Warm sunshine

Went up to the allotment early yesterday morning and it was so gorgeous I nearly went and bought a small shed so I could move there! It was gorgeous and warm and sunny, the birds were singing and there was a real sense of spring in the air. I heard the woodpecker tap tap tapping away and there was a lazy cat curled up on a piece of toasty carpet on the plot next to mine. It was such a sunny day in more ways than one.

Its the only time I'll be able to get there until next week so I spent 4 hours weeding (yes the dreaded weeds are also loving the warm weather and are back with a vengeance), sowing seeds and having a bit of a tidy up.

The purple sprouting is really coming along well, think I'll be able to pick some next week.

I planted out a small rosemary bush I'd had at home for years, it had become really pot bound and sad looking but after one week in the ground its flowering beautifully, the bees are loving it.

I sowed a row each of spinach, radish, corn salad, spicy salad mix and bulls blood beet to use as salad leaves. I'm hoping that the weather will stay warm enough over the next week or so to give the seeds a good chance of germinating. Last year I sowed seed to early (early March), tempted by a glimpse of sun, but I paid the price, very little germinated so this year I waited another month, fingers crossed it works. I gave the strawberries a good feed of blood, fish and bone, I want tons of strawberries this year, at least enough for a good batch of jam!

Early last week I had a big sowing session at home - courgette, french beans, runner beans, sunflowers, chard, sweetcorn and sweet peas all went into small pots or plug trays. I'm really determined to get a good harvest this year, I think I've learnt a lot the past 2 years and this season I'm really going for it. I also potted on lots of small, tender cauliflower plants that I started back in February along with leeks. I've tons of both, there's a plant sale mid May and I think this time I can contribute lots of plants. We desperately need some new wheelbarrows and the plant sale raises money to buy this sort of thing.

I made an improvised cold frame from some bubble wrap and a thin wooden crate, the plants seem to be pretty happy in it so far. I wish I'd bought a proper tall coldframe this year for my terrace, it would've made things so much easier! Next year...

I bought 3 wild strawberry plants at Bermondsey Sq Farmers Market today for £5. Bargain as they will produce runners later this year which will go on to make new plants. I thought I'd start with 3 plants now, keep them at home so I can keep the birds off them and if they do well and I like them then I can have some plants at the allotment next year.

Space

We're getting very organised at plot 28a. Today we moved the tool box back and the new space we have is amazing. Definitely enough for a long thin bed, perfect for parsnips I think. It will be quite a shaded bed, but there are so many things that need some shade so it will always be in use.

I moved some of the bluebell bulbs to beside the water butt, and finally put the clematis in the ground beside the rusty water tank.

We dug out some massive roots from where the tool box used to be, they were huge. We couldn't dig them out completely...we'd have been digging for the rest of the week if we'd wanted to get them out properly. We had to cut the roots in the end.

I love the plot now, there's so much space and its so much more organised.

James has also built the other cage, it can be moved on to any of the other small beds, wherever the sweetcorn goes it will follow! He's going to build me a low one for the strawberry bed, think that'll be it for cages, everyone else is already looking at our plot with raised eyebrows!!

And at last, I've picked something from the plot that we can eat! We'll be having a delicious savoy cabbage with our dinner this weekend.

Shaping up

The old compost heap is no longer! Despite the husband's hernia, he has managed to sieve all of the old compost into our new compost bin. He's very chuffed with himself. And I'm very chuffed with his hard work. It now means that once we move the tool box back about 3 foot I'll have space for another bed. It will be long and thin, the same length as the soft fruit cage bed, but not as wide. Thinking I might try some parsnips in it this year if we get it built in time.

I managed to get another bed of spuds in, this time it was Lady Balfour which are second earlies. My King Edwards are still chitting, and I got my first earlies in about 2 weeks ago. I'm not that keen on all the digging required for getting potatoes in the ground. Its damn hard work.

Seamus gave me 4 (very heavy) bags of compost last weekend, I nearly had my own hernia after lifting them out of the back of the car and getting them to the plot. I've been digging it in to the beds, its gorgeous stuff.

It's Easter this coming weekend, if the weather stays dry we'll try and get 2 full days in at the allotment. We'll move the tool box back and then make a new cage for the sweetcorn.

That'shallot

Went to the allotment yesterday and it was so warm I was nearly in a t-shirt...yes, it looks like spring might finally be here, hoooray! It was really mild and sunny, glorious. Makes such a change from the sub zero temperatures we've been experiencing.

I spent 4 hours there and enjoyed every second. I dug over and made a bed for my onions and shallots and to be honest I was expecting it to be really hard work. But the soil was light and easy to dig, maybe because we had potatoes in that area last year so they'd done most of the hard work for me. I actually dug up a few that we'd missed, it always amazes me how difficult it is to get them all out when you want them!

I also dug over a couple of other beds and generally tidied up, its looking good up there, am really looking forward to a busy and fruitful year. Bring on Spring.

Back at home today I sowed lots of peas, some to keep at home on the terrace and some to bring to the allotment. I also sowed some spinach and radishes to keep me going at home. And started the first of my sweetcorn, two types - Honeydew and Swift. My chillies have germinated which is a relief, the seeds are right at the end of their use by date.

Anyway, here's a picture of my new onion bed:

Hard frost

I went to the allotment yesterday, the weather was glorious, clear blue sky but with a biting wind. There had been a hard frost overnight, the top 2 inches of soil was rock hard which made digging hard work. And that's all I was really there to do so I ended up with a sore back. I brought 2 buckets of the compost I extracted from my wormery the day before with me and spent about half an hour preparing the bed I'm going to put peas in this year. I first removed 3 large comfrey roots and moved them to another area on the plot. Then I dug out several shallow trenches in the bed and put in a layer of shredded paper followed by a chunky layer of wormery compost, and covered it all back up with soil. Hopefully when I sow lots of rows of peas they'll benefit massively from the rich compost and layer of moisture retaining shredded paper. Well, that's the plan anyway!

What else did I do...I discovered to my horror that the horseradish roots had broken through the bottom of the plastic pot that they're in and were happily spreading a million roots through the ground underneath....noooooo! That wasn't supposed to happen! I suppose I'll be digging out horseradish root for the next 20 years! The bit I dug out was brought home and pickled ready for the next time I make roast beef for sunday lunch.

I gave the rhubarb and blackberry plant some feed and tidied up a bit and then legged it home to rest my back and get warm.

Here's a couple of pics of the plot, one of the whole plot and the other of the old compost heap that James has been tackling recently.

Worms

Its been way too long since I wrote anything on this blog. Must do better!

The allotment is looking great, I'll take some photos when I'm there tomorrow. Have had some handy husband help recently, he's got to the bottom of the old compost heap which is something we've been wanting and trying to do since we took on the plot 2 years ago. He also made a massive sieve which sits on top of the new compost bin and we've sieved most of the old compost to get rid of stones but more importantly, all the nasty weed roots that have been lurking in there for years.

Today's job was to empty my wormery at home. Not a pleasant job and a bit back breaking. I don't know what the best way to empty a wormery is, the only way I think it can be done is by literally picking over every bit to separate each worm from the gorgeous rich compost. I started by emptying the top layers of uncomposted kitchen waste in to buckets. Then I spent the best part of an hour and a half picking worms from 4 buckets worth of compost. It was quite therapeutic and at least the sun was shining. It was bitterly cold though, I had loads of layers on and my hat pulled right down over my ears. I always find it fascinating picking through the compost, it always amazes me that we eat so many eggs and avocados! But I guess its that they take the longest to break down. I'll bring 3 of the buckets of compost to the allotment to dig in to the beds.

July was great...but its august already

I can't believe that its August already, how did that happen?! There's been plenty going on at allotment 28a since I wrote last. I've had loads of courgettes (courgette soup anyone?), potatoes, peas, beetroot, beans, redcurrants, raspberries, blackcurrants, sweetpeas, lettuce, radishes and chard.

Our plot has kind of caught up and is now producing lots of veg. The chinese broccoli hasn't been a success but pretty much everything else has been good. The runner beans are nearly ready and I sowed another 4 rows of peas to take us through autumn. And we've got a pumpkin! There was some debate whether our pumpkin plant would produce any fruit as I saved seed from last year, but as you can see, we've got a fat pumpkin growing. The slugs have had a lot of the plant but so far the pumpkin is looking pretty good. The chard we've grown this year is really delicious, I've been eating lots of it.

What other news...the sweetcorn has quite a few cobs, our neighbour Shelley planted lots of flowers this year - dahlias, echinacea and verbena so the bees are happy. And...someone has taken over nettle mountain and has started the hideous task of clearing it. They've done a very good job so far, I'm really pleased, it might help stop the nettles and bindweed spreading to our plot.