Back to Life

We had a lovely afternoon on the plot - we were so pleased (and surprised) when we got there and found that most of the broad beans had recovered from their frosty battering last week. We were ready to pull them up and re-sow. Instead, Jamie added a sprinkling of lime to encourage growth and alkaline the soil.

I think today was the first dry day we’ve had in weeks and the Sun even tried to make an appearance. We avoided treading on the soil as it’s still really wet, though nowhere near as bad as some parts of the country. The air was warm and positively Spring-like so, although I shared this to the Marsh Lane Allotments Facebook page last week.....

Well, as the saying goes, don’t do as I do, do as I say... I sowed a row of Boltardy beetroot and perpetual spinach into the raised bed with the garlic. I retrieved our old cold frame, which was rather abandoned and harbouring loads of snails, slugs and a mouse nest, to give the seeds a bit of protection, as I’m sure we’ve not seen the last of the cold weather! That section of the raised bed was under cardboard for the last few months so was weed-free and, maybe, a little warmer than uncovered soil.

Jamie sowed some marigold seeds and put them in a bag in the polytunnel. I sowed some Shiraz mangetout into a piece of guttering, they can stay in the polytunnel to germinate and grow a bit. If successful, and the mice don’t find them, they should produce pods early enough to avoid pea moth larvae. 🤞 

Jamie planted 24 Mikor shallots on Plot3. We haven’t netted them, so the birds may disturb some of them, but they normally survive being pushed back into the ground if that happens. The blue tit and robins were singing happily today, another sign of Spring being on its way.

And our wallflowers are full of buds.

Aah, nearly March, not really Spring but time is moving on. I got another letter from the Government advising me to continue shielding until 31st March, but getting a bit of exercise is ok and visiting the allotment is so welcome. It’s good to see a few fellow plotholders, particularly as Ivan gave us some lovely fresh leeks. It seems that there will be some reduction in lockdown rules quite soon, so we may be able to start leasing plots again - our waiting list is looking healthy, which helps our cause for keeping the site.

The song title is, of course, referring to the broad beans and is by Soul II Soul. Nice.

Fade to Grey

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw our first swallows on the site - darting in and out of the toolshed. And I saw my first brimstone butterfly of the year and more tortoiseshells. It would appear that they were sensibly hiding away from the rain today.

I was also hiding most of the time - in the greenhouse sowing while Jamie was digging and clearing weeds (and one giant potato). I sowed Amazing cauliflower, Floral Tribute Mixed sweetpeas, Shiraz and Golden Sweet mangetout, Rainbow chard and asparagus pea. And I planted out Medania spinach in a raised bed, as this worked so well for a fellow plotholder last year. And the Sutton broad beans are planted out and protected with cloches on Plot3.

These we've grown in the root trainer pots - they're a bit fiddly, but produce some nice roots for planting out. We only have 14 plants so far, but it looks like a few more will be ready in a couple of weeks.

 

I'm pleased to say that the tadpoles in the pond have survived the night and look quite happy going round and round in their bucket (sorry, I mean pond). 

Here's the reason for the title song by Visage. What a grey scene. However, it's meant to be warm again during the week...