I say unproductive, but we have harvested 6 kg of shallots, 4.5kg of runner beans, 5 round squashes, and various weekly pickings of thing from the miscellaneous beds like radishes, spring onions, chard, lettuce and spinach. But really I was only using a third of the allotment. I did sow carrots, parsnips and beetroot.. but.. with 4 camping trips in peak season for those naughty weeds, on each return I picked and picked the ever bearing weeds out. The problem was, as is always the way, the weeds grow faster than anything else you can put in! It’s so annoying, but I have learnt a vital lesson this first year.
Now when I’ve been sowing seeds, I mark out my line two pegs and the string line. I then pop a marker at the end of the row to tell me whats what, and leave them to it. I pick out weeds here there and everywhere and end up losing half of what I’ve sown because the upon pulling the weeds the crop seedling comes out with it! Now, upon marching around the other plots gloating over long lines of lush green flourishing crops I’ve noticed about sowing seed! I’ve noticed that people tend to leave the line markers in and just hoe each side of the line. Once the sown seedling has gotten to the point where pulling a weed out next to it will not pull the sown seedling root with it, you can start pulling them nearer the sown seedling. That way you keep your row, and you don’t end up thinning out half the row to eradicate the weeds! Easy!
There is so much to learn looking at other peoples plots!
I have been playing copycat with my next door neighbour these past few weeks. She cut her grass in front of her plot.. I hadn’t even thought of doing that yet. So this past weekend I got my old pair of dressmaking shears and started hacking away .. I’d done a metre into my plot when $?&%, a load of wasps which I thought were dead in the morning when I got there, but soon realised that a few were still very much alive, came buzzing out of a hole about two metres away from me. I was sitting on the floor, my chair was a good two metres away.. I crawled back to it, climbed up as fast as I could, a buzzing sound started coming from my hair! I pushed down the track of the allotment flicking my hair in panic, screaming my head off! Oh my, I was in a state, and I made a complete fool of myself dashing around like I was on fire. The wasp didn’t bite me and after a few more buzzings, which each time turned to silence, making me almost cry in despair, it flew off back to the nest! I’ll have to phone the council back up about that
I’m not frightened of wasps or any insect or flying thing usually, I have been trying to pretend they weren’t there. It had worked up until that point!So, two whole days over the weekend 0700-1930 I’ve been at the plot digging and weeding, sorting out the paths, mulching the beds with mushroom compost, shifting stones, clearing the back of meadow land ready for the poly tunnel to be put in. I feel like I’ve made a good head start for Autumn now. My beds B and D have been green manured with rye and vetch mix from cotswold seeds by the kilo which seemed the best way to buy it! Bed C with mustard as I will be making some early sowings of parsnips and shallots this Autumn.
Today I have sown 2 lots of pointy cabbage. Flower of Spring Cabbage, which will be ready between March and May, and Durham Early a larger conical cabbage which will be ready April/May. I’ve also sown our first Winter Lettuce, Winter Density which is a semi-cos. It’s hardy over wintering and will be ready for picking in March. I have a couple more leafy winter plants to sow, a red and green varieties of Pak Choi, more Rocket, Spinach, I have a good few Chard plants still going strong that will over winter too. So we should be fine on the leaf front!
I sow most of my seeds that benefit from being raised in a seedbed/module in something called an Agralan Root trainer. In the past ten plus years I’ve gone through so many seed tray modules, peat pots, and various other methods of seed germination, but they mostly end up in pieces after a couple of seasons. So I bought 4 of these 49 celled root trainers three years ago and have the best results ever! They are compact, they stack, it is easy to get the plugs out without shocking the roots, and above all they will last me hopefully forever! Four is just enough. When it comes to March.. they are all in use for 2-3 months. Right now, I’ve just started some cabbage and lettuce in them.
Here are the root trainers, filled with John Innes seed compost, which I have found really do help.
Drying in the sun after having a good wash
The three separate pieces
Compact stacking
Mist with water/feed over the top, fill water reservoir ( the base) to the level required, label the seeds and place the lid over the top. To ventilate, turn the lid 90 degrees.
Last year I did a test with 2 yr old seeds in normal bob standard compost, and the John Innes Seed compost. I got 95% flourishing seedlings from the John Innes and less than 50% with the normal compost. For an even better start I soak my seeds for 12 hours in a dilute “Original Seaweed Extract (Plant Growth Stimulant)” mix from Maxicrop. After this I root drench using these root trainers with the same dilution every ten days whilst in the seedling phase, and they get one last drench as they are being put into the ground to help them on their way. Once transplanting into the ground I use upturned squash bottles dug into the ground that I have made hole in round the edge, so I don’t waste water and the feed and water go straight to the roots of the plants without being wasted.
The new strawberry plants I put in this May are all shooting off a decent amount of runners, I’ve counted just over 45 new plants so that should fill the rest of the strawberry bed up. These are Everbearers which fruit in June and again .. now
I’m just about to sow some Marshmello strawberry plants from Marshall’s Seeds though after a lot of reccomendations!Not much left to do this month, I have drawn out my new plot plan for next years growing, I’m just waiting for a catalogue from real seeds, and a couple of others. This week I shall grow a final row of carrots that are good for storing and freezing, radishes, beetroot, spinach for overwintering, and some more lettuces.
I need to look for:
Chinese Artichokes to grow next to the main Jerusalem Artichokes. ChaCha seeds. Yakon, a bit like water chestnuts used for stir fries. They are not fully hardy! Large furry leaves, around 3 ft tall. Tomatilloes, fruits used for salsa in a green or purple papery case. Incaberries: small sweet orange berries, and a hardy Kiwi self fertile plant for the poly tunnel!
