Cold Nights

Lucky we covered up; the temperature hit zero in the small hours of Thursday. We saw a bit of frost-burn around the site but nothing too devastating ~apart from for those people who had dared to put their runners out  :-(

The temperatures for Thursday night were forecast to be about 4° so we decided to be brave and leave the strawberries uncovered. At least one seed of each squash variety has germinated and so have some sprouts and cabbages but still no sign of either variety of runner bean. And I think a mouse may have eaten all the peas that I sowed, there are some strange markings on the soil...

Cold sunset

We were chatting with Malcolm and listening to a cuckoo when Paul drew our attention to a barn owl flying gracefully across the site. So lovely to see! We've never seen one on site before. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready, but I did (just about) manage to snap it later as we walked home across Freemans Marsh. It had been flying around for a while and then rested on a fence post.

 

Ugh, Frost Risk

Our preferred weather site forecasts that it's going to be 2° and clear at dawn tomorrow. So, we went to the allotment after work and have earthed up our potatoes - covering every sign of foliage. It's such a setback if they get frosted so simply not worth the risk at this point (we don't think!)

We also covered our strawberries - not sure the enviromesh piled on top will actually work, but it shouldn't be a severe frost so they may get away with it...

A few of the seeds in the greenhouse have germinated; some of the squashes and brassicas but didn't have time to check.
Hopefully they and the other little seedlings around the place will get away with whatever frost hits Marsh Lane. And hopefully it'll be the last frost risk till November!

Seedlings Progress

We had a couple of hours on the plot this afternoon before it started raining. It was quite nice and warm 16°), though cloudy and the ever-present wind was there again.

The lettuce seedlings are good enough to eat but I'm going to let them get bigger and will plant some outside to grow into full-size lettuces - hopefully I'll get to eat them before the slugs!

These are the Moneta beets. They need to get at least a couple more leaves (and get bigger!) before they get transplanted into the raised bed - lots have germinated though.

And this is looking down the cloche at the parsnip seedlings - very tiny at the moment. Only one will be kept so we'll let them grow a bit till we can see which looks the healthiest and then snip the other two off (it's a cruel World!).

Jamie and I were digging Plot 8B, still have the last bit to dig but finding a bucketful of stones with every half metre dug, it's hard work but we'll get there. It's needs to be dug well as that's where the salsify is going - as a long root vegetable it really needs earth, not bricks, under it!
Jamie spread and dug 6x fertiliser into the area where the sweetcorn and Jack-be-Little pumpkins will be going.
Wildlife blog updated with Robbie News :-)

Allotment Stuff, but Indoors

We've been backwards and forwards to the plot during the rainy, sunny, windy week; opening and closing the greenhouse and the last two days checking that the wind hasn't blown everything away! We've lost a couple of the bottle cloches and had gained a bucket but everything else was where we'd left it!

Very pleased to say that nearly all the parsnips have germinated, as have quite a few of the newly sown broad beans, Tom Thumb lettuce and the night stocks. Most of the potatoes are up but we're missing International Kidney and Arran Pilot at the moment - hopefully they'll appear in the next couple of days.

Today I spent the day doing HAHA stuff. We've quite a few empty plots on site and not many people on the waiting list - probably because of the issues with the lease renewal - still no news :-(

Jamie potted on the Lizzano tomatoes which are getting rather leggy but have at least a week before we can risk putting them up the plot - they've even got some tiny buds on them!

The Redskin peppers are looking pretty happy in the window sill. They were delivered on 1st May from Thompson & Morgan.

Jamie also sowed some Jack-Be-Little pumpkins which we'll germinate under a grow lamp in a cloche in our bedroom.

We bought our bamboo canes and plan to work on the plot tomorrow - though now rain is forecast and I think it's chilly and I'm fed up with the STOOPID WIND!!

A Sunny Bank Holiday!

Such a lovely May Day holiday - there were a lot of other plot holders around making the most of the sunshine and amazing temperature. We had a barbecue but escaped early afternoon as it was too hot (my resolution not to moan when the sun shines is officially broken!). We'll go back to close the greenhouse down a bit later.

From Plot 7

Look how dry the ground appears, but a couple of inches down there is some moisture; In the morning there is dew so it's not quite as dry as it looks. Still no sign of parsnips or the broad beans we sowed a couple of weeks ago.
We've moved the flowers and beets which have germinated under the green mesh cloche, in the raised bed, which is cooler than the greenhouse.
Today I sowed these seeds in modules and they're in the greenhouse:

• Scarlet Empire runner beans
• White flowered runner beans - we don't know their name but they are apparently self-pollinating

I also sowed 4 small rows of Rondo F1 Florence Fennel. I sowed 3 seeds per 'station' and spread the stations out as each plant should be spaced about 15cm apart.
I also sowed a row of PeaWee 65 petit pois and Carouby de Moussane mangetout. Jamie repaired the pea frame which had gone rather wobbly since I moved it from the other quarter...
More potatoes have burst through!

From Plot 8

 

Seedy Sunday

We managed to get most of our seeds sown this afternoon. It was warm and bright and the wind had dropped since yesterday - Thank Goodness.
Our potatoes have started to appear. This is the most advanced in the second row - it appears to be a Red Duke of York which fits in with the plan, so that's a good start!

These are two rows of Paris Silverskin onions, for pickling, and one row of Apache red salad onions. I'll hopefully succession sow a few more rows of salad onions in here too. As ever, my rows aren't straight, but they're labelled and topped with seed compost so whatever :-)

This is Jamie, very neatly, sowing our carrots, Sugarsnax F1. Three rows under the enviromesh cover. He used a wooden pole to make the straight drills - wish I'd done that for the onions!

We also sowed the following and they've gone into the greenhouse:

• Tom Thumb lettuce (half a tray)
• Lambs Lettuce (corn salad) Cavallo (half a tray)
• Swiss Chard Bright Lights (I've sown these in modules so I can keep the most colourful ones)
• Celeriac Asterix F1 (in modules)
• Brussels Nelson F1 (in pots)
• Cabbages Minicole F1 (in pots)

The squashes are sown 3 per pot (apart from the Cornells Bush Delicata). I really only want one of each type but I'm sure the others will find homes if they germinate and grow.

• Winter Squash Cornells Bush Delicata (in pots)
• Winter Squash Uchiki Kuri (in pots)
• Courgette Ambassador (normal green type) (in pots)
• Courgette Floridor F1 (round yellow type) (in pots)

These were sown into the raised bed:

• Turnip Oasis
• Radish French Breakfast 3
• Radish Chinese Dragon

 

And night scented stock have been sown around the grape hyacinths so they'll produce a lovely evening fragrance when we're sitting on our bench.



Flowering and Germinating

Various visits to the plot this week - Jamie's been digging during the day (back permitting) and then we went up each evening to shut the greenhouse down. The temperature is ranging from -2° to 20° out in the open and between 2° and 38° in the greenhouse!
The seeds have appreciated it - the marigolds have all germinated but no sign of the beetroot yet.
The strawberries are flowering - this one looks a bit frost-bitten so probably won't fruit.

And the broad beans have real flowers now :-)

And look how much the hedge has grown - so pretty!

Rotten Start to the Day

Of course, it was only rotten because it was an all-too-quick visit to the allotment before going to work! And what a beautiful morning it was; the birds were singing and there was no-one else around.

Look at that lovely blue sky!

I only nipped up to do a couple of things:

1. Open the greenhouse: The temperature gets up to nearly 40° in the sunshine - just a bit too hot for our little seeds! Overnight the temperature was 2° outside and 3.4° in the greenhouse, so it doesn't make that much different but may prevent some damage if there is a bad frost maybe...
2. Water the grass path that we sowed at the weekend.
3. Give Robbie a few mealworms - he was there waiting for me on his usual fence post.

The radish seedlings are up - I just sowed a little row in front of our broad beans, which have quite a few flowers now. There are loads of bees and other flying insects around so hopefully we'll get some beans fairly soon.

And that was it, time for work :-(
Then a quick visit after work to seal the greenhouse from another cold night ahead...

More Seed Sowing

We had a good afternoon on the plot even though the cold wind was horrible. The sun didn't shine but at least it stayed dry and there were loads of plotholders on site.

Jamie and I put up our little green house for germinating seeds. We've piled bricks all round it as it was trying to take off in the wind already. We've put perspex under the seed trays to help warm the ground underneath as that's where we'll be planting some flowers once the greenhouse is moved on. We're hoping the perspex will encourage weed growth so we can pull them before we put wildflowers in - otherwise we won't know what's what!

We sowed the grass path between the two newly aligned plots - hope somebody wants to lease them soon so they don't stay unloved too long!

I did the meet and greet of a new couple (welcome to Andrew & Gill). They arrived armed with tools and had planted a row of donated potatoes within a couple of hours of setting foot on site!

We left after we had sowed some beetroot (Moneta - monogerm variety), calendula (Daisy Mix) and french marigolds (Oranges and Lemons). They're all in the greenhouse.

  

 

Well, it is still April, what did we expect?!

We may have been thinking that it's been a slow year, but April is proving to be just as we'd expect - full of April showers.

Time to go!

Jamie was digging plot 8B yesterday and got caught in hail and snow showers and today we didn't do any better! In between there was some lovely sunshine but it felt chilly (8°) and the nights are still cold, 0° last night.
Our plants are enjoying the weather though. The onions have green shoots and the salad seeds sown last week have germinated.

We're really pleased with the rhubarb, this is the original Victoria which we were concerned about in February - it's certainly made up for it over the last couple of weeks; it seems to grow before our eyes!

Today we were doing HAHA work; changing a couple of empty plots and making a path between them. We'll seed the path tomorrow and then we can get back to our plots. We need to get our little greenhouse up so we can get some more seeds sown.