Spring has sprung... the grass has riz....

.... i wonder where the birdies is.

First visit of 09 to the allotment to check it survived the winter, and it appears to have done OK. The garlic I planted in there last year is now sprouting as you can see from the straight lines in this bed (or the weeds have been putting in some hours over winter on the close-order marching field).



The leeks don't look to have grown much over the past couple of months so I pulled a couple to have with my roast beef tonight. There wasn't that much below ground so this year I think I'll have to bury them a bit deeper to get a decent amount of leeky goodness out of them.

The rest of the beds got turned over to expose the waterlogged bits underneath to the sun to get them to try out a bit. The bags of manure I dug in at the back end of last year look to have done the trick as the beds with this in them are much lighter.

Spuds were picked up at the Easy Anglian Potato Day (no.. really) and are merrily chitting in the garage ready to go in the ground in a couple of weeks when the frost and snow and general nastiness is over and done with.

When the weather is a bit nicer, the whole plot needs a good weeding as the pic below shows, but the beds themselves are pretty weed free (possibly due to having weedkiller on them last year.. grrrrrr)

Vampire repellent time

Given the horrible weather over the past couple of weekends, and the fact I now have to work for a living during the week, this was the first chance I've had to get the garlic and onions in the ground. A couple of bags of manure from the garden centre (expensive but convenient) got dug in to most of the beds and then the garlic (elephant and Monte Christo) and onions (red) went in.

The leeks still aren't ready (again) so the next lot I plant will have a load of manure in the bottom of the trench in case they aren't getting fed enough.

Spinach as ever is still running wild so got a number 1 all over to keep it in check ;-)

Back in front of the fire now as it's not getting above freezing out there for the foreseeable future :(

Spuds ahoy

The second bed of spuds I planted (and didn't water with weedkiller apparently) fared much better than the first set. Two spud plants gave me a plantpot full which is what I got out of two six foot rows in the other bed. These are pink fir apples I think (well.. they're pink).



I also managed to rescue a handful of radishes from the slugs/rabbits who have been tucking into them like mad.

Tomatoes are coming along well too with plum, cherry, and big 'uns all looking like good chutney material.



The courgettes are doing less well with only one or two on each plant.


The garlic that flowered finally started shrivelling up so I dug it up to find individual bulbs, or very small clusters. Definately not as good as the first bed which at least formed recognisable bulbs. All of them are now in the coldframe drying as we haven't had a day without rain for ages.



And as per usual, several more barrow loads of weeds but the end is in sight with them now I've laid down some more woodchips and weed membrane to stop them coming back again a week later.

Bean feast

Yet more weeding, and an ideal demonstration of just how fast spinach grows. I cut the bed down almost to the ground just over a week ago, and came back today to find this:-



It had all started going to seed so I cut it all back again to give some fresh spinach in another few days.

The French beans also gave me a few more than last years dismal harvest.


The spud harvest was rubbish though. All the tops died off which is a sign that they are ready, but on digging them up I ended up with less than I planted in the first place which isn't the best.



I reckon the weedkiller killed off the plants before most of them started making spuds. The other bed looks a bit healthier so I'm hoping they turn out a bit better.

The joint bean and pea experiment over on Louises plot is coming on great guns.

Cabbages and more cabbages

The radish seeds that I planted a couple of weeks are all starting to sprout so will need to be thinned out in a week or so. The spring onions I planted next to them however have not come up at all so I planted some cabbages (Ormskirk Late) which should really be planted last month, but were the only thing I had to hand. Some more cabbages (tundra) went into a seed tray in the back garden so at least if the lot on the plot die off like all the other seeds have, I may get a crop at home.

The fruit bushes (black and red currants) at the end of the plot have done really well and are covered in berries.



There are enough for severally ice-cream laden puddings of these which I'll be tucking into over the next week or so.

The garlic has died off now so I've dug one bed of it out and laid the bulbs out to dry in the sun (forecast for the whole of the next week). When I've removed the weeds from the bed, I'll pop some turnips in there to keep me in soupy staples over winter.

The tomato plants sourced by the ever resourceful Louise are coming on really well and bulking up ready to supply me with copious quantities of chutney ingredients over the summer.

Finally, the French beans that were hit by weedkiller are recovering a little and have been joined by some peas from the coldframe which I hope do better than last years harvest.

Absolutely Radishing

Everything that I planted on the plot recently appears to have died, coinciding with all the grass on the plot next to me being killed off.



Coincidence? Who knows. Anyhoo, today was spent replanting some stuff in order to get something off my plot this year.

A line of radishes and another of spring onions went in at the front of the plot in a trench filled with John Innes compost to give them a fighting chance of getting out of the ground.

Another load of carrots also went in to replace the lot that didn't even germinate the first time round.

The fruit bushes at the end of the plot are coming on in leaps an bounds.

These are blackcurrants. The little ribena men did a runner as I got close so these are just the ones that where asleep.



These are the redcurrants next to them



And finally the raspberries that I planted and promptly died last year have come good.



The garlic is almost cooked as well. I picked some last weekend and roasted them as per Mr H.F. Wittingstalls instructions. Sweet as a nut !!!!



The rest will be pulled over the next couple of weeks, some for fresh, some to dry to keep the vampires away on the dark winter nights.

I also cut down another couple of barrow loads of weeds. I've got a cracking crop this year!

Baking hot spuds

The spuds are making cracking progress on the allotment now so today was spent earthing them up as per the recipe book.



These are the early crop and there's another bed of later ones which are not quite so well developed but should keep me in mash, chips, and other spuddy delights later on in the year.

The onions that went in at the bag end of last year have now done their stuff and half of them turned into leeks which makes me thinks they may not have been onions in the first place. The red onions are left out on the bed drying out so they will keep better, and the leeks will be cooked up with a bit of butter for my tea.


The second lot of seeds planted in the coldframe and protected by swathes of slug pellets have come good, and another few snails went to meet their maker. Top left are dwarf beans, top right are courgettes, and left middle are beetroots. Bottom left are sliverskin onions which are taking a bit longer but are just poking their heads above the soil, and the tray on the right is leeks, again a bit slower to start.



The rasberry canes that went in last year and promptly died also seem to be making a good recovery and should give me enough for a mr kipling style individual fruit pie.



The salsify has finally flowered and matches the pictures on the web so I'll have a go at harvesting it shortly. With a root that is 3ft long it may take some doing though!!!



After all that hard work, I retired home for a well earned greasy spoon.