Spring?

Things are warming up now, but it has been very wet, so it has been very difficult to do any digging - the clay has just held the water and is very claggy.
However, I have been able to do a few things.As I said, last week I planted broad beans and potatoes. This weekend I have planted onion sets, parsnip seed, lettuces (in my seed bed) spring onions and beetroot. The parsnips were planted (3 seeds in each) in holes that had been made with a crowbar (a dibber would have done) filled with old compost. When they germinate, hopefully in a month, I will let one plant grow per hole. I've also put a lot of chippings on my paths, which were very wet. There are still some paths to do though! I've also planted some runner bean and climbing french bean seeds at home, which I should be able to plant out in about 6 weeks time, if I've got round to digging the plot over by then!
There are always more things to do of course, including putting boards round a couple of my plots. This will allow me to raise the level somewhat, which should help with drainage, and soil structure.

Planting at last

I've had some broad bean plants in the greenhouse for more than a month now, waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so they could be planted out. Yesterday was the big day! It was only about 6°C but this is such an improvement on the year to date that I took the bull by the horns and planted them under a mesh cloche, which should protect them from a degree or so of frost. I also moved 24 barrows of manure onto one of my plots. This morning I dug it in (with some blood, fish and bone) then planted some potatoes. Again, they had been ready to put in for some time.The next job will be to plant some onion sets, plus parsnip seeds and beetroot seeds - better late than never! In a couple of weeks I will plant some bean and pea seeds (in pots, in the greenhouse) then some sweetcorn seeds in a warm propagator. I have cabbage seedlings coming on and some tomato seedlings which just refuse to grow as it's still too cold. With everything so late this year, it's all a bit of a mass panic! There's lots still to do.

The weather, again!!

Today, 23 March, at midday, it is -2°C with a biting easterly wind, and as you can see snow - for the fourth (at least) time this winter. It is the coldest March weekend since 1963, and I expect that it will be the coldest March since records began, as there is no end in sight. Last year at this time it was more than 20°C warmer. So far this year it has either been wet or cold - or both - so it has not been possible to get onto the allotment as it is clay, and has been permanently waterlogged. I have - and indeed had, a month ago - 20 broad bean plants that I grew from seed in my greenhouse just ready to go in, but it has not been possible. Also chitted potatoes, and I would like to have sown some seeds, notably parsnips and carrots. All not possible, so I - like all other plotholders - am well behind this year. I spoke to two of the most experienced vegetable growers a couple of days ago, and they are in exactly the same situation. Let's hope for some better growing conditions later, and that the plants catch up!

I mentioned the third container which is to be used for the South East in Bloom baskets etc. This has now been installed on its concrete base, and will have some shelving put in before being used. We have also planted about 400 whips (very small bushes/trees) outside the deer fence and round the compost site, to replace the ones we lost last year. Also, we dug a trench for the electricity and installed a pipe for the cable - a cold, wet and arduous job. The sockets etc are all installed, and the electricity should be connected shortly. Then there will be a 10 000 litre tank to install underground, to store runoff, and the picnic area to flatten, improve with sand and sow with grass. So the jobs keep coming! 

2013 will be better!

 I have been most dilatory writing my blog in 2012. Of course, I blame the weather, which has been appalling. We had about 2 weeks of summer this year - and that was in March! At the moment, everything is flooded (and it's still raining)  - no prospect of working on the allotment in the near future! For Christmas 2011 we had parsnips, carrots, sprouts, potatoes, beetroot and onions from the plot - this year it was only parsnips! However, I have started to make some improvements which will hopefully go some way to producing some good crops in 2013, no matter what the weather.

I have put in some decent wooden posts round a couple of my 'mini' plots, and put up some green netting to keep off the birds etc. Also I have started raising one of the beds, with gravel boards round the bottom, which I am filling - as and when the weather permits - with compost and manure. This will be the plot for potatoes in 2013, but I will do one plot each year, and continue improving the soil in the others. This should give both a better soil structure and better drainage. There is talk of putting a French drain round the whole site, but the clay is so thick that I doubt this will help anyone except those with plots nearest the fence.
We were due to level the area around our two containers, and seed it with grass, also put picnic benches etc to make a community garden, but it has been so wet that this has had to be postponed until spring. However, we will at some stage be putting in electricity, which will be a boon. We will also be welcoming a third container, this one for the South/South East/Britain in Bloom bits and pieces. So, despite the weather, some progress is being made. As expected (especially after such a disastrous year) a few people have given up their plots, but there is a waiting list so we expect to be full up again in 2013.

Garden Club

One of the many benefits of our village is the community spirit. The Horticultural Society - a rather grand name for a group of people who enjoy gardening - held one of their Garden Club meetings this evening, at the allotments. There are regular monthly meetings, (usually indoors!) which are very diverse, ranging from growing onions and leeks via raising chickens and pigs to talks by local garden designers. This time, it was allotment growing, which as everyone knows has been especially difficult this year, with lots of slugs, rain and caterpillars, and not nearly enough sun and warmth.

Some of the people - not all allotmenteers - who came to Garden Club







The London Shard

It was a lovely evening, but got dark too soon. We are close enough to London that the Shard is clearly visible as well as the Olympic Stadium from the site, but far enough into the country that we have none of the noise or metropolitan dirt. We had an interesting talk, and looked round several plots, each with different ideas. Some people had very narrow beds - you don't tread on the soil, but on the other hand there is a lot of hard construction, and a lot of ground is lost to paths. Some had divided their plots into 4 (as have I) for easy rotation of crops. Others had surrounded their plots with netting, to cut down on the wind and the pigeons - of which there are many!

My virtually non-existent harvest!

 I dug my Kestrel early potatoes today. It was a very small harvest - about a third of what it should have been. However, I know why - I dug in a lot of chippings to improve the soil structure last winter (which it has done) and that used up the nitrogen in the soil. So next year I will add some slow-release fertiliser eg blood fish and bone - prior to planting. At least the quality of the potatoes was good - no slug damage, no blight and very little scab. Other people have had good foliage but the crops have rotted in the ground - too wet!

Even the slugs are drowning....

April had record rainfall : so did June, and in the first two weeks of July we have had three times the monthly average of rain so far. Add to this the fact that, when it has not been raining, it has been gloomy and cold, and the growing conditions have been appalling. Everything of mine that has not been eaten by slugs has just refused to grow. I put in three apple trees last autumn, of which two seem to have taken, but the third looks decidedly poorly. So far this year, we've had a few miserable potatoes, a couple of beetroot and some mange tout peas that, although they were grown from last year's seed, have been 50% inedible. Not good! I would be even more discouraged if everyone was not in the same boat - and I use that word advisedly! When the plot hasn't actually been under water, it has been too soggy to walk on.
We are promised, at last, a bit of summer this week. Let's hope so!