Potatoes - A Row a Day...

We got to the allotment this afternoon. There had been some torrential showers in the morning so the ground was pretty wet. Look how much rain had fallen since we left the site yesterday - 5mm, that's quite a lot really!

It was quite warm but windy in the afternoon. We managed to get our second row of First Earlies in the ground. Another trench with a little 6X fertilizer sprinkled in, then well-rotted manure, then Marsh Lane earth so the spuds were added at a depth of about 10cm.

The next two rows will be Kestrels and they won't mind waiting a bit before they go in the ground.

Most of the grape hyacinths are actually opening up now - so pretty and, if you remember, we got these bulbs for free!

And, we were pleased to see that one (only one) of our shallots has green shoots - usually the rest follow on fairly swiftly. I'll get under the netting soon and free any which have their leaves trapped in the skin.

I sprinkled some GrowMore around the garlic and hoed it in. that should bring them on a bit - they don't seem to have changed much over the last month or so - I guess they're probably about 15cm tall at the moment.
I've updated the wildlife blog with some images of a pea leaf weevil we found beside a dead broad bean...

Potato Day - Rained Off

I collected the well-chitted spuds from my mum's. Some had great little chits (like this photo of  a kestrel) Quite alien looking isn't it?!

but some of the others had some crazy long chits, especially the Bonnies and Orlas.

Never mind, the plan was to get them all planted up today. You can see, however, from our printed plan below that it was a very wet day... I'll upload this plan to the Crop Rotation Plan page later - with an explanation of why it looks so involved!

We only got one line planted - a trench with well-rotted manure in the bottom. Then we sat in the car watching the rain and drinking a coffee and couldn't face doing another row - it would have been more tricky without the path alongside us and the ground was too wet really :-( Disappointing, not sure whether they'll get done till next week now as this weekend looks like it's going to be rained off completely. Boooo

 

 

April Showers Stopped Play

Jamie braved some very heavy showers this afternoon to dig some more of Plot 8B.
It's definitely feeling Spring-like today and so I thought a pic of Alison's daffodils was appropriate for this post. They're the first flowers growing on-site each year and are a very welcome sight as you enter the gate.

Here is an example of some of the nightmare stones we uncover on Marsh Lane! I think this is the one that made Jamie realise it was hometime! Well, I did say we hadn't dug plot 8 very well last year!!

I only popped up to meet Jamie after work. There had just been a really heavy shower and the birds were singing their little hearts out! (Turn your volume up, but sorry for the sound of Friday night traffic on the A4 in the background!)

Oops - sorry about the rhubarb!

The last few days of sunshine have meant that the grape hyacinths have opened up a little. They still have a way to go but I thought the photo was worth an entry in the blog - nice to have a bit of colour on the screen!

We owe someone an apology - the resigning plotholder did want their rhubarb! Sorry about that! It's all put right now though. They've got their rhubarb back and we went shopping to Yew Tree Garden Centre to fill the gap on our plot :-)


Raspberry Red rhubarb

Not quite as impressive as the rhubarb that was in there yesterday, but at least we know the variety of this one - Raspberry Red. Our other plant is a Victoria so it's good to know we are growing two different varieties.

I dug some manure into the area where the fennel will be going and Jamie filmed a bag full of green waste to take home to the green bin. We didn't stay much longer as I'd been fooled into thinking it was summer and didn't wear a coat - 10° is too chilly for me. It got down to -5° last night though so luckily most people are still holding off with sowing at the moment!

HAHA Workday and Rhubarb

It was a HAHA workday today and we had fabulous weather for it! It reached 12° and the sun shone for most of the day - perfect!

There were enough of us in the workgroup that it didn't take us too long to clear empty plots of big stones, rubbish and other debris, so that the plots can be rotavated during the week.
We hope that a reasonable-looking plot will make the task less daunting for newcomers, particularly as we can only confirm their plot for a year at the moment - well, I know I wouldn't want to spend too many weeks/months preparing the way. Of course, we're still hoping we've got more time on the site!!

Once we'd got the bonfire burning well and had hot drinks and cakes with the other volunteers and plotholders we were ready to do some work on our own plot.

One of the benefits of helping out - we gained a healthy looking rhubarb plant which was unwanted on a plot! Hopefully it will survive the move. It's alongside our other little rhubarb plant.

Wildlife blog updated!