting an appearance from french beans, borlotti beans, sweet peas, pumpkin, squash x 2 and peas. The latter is particularly concerning, as we have put two lots of peas in guttering in the greenhouse over the last 2 weeks with very little success - only two germinations so far. I've sown a separate lot in the heated thingy, only 3 of which have come up. And have sown some on the plot last week, using the raspberry sticks from last year (one of N's great ideas) as peasticks. We are worried that we may have got a dodgy lot of peas (Kelvedon Wonder from T&M).

In terms of the plot, last weekend we moved red cabbage, pak choi and spinach overwintered (what a great word!) seedlings from the greenhouse and planted out under protection on the plot, having cleared the winter leeks to one side. That was quite a good feeling. In addition, we sowed some more leeks in a tiny little seedbed in the Pagoda as we are concerned about the slow progress at home. Optimistically, I sowed some radish seeds (you can never go wrong) and chard. Overwintering onions are still heroically soldiering on.

Garlic is now beginning to show quite well, though I am anxious that we are not going to have as much as last year (well, no, of course we're not because that was a ridiculous amount). Everything is slower and later than last year and maybe it hasn't all come up yet. Last weekend we also moved our mangetout seedlings which had been growing all winter in the greenhouse. We've protected them to keep the worst of any frost off.

We had also been fretting about the rhubarb but we saw evidence that it was emerging from its slumber. Must be a later variety. Next weekend we'll plant the first earlies and then the growing year can begin in earnest. Oh and for fun, I planted some of the overwintered sweet peas and planted some sweet pea and nasturtium seeds. Let's see if we can get that colour off to a good start this year.