It’s been rather a long time since I posted and so I thought I needed to put fingers on the keyboard and give an update on the progress on the allotment! One of the main reasons I haven’t posted is that any ‘spare’ time has been spent over on the plot! Luckily, we had an extra long Bank Holiday weekend and some spells of reasonable weather so we were able to put in some hours working on the plot,

A lovely sight on the allotment – our old apple tree is looking rather beautiful in all its glorious blossom.

Looking back over the last month…..it was rather a slow start as we still had some clearing and tidying up to do from last year. One of the beds had still not been dug over and time was running out. Thankfully, The Husband came to the rescue! Using the rotavator, he quickly had the final bed ready to go!

The Husband comes to the rescue

Whilst I was thinning out the strawberry beds I came across my hand fork I lost last year, it was hidden under all the foliage. Nothing special about it, other than it was my Dad’s, so had sentimental value and I’m pleased to be reunited with it.

Lost and found

At the beginning of last month it was time to get the planting sorted out. We decided which seeds we wanted to start off indoors and got planting. As a result, the living space in the house shrunk. The conservatory became the greenhouse – great temperature for getting those little seeds started and the pasting table, covered in black plastic, became a makeshift bench.

Conservatory makes a wonderful greenhouse!

The summerhouse was (and still is) the ‘hardening off’ zone before the young plants are taken over to the allotment.

Nowhere to sit!

The problem is that two rooms are out of commission so where to sit on a sunny day? (Huh, where has the sun been and when is there time to sit?)

On the plot itself, the potatoes, onions, shallots and garlic were planted. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, the peas, mange tout, cabbages and broccoli were transferred onto the allotment.  There’s still more to be planted, but just waiting for the weather to warm up a bit.

New projects this year include

• A first attempt to grow outdoor cucumber. Never tried cucumbers before! It’s a mini variety called Hana. It’s still in the conservatory/greenhouse at the moment, but hopefully will go outside in the next few weeks.
• Growing carrots in tyres. I have had some very interesting shaped carrots over the years and at one point I gave up on them. Last year The Husband tried a new method; he grew them in toilet roll tubes sunk into the ground and the result was marginally better than in previous years. Having acquired some tyres on the new plot, the plan is to fill the tyres with riddled soil and compost and see what the carrots make of that. Will keep you posted!

Still lots to do! I’ve got lots of plants to put out as well as more seeds to start off. However, at the moment it’s drizzling and a bit breezy so I think the allotment will have to wait. Fingers crossed for blue skies and sunshine tomorrow.