The end of winter?

Is this the end of winter 2011-12? The weather this week has been stunning for February, and there was a work party up at the allotments this morning. We were cutting back the surrounding hedge, in preparation for our new anti-deer fence, which is to be installed soon. There's another work party tomorrow to finish off. This is one of the piles of brush that we cut back.


And this is a view of our new composting site. This has moved from a fairly restricted site where it has been for the last 10 years, and has been able to expand here. The volunteers have built a large number of new pallet bins, and access will be even better when the road just inside the new fence - and for which we will be receiving a grant - is completed. For this year only, 'prepared' compost will continue to be picked up at the old site (where it has been maturing all winter) and green waste will be brought to the new site.

As far as the plot itself goes, I have carried on digging (and taking out flints) so it should be ready for planting next month. I have potatoes chitting, tomatoes sprouting, and broad beans in pots at home.

2012 will be the second year for the new plots. As expected, some (only 5) people dropped out after year 1, but their places have already been taken by Tatsfield residents.

Winter Update

My last post was 24 October, which is a reflection of how much has been going on - or is it just that I couldn't be bothered?
November and December were both mild, so much so that I picked my last courgettes in the middle of November, about a month later than most years! And on Christmas Eve I picked beetroot, carrots, sprouts and parsnips. Together with stored potatoes and onions, and leeks from the garden, we did very well for Christmas!
Since then I've been getting on with the digging. The plot is divided into 4 mini-plots, plus a strip running down the north side for apples, rhubarb and courgettes. One of the mini-plots has had a load of manure and a load of chippings dug in, whilst another has had this and then another load of manure dug in. These plots are for potatoes, beans, peas etc. The other two are for brassicas - cabbages, sprouts etc - and this has had one load of chippings dug in, (ie no nutrients added, but the soil strucure has been improved) and rootcrops like carrots and beetoot, and onions, which has been dug and will be fertilised before planting. Actually, I've already planted onion sets through black polythene (to keep the weeds down) the same as in 2011.
On my last blog you may have seen the two supports with wires that I put up for apples. I have since bought three bare-rooted trees (Bramley, Adam's Pearmain and Sunset) which I have planted, and I've also moved two apple rootstocks (these are all dwarfing) to take some cuttings from an old tree in our garden. Not that I know anything about grafting, but we shall see.....
I purchased some Kestrel potatoes (we liked these - they were very versatile, quite heavy cropping, tasty and fairly disease resistant) and have started chitting them, and have bought some seeds, so I shall start tomatoes off soon in a propagator. Otherwise, I shall have to wait for spring, which might be some time. Unlike 2010 where the winter came early, this one has come late, with snow and temperatures of -12 last week. Now it's a bit warmer, but raining, so I can't get on the plot yet.