Busy busy

Busy for most of the weekend out on the plot, which is how it should be at this time of year; if I don't get my finger out now I'll only get behind.

Blossom on the fruit trees, little birdies twittering - spring is really here now, nice warm weather, warmer than it should be really but that's global warming for you.

More sowing - courgettes, sunflowers, salad leaves, rocket; potted on the tomatoes; planted out the rest of the potatoes; pinched out and planted the sweet peas and broadcast some green manure.

Pleasantly knackered, which is also as it should be.

Potting On

When seedlings have made a nice root system in their modules they need potting on. I reckon it's worth sieving the compost when you do this as, even with a good brand like Levingtons, from this much compost...


...you get this much crud and solid lumps:


Then it's simply a matter of transferring the modules to 9cm pots and watering them in:

Lettuce

I've stopped growing rows of lettuce on the plot, it's not as if I've got thirteen kids to feed or anything and they're a magnet for slugs (the lettuce not the kids). So now I just grow a few of the Salad Bowl variety that you just keep picking the leaves from and plant them near the back door at home. I've also sown some salad leaves and rocket in six inch pots which I'll also keep at home. Hopefully I'll remember to sow a succession of these to keep them coming.

Joe Clarke RIP

Joe was one of the first people I met on the site when I first started my plot back in 1999. He was helping Alan, the elderly chairman of the committee, to try and discern where the boundary of my newly acquired plot might be. "It's over by the blackberry hedge" he was saying, waving in the general direction of a patch of brambles which stretched about ten feet wide the length of the plot. Or rather, he was saying "It's o-o-over by th-th-the b-b-blackberry hedge" (he had a stutter).

Not long after I'd taken on my tenancy he invited me over to his shed for a drink, where I was treated to his many long and rambling stories of when he worked on the farms. A couple of hours later saw me staggering away happily bladdered but not before Joe had told me, in all seriousness, that I now owed him four cans of Tenants. I found out later that most newcomers to the site were treated to this initiation.

Joe came up his plot most days on his bike and spent most of his time in his shed, drinking. Occasionally he would come out to sow a wonky row of peas or light a smoky bonfire, something he did most days. His plot was mostly down to peas which he sold to a mystery buyer on Harrison Street.

When he wasn't harassing his fellow plotholders he would ignore us for months at a time.

He had a highly strung dog called Jody who would try to bite passersby when she wasn't on a lead, which was most of the time.

He liked to go to the bookies and every week would put a bet on Derby County winning their match on the Saturday. He was not a wealthy man.

He was one of the old school of gardeners whose knowledge is (literally) dying out, and whose passing leaves the rest of us the poorer.

Joe died of lung cancer, aged 70. He was one of the most genuine people I've ever met. He was a pain in the arse but I'll miss him.

Onion sets

I planted my onion sets in modules in an open coldframe about five weeks ago when the ground on the plot was still wet and cold. Now that they've developed a good root system and the ground has warmed up I've planted them out, firming and watering them into a prepared bed next to my early carrots. This time I also remembered to spread some organic fertiliser on the bed - blood, fish and bone at a handful to the square yard.

Sowing under glass

I like to use a proper sowing compost for sowing little seeds; regular multi-purpose is fine for bigger seeds and for pricking out and potting on. Today I've been sowing lettuce, cauliflower, winter cabbage, autumn broccoli, brussels sprouts, basil and antirrhinnum:

Early carrots

I prepare the seed bed for these the same as for the peas, except that I use the rake to create as fine a tilth as possible for the little carrot seeds, put down a line and make a drill with a stick about an inch deep, water the bottom of the drill, sprinkle the carrot seed along it, cover it back up, protect with chicken wire, job done:

Early peas

I sow these by firstly putting down a line and taking out a trench a couple of inches deep with a spade like this:



Then watering the bottom of the trench and sprinkling the pea seeds along it. (The usual advice is to space the peas a couple of inches each way in a zig-zag pattern but I find that a bit too faffy):



Then I rake the soil back over the peas and tamp it down gently with the back of the rake:



Finally I put some chicken wire over them to protect them from the pigeons, who love to eat the emerging shoots, and from cats and foxes who love to scratch about and crap on new seed beds:

That's it, when they get a few inches high I'll put up some supports for them to climb up, in the meantime all I've got to do is watch them grow.

Preparing seed beds

It's been bitterly cold this last week, that nagging easterly wind has been sending me wapppy. It's not quite so bad today and the forecast's showing it warming up next week so time to crack on and get sowing; the weeds are growing well which means the soil should be warm enough.

I don't try and prepare the whole plot at once, but do it as I go along with each sowing. Unless the weeds are seeding they aren't doing any harm, on the contrary they protect the soil from those drying winds and help retain moisture water in the soil.

The soil was turned over last autumn and had compost dug into it. This particular piece of ground is where I grew my potatoes last year, so following the potatoes-legumes-brassicas-roots rotation, this is where I'll now be sowing my early peas.

This is how it looks now:


And this is how it looks after I've taken out the weeds with a border fork and leveled it with a rake, leaving a nice crumbly tilth:

Records by plant name

I'll keep updating these as the season goes on.

Antirrhinum "Crown Mixed" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, 1/2 seed tray. Pricked out to medium modules and moved to cold frame 10.5. Moved back to greenhouse 13.5. Potted on to 9cm pots x48 31.5. Moved to coldframe 7.6. Planted out 14.6 40cm apart, 1 double row

Basil "Sweet Green" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x20. Potted on to 9cm pots 17.5. Moved to coldframe 31.5. Sold in June.

Broad Beans "Aquadulce" - Sown half row 26.1.

Brocolli "Early Purple Sprouting" - Sown in greenhouse 17.5, small modules x10. Moved to coldframe 31.5. Potted on to 9cm pots 7.6. Planted out 22.6.

Brocolli "Romanesco" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x10. Potted on to 9cm pots and moved to cold frame 10.5. Planted out x2 24.5 60cm apart

Brussels Sprouts "F1 Cascade" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modes x20. Potted on to 9cm pots and moved to coldframe 10.5. Planted out x10 24.5.

Cabbage "Durham Early" - 1 row sown 15.8.

Cabbage "Golden Acre-Primo (II)" - Sown 14.6, x20 small modules in coldframe, also in short nursery row outside. Planted out 2.8 (ones in modules didn't survive).

Cabbage "Greyhound" - Sown in greenhouse 29.3, 1 seed tray. Moved to coldframe 27.4. Planted out 3.5, 30cm apart.

Cabbage "January King" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x20. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Potted on to 9cm pots 7.5. Planted 0ut 40cm apart 31.5.

Carnation "Giant Chaubaud Mixed" - Sown 12.4 in greenhouse, small modules x50. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Potted on to 9cm pots 17.5. Planted out 7.6.

Cauliflower "All Year Round" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x10. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Potted on to 9cm pots 17.5. Planted out 31.5.

Carrot "Amsterdam Forcing" - 1/2 row sown 19.4. Gaps resown 11.5.

Carrot "Autumn King Improved" - Sown 29.5, 2 rows.

Carrot "Nantes Frubund" - 1/2 row sown 28.9.

Cosmos "Sensation Mixed" - Sown 12.4 in greenhouse, small modules x20. Potted on to 9cm pots and moved to cold frame 10.5. Planted out x10 24.5.

Courgette "Defender F1" - Sown 26.4 in greenhouse in 9cm pots x3. Moved to coldframe 28.5. Given away.

French Bean "Purple Teepee" - Sown in greenhouse 17.5, small modules x50. Moved to coldframe 28.5. Planted out (at Inas) 2.6 and a short row for me.

Garlic "Albigensian Wight" and "Solent Wight" - 25 cloves (2 bulbs) of each planted out 25.10, 20cm apart in rows 30cm apart.

Leek "Bandit F1" - Sown in greenhouse 17.5, 1 seed tray. Moved to coldframe 31.5. Planted out 28.6.

Lettuce "Salad Bowl Red" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x20. Potted on to 9cm pots and moved to cold frame 10.5. Planted out x3 24.5 (remainder for Ina).

Lettuce "Lollo Rossa" - Sown in greenhouse 19.4, small modules x10. Potted on to 9cm pots and moved to cold frame 10.5. Planted out (at Inas) 26.5.

Onion "Stutgarter" - Sets planted 15.3 in small modules x50 in open coldframe. Planted out 21.4.

Parsley "Lisette" - Sown 26.4 in greenhouse in 15cm pot. Moved to cold frame 10.5.

Pea "Early Onward" - 1 row sown 19.4.

Pea "Onward" - 1 row sown 17.5.

Phacelia (green manure) - Sown broadcast 27.4. Dug in 28.6. More sown 15.8.

Potato "Charlotte" - 1.5kg bought in for chitting 14.3. Planted out 12.4.

Potato "Desiree" - 2kg bought in for chitting 14.3. Planted out 26.4.

Potato "Pentland Javlin" - 2kg bought in for chitting 21.3. Planted out 26.4

Rosa Chinensis - Sown 26.4 in greenhouse, small modules x10. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Just one germinated, potted on to 9cm pot 12.7.

Runner Bean "Enorma" - Sown in cold frame 11.5 in large modules x60. Planted out (at Inas) 2.6.

Spinach "Scenic F1"- 1 row sown 3.5.

Sunflower (saved seed) - Sown 26.4 in greenhouse in 9cm pots x4. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Planted out 24.5.

Salad leaves "Niche Mixed" - Sown 19.4 in greenhouse in 15cm pots. More sown 26.4, as before. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Outside 22.5.

Hesperis "Matronalis" (Sweet Rocket) - Sown 31.5.

Sweet Pea "Astronaut Mixed" - Sown15.3 in 15x9cm pots, 3 seeds to a pot, in greenhouse. Moved to coldframe when germinated 7.4. Pinched and planted out 27.4.

Tomato "Gardeners Delight" - Sown 29.3 in heated propogator, small modules x10. Moved to greenhouse when germinated 7.4. Potted on to 9cm pots x5 26.4. Potted on to bottomless 15cm pots 10.5. Planted in growbags 7.6.

Wild Rocket - Sown 26.4 in greenhouse in 15cm pot. Moved to cold frame 10.5. Outside (at Mrs T 22.5).

Early potatoes

Here we go again...

And here I am, I've moved over to blogger as I might be changing my internet service provider and so will lose my web space over at Tiscali. Until then you should still be able to find my allotment diary from previous years here.

Feel free to comment but don't feel obliged, I do it for the love y'know.

I've spent some of the winter over in Australia again, you can read about it here if you've run out of better things to do.

So another growing season is upon us. I'm about a week behind so far I reckon because of the cold weather. I've sowed a few things: sweet peas and onion sets in the cold frame; tomatoes, carnations, greyhound cabbage and cosmos in the greenhouse. Today I've also got the first of my seed potatoes in. As usual I've taken out a trench, lined it with compost then tucked them in nicely.















At the moment I'm eating plenty of greens, broccoli and cabbage to be precise, as there ain't much else at this time of year. With the broccoliI find that a couple of plants of each variety is more than enough.

I'd like to wish all my fellow growers out there a successful and proliferate growing season. Here's to us.

Spring Cabbage

Durham Early:

Broccoli

Sprouting Early Purple Red Arrow:


White Sprouting: