Busy Busy Busy, I need a holiday !!!

I have spent many hours on the lottie since Saturday, generally doing jobs like turning the compost bins, weeding, raking beds and putting horse manure on the rhubarb and raspberry plants. A very kind allotment neighbour cut our grass borders with his petrol mower ( we have a manual push one) so Austin trimmed the edges for me, so it's all looking really tidy.

Yesterday I dug my runner and french bean trench. I dug it fairly deep and lined it with wads of newspaper and then put in a lot of horse manure that I had rotting from last year, then covered it all in with the soil again. I was so tired that I went to bed early- 11pm and really for me that is early! only trouble is I was awake again by 5am, so had a cup of tea and went back to bed again. I also put in my potatoes. - Nicola, Swift and Desiree.

Today I went up again and planted my parsnips that I had chitted ( yes chitted !) I am doing my own parsnip trial. The parsnips are Gladiator F1

Trial No 1 is 5 x pot sown and grown seedlings which I transplanted into the bed. Apparently parsnips don't like this ! but we shall see.

Trial No 2 is the chitted parsnip seeds. I dug some trenches filled them with multi purpose compost, carefully put in the chitted parsnip seeds, covered them with more M/P/compost and a scattering of earth.

Trial No 3 was parsnip seeds sown straight into the ground with a little mix of compost added to the planting area. I will update you as to which does the best.

I also sowed 5 short rows of Carrot's - Early Nantes 5. I then harvested some of my purple sprouting broccoli for dinner. I have waited nearly a year for this, I also dug up a couple of large leeks.

I TOLD YOU I WAS BUSY DIDN'T I ????
I've also been sowing more white onions as the first lot don't seem to be doing so well. I think I sowed them too early as this second sowing look so strong in comparison (see photo below) and the lemongrass that I sowed a couple of weeks ago is coming on now.

We are going to help look after the grandchildren on Friday and Saturday so wont return until Sunday, we are so looking forward to it, but I have to get someone to look in on my seedlings, it's a wrench to leave them in the hands of someone else at this crucial stage, I'm sure you all know what I mean !!

Photo's below are - from the top Chilli seedlings ready to pot on. next one is the Lemongrass, then it's my second onion attempt, much better seedling this time ! then it's the chitted parsnips, they look like little tadpoles !

Kale - Tosca De Nero on the right and short green curly on the left

Speedy Results In Ten days !

Well I said that I would post some photo's when the seeds peeped out of the compost. I sowed them on the 18th Jan and here we are just 10 days later and they are more than peeping! they are raring to go, that's incredible! The seed packets and various books always recommend sowing a few seeds to each section just in case some don't make it, well I guess mine all made it as I now have too many tomato plants, oh well it's nice to give some away, it's all part of the allotment spirit. This is the first time I have grown onions from seed I planted sets last year.
I have been told by some of the older and wiser plot holders that this is the best way, as you get bigger onions and they store better apparently ! so we shall see !





I used yesterdays harvest to make a tasty soup for lunch. I added some of the sprout tops, some leeks and a bought a couple of large potatoes ( mine are all gone) I used vegetable stock cubes ("Kallo" organic) and added some ground black pepper and a little salt, and a squeeze of tomato puree. When all the vegetable were cooked, I then blended half of the soup to thicken it, but left enough pieces of veg to add substance. It was delicious.

Sowing Broad Beans

I decided not to leave it to chance as to whether or not I have lost some Broad Beans. The strong winds broke some of my plants that are already in the ground. So today I planted 20 seeds of "Thompson & Morgan's" "Bunyards Exhibition" in cardboard toilet roll innards. I did this last year and it was very successful! as the depth of the roll allows the long roots to establish well, and, they can be planted into the ground in the tubes as they will rot down, that way there will be very little root disturbance.

I have to say though that I did tear the cardboard open a bit last year just to get the roots going in the soil quicker, as mine were late going in.

We love Broad Beans, and have just finished the last bag from last years crop that were in the freezer. I grew the same beans last year and had a great crop and they were delicious.

This method also works well with Sweet Peas as they also have long roots. So if you haven't tried this sowing method before start collecting your loo rolls.

First seeds this year are sown- Yippee

I really feel that Spring is nearly upon us, the weather today is sunny with blue skies, so once again the weather forecast wasn't spot on, but hey ! I'm not complaining. I know we will have more frosts for a while to come yet, but lets make the most of these lovely days and get ahead ready for planting.

Apart from taking up some kitchen waste ( some from my neighbour as well) for the compost bin, I don't intend to do anything on the allotment today. Instead I have planted my onion, leeks, and tomato seeds. I don't have a photo as it would seem rather boring just looking at bare compost, so I will post one when the first shoots appear. (fingers crossed). I planted them in John Innes seed compost and covered them and put them on window sills and will move them on to the greenhouse ( which is unheated) when they start growing and the weather is warmer.

This is the ideal time to check all your seed packets from last year if you haven't already done so, and throw out any that are out of date or that you weren't pleased with. Then take stock of what you need to buy or want to grow this year and look around the garden centres or "Wilkinsons" (wilko's) if you have a store near you, as their prices are very good. I personally never order from seed catalogues unless it's something rare that I can't get locally. For reasons -one, I am too impatient to wait for delivery and two, I like to hold the seed packet and turn it over and read the sowing advice etc before deciding to buy it.

I brought two Blueberry bushes which I got at the end of last year from "Wisley" RHS gardens. They need ericatious compost and are better off in large pots, (thats unless your soil is right for them !) mine isn't so they are in pots and they are in my garden, I decided not to take them to the allotment as they were too expensive and could easily be taken ( not that we usually have any theft problems) in pots.

Busy times ahead

This is a photo of my seed collection taken today. I feel such a hoarder! lots of them are from last year, bought in half price sales in the garden centre, how could I resist a bargain ?? I do have to admit I still feel drawn to peruse the seed collection whenever I go to the garden centres wherever I am, and that I have bought some this year. I was mortified when I put them all on the table today to list them,(list at bottom of right hand side of page)

Most of the herbs came free from Gardening mags as did a few vegetable seeds.
I can't wait to get sowing. I usually start my seeds off indoors on a window sill or in the mini plastic covered greenhouse in the garden or the one on the allotment, depending on the seeds. I always feel that they get a better start and I like to see results rather than not know if they are going to come up in the ground. Carrots are the only seeds I grew straight into the bed last year, we had a good crop.

I didn't have much success with the Aubergines last year. I had a few small ones but they were a bit disappointing, however I will give them another try this year.

I have lots more flower seeds to sow this year, but some are for my garden as well. The Cosmos were very beautiful last year as were the Marigolds, Calendulas and Sweet-peas. I thought I would try some Dahlias this year, they aren't the kind of flower I would normally grow but they are an allotment traditional favourite and I must say that some of the other plots had stunning displays of them.

I daresay we shall all be seed and plant swapping again this year as we did last year, that's part of the communal allotment life and it's great.