A day without rain, so I went off to the allotment to play

I can't remember a whole day without any rain (well certainly not on a weekend) for months, so I took advantage and went to the allotment.  So much to plant, lots of catching up to do.  I packed the car with tomato plants, leeks, runner beans and french beans, plastic bottles, canes, drill & accessories, poor Diesel, there was very little room left for him, we arrive for just after 1pm.

First job, fill the gaps around the back door on the bottle house with bottles (obviously), done....after that I wanted to fill in the triangle above the front door to the bottle house, done.... next on the agenda, plant out the tomatoes inside the bottle house, done.... next on the list, plant out the leeks... bit of a stumbling block here, had my dibber ready but the soil was rock hard so I decided to dig over the bed to loosen up the soil, but every time I lifted a clump of soil all you could hear was a squelch, the top was crusty dry but underneath very sticky and wet, I didn't know if this was a good idea to plant out the leeks, so I've turned over the whole bed and left it to dry out, try this one again next weekend.  So my next job was to plant the runner beans and the french beans, done... moving along, hoe the strawberry bed and put mulch mats underneath the plants to keep the fruit off the soil, another one ticked off the list... time was getting on now, I hoed around the Jerusalem artichokes in the bed at the front of the chickens... back to the bottle house, I made a start on one of the back panels, filling it, got about half done when I ran out of bottles... more washing and cutting over the coming week should see this just about completed.   I was beginning to waiver, I had wanted to lift the garlic and shallots, but I've left this for another day.  We left at 10pm completely shattered, but with still so much to do.

I have tomatoes in my bottle house....

Rain Rain Go Away

....come back again when i'm on holiday in August so that i need not worry if my veggies are getting watered whilst i'm away, lol. Seriously though, when will this rain ease, my plot was flooded again after the heavy rain that came toward the back end of last week, luckly though it's only seems to be flooding in one area, though this will cause a problem shortly as this is where the bottle house and fruit area will be. It's not stopped raining for long either yesterday or today and it’s been really heavy at times, so probably more flooding at the allotment. Got a few bits done over the weekend, planted up the rest of the Rocket potatoes, I’ll be doing the Pentland Javelin during this week as and when. There’s no more space for them in the mini greenhouse so these will have to fair the weather. I started to weed the ‘Root’ patch; I’ll be planting some Sweetcorn - Mini Pop in the little area I got done. Try and get some more of that weeded over the weekend. My Comfrey plant is starting to grow again, the first cut will go in with the potatoes, and then I’ll start to make some Comfrey tea for the Tomatoes and Potatoes for when they need a feed later.

I’ve sown some more Leeks (Autumn Giant and Lyon), Cauliflower (AYR), Kohl Rabi, and various Lettuces. The carrots are finally starting to show under the little grow house on the 4ft x 4ft bed in the back yard. The parsnip seeds are now sprouting shoots; does this mean I can just plant them in the soil now?

I cleared away some of the area where the chicken coop and wildlife garden is going to go. I had some roof slates which I was going to use on Samson’s kennel but as I didn’t have enough I felted the roof, but lucky for me, when you lay them all together they measure 3ft x 4ft, just the right size of the chicken house (shed), so these are going to be a base for the shed to sit on, rather than it standing straight on top of the soil.

I’ve re-allocated the space down the side of the plot where the bottle house and fruit and flower beds are going to be. Hopefully if the weather gets better over the weekend I’ll be able to begin the digging for putting in the fencing posts which will be the start of the frame for the bottle house. I’m not sure if I’ll cement these posts in or just find some other way of securing them, just in case I decide to move the bottle house in the future.

We (Caleb & me) popped to Pets at Home over the weekend, and to my joy I discovered that they sell chicken bits n pieces. This will be a great benefit for us, somewhere local I’ll be able to buy food from etc. So anyway in anticipation of the little feathered friends joining us sometime soon, we bought a chicken feeder and water supply. I’m dead chuffed with them; it’s great what little things make us happy.

Oh yes, I’ve received a kind donation from a friend at work (well her father to be precise) two rhubarb plants, so I’ll have to decide where they will live. Probably somewhere within the fruit bits I think. Somebody told me that rhubarb leaves make a good fertilizer, does anybody know if this is true?

Why does it Rain or Snow at Weekends?

Every gardener’s conundrum, well those that have boring Monday - Friday, 9 - 5 jobs anyway. Why does it have to be lovely or at least reasonably dry during the week and then hey presto the heavens open up and we get snow, sleet, rain, frost everything that brings the gardening plans to a thundering (no pun intended) halt!

So from my list of things to do, I started off the 2nd earlies to chit (Anya and Yukon Gold). I couldn’t buy a lead for the propagator so I cobbled together some electrical parts and made one (just call me sparkie), got myself all excited about the propagator and the thought of starting off some tomatoes, chillies and melon, plugged it in, and it didn’t heat up. Not sure what it is now, it had a little fan on the side which I thought would heat it up, but it just blows cold air out and doesn’t get warm. Maybe it’s just a posh cold frame. So from that you may well gather I didn’t start off any seedlings that need that extra warmth. Sowed some leeks, again, don’t know what I’m doing wrong with these, they just keep wilting, so I’ll keep persevering. Got some loo rolls so I’m going to sow a few peas tonight. Maybe the lettuce and put them in my fancy cold frame, lol.

Saturday was fairly nice weather here in Middlesbrough, so I took advantage and started on the back yard, least said about Sunday the better (this was when I was supposed to go over to the allotment, needless to say I didn’t make it). So in the yard I’ve put down the 7ft x 4ft raised bed and filled it with compost. Cleared away all the old cages (Gromit’s hutch and a couple wire cages that we had when we had our chinchillas. Cleared away the old bits of wood (which are not really suitable for anything) and made space for another small 4ft x 4ft raised bed, Ooh got a ‘find of the month’ from down one of the back alleys near to me whilst taking Samson out for a walk, some old decking which will come in very nicely for this new raised bed. Remembered about a little pop-up grow house I had in the shed so I’ve placed this over the soil where the carrots are going to go rather than the net curtains.

I bought some 6ft garden canes for the bottle house bundle of 5 for 99p, so I got 4 bundles this time round and some 7ft garden canes for the French beans, bundle of 5 for £1.49, so I got 2 packs total bargains from Wilkinson’s. I didn’t get to Mrs ‘C’s for the bottles so I’ll try to get there one night this week.

Finally I made a start on washing out the old pots and seed trays. All in all, a quite productive weekend I didn’t manage everything I wanted to do but did make a good start.

Plans for the Weekend

I’ve got plans galore that I want to get done over the weekend, how many will come to fruition only the man in the sky knows, him and his little weather pixie anyway, but nonetheless this is what is on the agenda:
· Get the 2nd earlies chitted (this should be easy, not weather reliant).
· Sow some leeks, tomato (in heated propagator), melon, peas, lettuce, chillies (again not weather reliant)
· Cover small bed (4ft x 4ft) in back yard with fleece (well old net curtains) so soil starts to warm up for carrots/parsnips to be sown in a couple of weeks.
· Get electric lead for propagator (must do this before item 2)
· Tidy up back yard so that raised beds and greenhouse (small plastic ones) can be put into place ready for hardening off and more planting.
· Buy some garden canes and collect plastic bottles from Mrs ‘C’ (she is saving 2 litre bottles for me for my bottle house).
· Get down to the allotment, see what can be dug, and dig, dig, dig. If not possible to dig, i.e. ground frozen and waterlogged, and then it will be build, build build.
· Wash out pots and seed trays.
· Oh yeah, last but not least eat and sleep (again not weather reliant, lol)

A couple of dates for your diaries, if you don’t already know about them. Gardener’s world is back on 5th March BBC2 at 8pm and also Alys Fowler will be presenting The Edible Garden, this is due to start on Tuesday 16th March BBC2 at 8pm.

No Further Forward at the Plot

Well I’m no further forward in getting the plot prepared for the spring, I now have the added headache of having to make two lots of (rotational) raised beds seen as though I went mad and ordered loads of potatoes and there isn’t going to be room for them in the proposed ‘root’ section. I sat down and looked at my plan of the allotment and looked where I could squeeze in another section. I’d taken Friday and today off as holiday in the hope of being able to get started on these along with some winter digging but the weather is not helping at all, it has rained, and even snowed today so things are getting further and further behind.

I bought some lime for the Brassica patch; I’d managed to get two of the three beds in this area dug over in November, so I’ll get the third done and then add lime ready for when I plant out. I’d read in one of the magazines that this is an ideal time for the lime to be added so I’ll try and get that done fairly soon. I’d also managed to get the Legume section dug over and a load of compost and manure spread, so hopefully this will be ready to go when the beans are germinated.

I’ve sown a few more veggies. I tried again with some seed onions (Bedfordshire Champion) and this time I used brand new compost, I’ve bought B&Qs cutting and sowing compost, this was the best performer in the Which magazine trials with an 83% success rate and huge seedlings so I thought that I’d give it a go. I’ve sown some more leeks (Musselburgh), some cabbage (Greyhound), cucumber (Marketmore), celeriac (Monarch) and some aubergine (mixed).

But then the Snow Turned to Rain

When will this awful weather stop? Throughout November it was rain, and then we had the snow and now yet more rain. My allotment doesn’t have very good drainage hence the reason I’m building raised beds to plant my veggies in. And all this bad weather doesn’t help when you want to get things moving along for example those ‘winter’ jobs we should be getting on with. Well that’s my moan over with.

I’m going to make a trip to the allotment over the weekend, come hell or high water (more probably high water if the rain continues). The snow has all melted and I want to see how things have faired, mostly to see if I have any broad beans before I plant some more and to pull and put it in the compost bin what’s left of the PSB and sprouts after the pesky pigeons had their way with them.

On the seed trial, remember I said that I’d planted up some leeks, onions and cauli’s as a kind of test to see how things move along here in the North East. Well all I can say is leggy cauli’s, the poor little things have stretched themselves so much looking for the light, so they’re definitely one seed that I’ll have to play the waiting game on, but the onions and leeks don’t seem to be too bad, I’ll keep persevering with the one’s I’ve sown and maybe do another batch at the end of the month.

Welcome on Board

Hi, and welcome to my blog, this is all a new experience for me so I hope you stick around as I'm sure things will only get better. Nothing much happening here in Middlesbrough, the snow is slowly disappearing so hopefully once it all goes i'll be able to get to the plot to finish off the winter digging and create a few new veg beds.

I went over to the allotment at the weekend, the snow was several inches deep, when I got there I found that the pigeons, well i'm blaming them, have eaten all my purple sprouting brocolli and demolished what few sprout plants I had. NOTE TO SELF cover next winter with netting!! I'd planted some Broad beans at the end of November and had planted some overwintering onions, i'll have to see how they have faired once all the snow goes.

So far this month I have sown some Onion seeds (Bedfordshire Champion), some Leeks ( - ) and some Cauli's (All Year Round and Snow Crown). I'll keep you posted as to their progress in the coming weeks.