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.

Light(ish) Nights

Isn’t it wonderful now the nights are starting to get a bit lighter, there will soon be a whole hour after work that I’ll be able to get bits n pieces done at the allotment. I’m lucky that it’s only 5 minutes drive from my work, so it’s easy to pop over to do a few bits before it gets dark. Over winter this has not been feasible, but with the nights getting lighter for longer I’ll be able to get over and do bits. Another added bonus is British Summertime Begins in just 4 weeks, just think of that extra hour!

I’m planning to get over to the lottie over the weekend, didn’t manage last weekend, what with one thing and another, but I would like to get across for a couple of hours at least on Sunday. The only stumbling block is yes you’ve guessed it, its forecast snow showers here in Middlesbrough. Hopefully though this prediction won’t come true and it will be glorious weather, yes I know cloud cuckoo land.

I ordered some Gardman (Pack of 2) Reusable Potato Planters / Tubs online to plant some of the earlies in, as the potato area isn’t sorted yet. You can see from the photo below, the area just at the bottom of the picture covered in weeds, this is where the potato beds are going to go.

Once I’d ordered the planters they only took a couple of days to arrive, very fast turnaround. I’m very pleased with them, they seem more robust than some of the designs available, and they have little pouches on the sides which will be useful to fumble about and see how things are progressing.

On the seed front, the chitting spuds are chitting quite nicely, the Rocket in particular are doing very well. The Cabbage (Greyhound) is doing well, Cauliflower (AYR) are starting to come through, so are the Khol Rabi. No sign of the Onions, Celeriac, Peppers or Cucumber yet but nearly all Broad Beans are through. I’ll going to have look through my seeds at the weekend and sow some more things. I may try some tomatoes, I’ve been given a heated propagator so I’m going to keep them snug in there and see how they go.