Day 56 - It is time to celebrate - Spring

Today was a day to celebrate, firstly it was our lasses birthday which was greeted by sunshine and warmth when the breeze died down. Obviously I will take credit for making sure we got some sun today. Secondly, we have crossed the threshold of longer days than nights which means the growing season will be with us before we know it with somethings already growing.

A sunny view out over the allotment

The first of many empty bottles to be found down our allotment this year.

Tomatoes are taking root, onions starting to have shoots, peas starting to grow upwards and first level of compost added to the potatoes, just awaiting pumpkin and courgette seeds to germinate

Our lasses Carol Klein impression, tidying up the pots with grit,

Year one for the Rhubarb, which is a shame as no Rhubarb crumble this year, but where we thought we may have lost one, all three are starting to grow good leaves.

Another two sets of furrows await their potatoes, it will be plan B though as the ground is still very clayey so we will be covering with homemade compost in the coming months.

Day 23 - preparing to be prepared

Obviously, everything you do happens in the present, yet when working an allotment everything done is for the future. In the times we are in at present, planning for a better future might come as a relief.

We are both itching to grow, yet to grow you do have to prepare, the soil is quite clayey, so our lass has added grit, and dug over where the paths were for the frost to get to the soil, we should be getting some compost in the week, add more grit to the compost and place that in the last bed and around the edges in preparation of the raspberry canes.

Our final preparational work of the day is for the section by our neighbours fence, we had moved an old compost bin, fencing and triple layered carpet, only for our neighbour to put an open compost bin by the fence. Luckily we hadn't started on that section, so where as we was going to put an arch, we have used the side of the old compost bin to block this part of the fence, and as we have an abundance of membrane, used that as a screen. For the moment we have left the fake grass down, but it gives us an idea of the effect. Seating area with soil to plant around the edging, we await a bare root rose which will grow to cover the area. Bulbs and other flowers along the pallet fence, and our lasses experimental bottles stayed in place, so have been filled with a bargain find of 10 pence violas. 

Also don't forget the birds, with a bird feeder for the tree.

Our lass having gritted the beds, hoping to help with the drainage

Never ending supply of previous tenants bits n bobs to dispose of, and of course carpet

Before

Just Before

After

Experiment working, they have stayed in place now filled with bargain flowers 10 pence violas

Looking after the birds

Pretty flowers

Day 22 Part 2 - Getting to know your onions.

Discussion had been, not going to grow onions, by the time you grow them they cost more than if you just bought some down the shop, to be frank (and we have a lot of carpet so we can be) everything is cheaper in the shops, you really have to factor in the exercise and enjoyment of seeing what you have planted grow. So whilst we were out shopping yesterday we saw a bag of onion bulbs for less than 4p each, so our lass said "Go on if you want" to which I replied "I had thought of doing them, and we do eat them"

So we now have Onion sets, If you read the advice you are supposed to plan a few months in advance, we sometimes only plan as we walk to where we are going, luckily we had a bed which had been covered in horse manure a month ago, also, as i thought it was space I wanted to add more, but our lass stopped us, which was just as well.

Onions need 4 to 6 weeks autumn warmth, not harsh winter, so they can set roots into the soil, so even though our packaging said you could plant up to December, in all honesty I think we have planted just about as late as you can, so they will be ready for any frosts when they go dormant. They are expected to be ready for June/July.

They need well drained soil, but also need lots of moisture, quite a contradiction. So we have dug over the manure, and put some grit on top as you will see in the photographs, we have planted two rows either side, with a row in the middle free for a companion plant, we did think carrots but onions and carrots do not get on, so it is likely to be leeks or beetroot. 

Lets see what happens.

Here is hoping we can grow something like it looks like on the packet

The bed to begin with

Dug and raked, but not as good as our lass would have done

Applying the grit

Spot the onion, all ready for next year