Green manure

I sowed some clover last year which is doing well, although I had to resow some gaps, then at the end of April this year I sowed some phacaelia:



I'm leaving the self-sown poppies in, they're not doing any harm, will add a bit of colour, and I can sell the opium to the Taliban.

Spinach

The row of spinach I sowed at the beginning of May is up.

Lettuce and salad leaves

I've planted out a few lettuce (Red Salad Bowl) near my back door at home and put the pot of salad leaves with some friends:

Cosmos

I've planted these out today. They'll add a bit of colour to the place come late summer and hopefully provide lots of blooms for cutting.

Sprouts

I sowed these mid-April and potted them on and moved them to the cold frame mid-May when they were this big:



Now that they are this big...



...I've planted them out, together with the Romenesco brocolli:

Still no rain

No rain for about three weeks now, save for a bit of drizzle yesterday, hardly enough to settle the dust. Those pesky southerners have been having a deluge, maybe because they pay more poll tax. Or maybe not. I've been watering the carrot and spinach seedlings but I'm trying to force everything else to send down roots and fend for themselves because if I once start there'll be no end to it.

Been getting plenty done today: sown the maincrop peas, french beans, leeks, brocolli; potted on winter cabbages, cauliflower, carnations and basil.

I've finished up the the last of leeks and am slowly eating my way through the spring cabbage; I've finished the thinnings and am into the heads now. There's a joke in there somewhere if I could be bothered to work it out, which I can't.

Potatoes

The potatoes are all showing nicely now so I've earthed them up:

Peas

The early peas I sowed in the middle of April need some support now so I've put up some canes and the first string for them to reach for and cling to:


Germination was a bit patchy with these, probably because the seed should have been used by last year. That should teach me not to be so tight and buy new seed, but it probably wont.

Pottering About

Mostly in the potting shed today, pricking out and potting on, as you do. Tomatoes, sprouts, broccoli, flowers. Because of the absurdly hot weather (thank you global bloody capitalists, yes I blame you) I've been moving most things straight out into the cold frames:

Tomatoes

Now that the tomatoes are this big...



...they're ready to go into 15cm bottomless pots:




When they've filled these I'll plant them in growbags.

Sweet Peas

I sow my sweet peas quite late, in the middle of March, so that I can get them in the ground once the soil has started warming up and the roots can go straight down rather than going round and round in their pots.

I sow them in the greenhouse, three seeds to a 9cm pot, then get them out into the cold frame as soon as they've germinated. By the middle of April they were looking like this:


I planted them out at the end of April:


I pinch the tops out so they send out strong new shoots so by today they were looking like this:


Now all I've got to do is put up some support for them to climb up; it's up to them to get on with growing and make lots of nice flowers for me.

Nothing to do with the plot but...

Whatever. I've been out in the countryside this afternoon just enjoying the springy springyness of it all. So I just thought I'd share that.

Another nice spring day

Another nice day out on the plot. Plenty to do - I've sowed a row of spinach, planted out some cabbages and prepared a bit more ground for sowing and planting. The place is starting to look a bit more like.

Cabbages

I've planted out the first cabbage patch today. I sowed these (Greyhound) in the greenhouse at the end of March, and moved them out into the coldframe for hardening off a week ago when they were this size:


Today I've planted them out, firming them in well and watering them in:


Then surrounded each plant with some lime, which they'll like, and which should also keep the slugs and snails away:


Then just to finish things off I hung up a few decorations:

Broad beans

I sowed these as a bit of an afterthought back in January but they've come through:

Onions 2

The onion sets are getting established now so I've taken off the netting and given them a hoe round:

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.