Rick And Jeannes Plot

It’s been a raining most of the day here, not a good day to spend on the allotment. The bed that had the parsnips and swedes  in is now empty and waiting to be dug but it will have to wait until the soil dries out a bit. Time has not been wasted though as an afternoon spent in the garage/workshop has produced a nice suply of  labels for the plot . Made from a couple of lengths of  30mm x10mm and cut into lengths of 300mm  and given a coat of wood preserver before burning the names onto them they should last a couple of seasons and be easy to read without bending down.  The  hole in the top will allow for a small tag to be tied  for variety and date sown ect and also to hang up for storage when not in use

A few of the labels

Took a stroll down to the plot this afternoon.How things can change in a few hours. it’s hard to believe that early this morning the tempature was down to -9c yet this afternoon is fine sunny and feeling quite pleasant at a reasonable +5c.As far as the plot goes most of the ground had thawed out accept for the patches which were still in shade. The  frost has not appeared to had much affect  on the winter sown broad beans,  they look realy healthy and show promising signs of a good early crop. Jeannes flower patch is starting to come to life  with a few crocuses around the pond already in flower and the daffodils in the main part going well and  forming nice buds.  It’s nice sunny winter days like this that make us yearn for the warmer days of spring so we can get started  sowing this years crops and spend more time out on our little oasis.

Winter sown broad beans

Took the kitchen waste to the allotment today and looking at the frozen ground it was obvious that there was nothing that could be done today, so it was off for a trip to the garden centre to buy a few odds and ends. We bought some onion sets and also some gladioli corms for the flower plot. On the way home we popped into the local Aldi store and while shopping picked up a pack of soft fruit bushes . There was 3 small bushes in each pack ! gooseberry and 1 each of a red and a yellow raspberry although small the 3 were only£2.49 . @ 83p a plant I would say the are a real bargain although I dont expect any fruit until next year

We received a large pack of Lima bean seeds from Canada today. Lima are a climbing bean that is grown in North America and Canada   I have not found any mention of them in any of the UK seed catalogues   nor have I found any pacific guide on growing them in the UK, from what information I have obtained they are grown much like a runner bean and tolerate about the same weather conditions. If successful in growing these we will use some fresh and the rest will be dried for winter use.

We will keep you posted on how the trial of these goes through the season

If anyone has grown these and has any tips  they would be very welcome

Todays visit to the plot was eventful, on arrival we seen a fox roaming around the site it looked quite healthy but no doubt on the look out for food. Once we got over this distraction we noticed that someone had taken a fancy to our  cold frame we bought at the end of last summer, well suppose they thought their need was greater than ours hope they get pleasure from it.

The plot itself is looking quite bare now as we decided not to plant any over wintering veg  so we had an empty canvas to work with over the winter  to set things out how we wanted them. A hour or so was spent tidying things up and weeding, I like to stay ontop of the weeds and not give them chance to get a hold as I was told every weed killed today is a hundred less  to kill next month. Jeanne tneded to her flower patch which is full of spring bulbs and some Sweet Williams  and pansy which are growing well and give promise of a nice bit of spring colour. While weeding she found some unusual Fungi  it was Birds nest Fungi  which as the name implies it looks like something has made a nest in the middle of.

Birds Nest Fungi

Made the first sowings of the new season yesterday, After giving our small propigator a good clean and checking the electrical connection  we sowed some Ailsa Craig Onions and  we are trying some very early Tomatoes. With a little extra heat and some favourable weather we maybe lucky with these in the polyhouse. We also started off some Swet pea seeds  for cut flowers. Jeane just loves the smell of these and they will help attract bees to the allotment.

As the weather is a little rough at present we did not go to the plot yesterday instead we had a trip to a couple of our local garden centres and had a browse around. They have this year seeds in and are begining to get a stock of seed potatoes in too. Although we have all the seeds we require for the veg patch thanks to www.vegetableseeds.net we still are on the lookout for a pack of watermelon seeds. Jeanne want to grow some of the long oval type the type she was used to buying in Canada.

The winter has been very mild so far , we have had a frost or two but not hard enough to kill off all the half hardies.  The allotment is looking quite bare and the fingers are itching to get started on a new season but will have to wait as theres still plenty of time for winter to bite.

i found a sure sign of how mild winter has been so far on my patio the other morning

A perenial poppy in bud

Paid a brief visit to the allotment today amid the heavy rain. On opening up  our shed we found a christmas card that had  been posted through the top of the door, Thanks Will and Julie hope you have a great xmas.

Jeanne and I picked our xmas veg got some nice sprouts, parsnip and swedes along with the peas that we froze  we will have a good feast. Another week or two and we will be sowing our onion seeds to hopefuly get some good large onions for the show  next year.

High winds, really heavy rain and coldness does very little to encourage a person to venture onto the allotment. This is the weather to stay wrapped up at home with a hot drink and a copy of your favourite gardening magazines. They are a very good source of ideas and tips to try out next year. Also this is the time of the year when there are a lot of reviews written on this coming seasons new seed varieties. There are always lots of new strains, which have improved decease or pest resistance as well as improved yields. Personally I tend to stick to the old varieties (heirloom) and only trial one or maybe two new ones each year.  In my opinion a lot of the newer varieties have lost some of their quality of flavour.

The weather in this part of the country is still very mild for the time of the year, over the next couple of days I will be taking advantage of  the mildness and obtian some hardwood cuttings of Gooseberry and Black currant which with the mild weather will have a good chance of success. The cuttings are very easy to take .

Take your cuttings from healthy plants  and pick a ripe stem (one which is brown not green) Cut a stem about 10 inches long and  pull of all the leaves and plant in a slit trench  about 6 inch deep making sure at least a couple of buds are aboe the surface  fill in the trench and firm gently the water well even if it is wet weather. By next Aurum you should have some nice sturdy plants and have saved yourself a good few quid. Gooseberries are  done in the same manner except  you strip off  all the side shoots except the top three and remove  all buds below these with a sharp knife before planting

A prepared gooseberry cutting