Christmas Harvest

There are loads of Jerusalem artichokes. The parsnips are very nice but not the monsters we grew last year, and we picked a few leeks to thin out the rows. They were a few weeks late going in so they are still quite small. The sprouts and swedes are very small and not worth harvesting;.probably because of too much shade from the fruit trees.

We still have a lot of potatoes for the roasties.

Happy Christmas.

Composting. Shallot Shortage

We poured a decent amount of comfrey tea on the compost heaps before covering them up for the Winter. There will be five heaps ready for spreading next Spring.

We had hoped to put in some Autumn planting shallot sets at the weekend. They should have gone in a few weeks ago but we haven't been able to find any. People at the allotment shop say the hot weather in late September /early October meant that they bolted and there has been a shortage. Hopefully the Spring planting ones will catch up.

The garlic, onions and cabbages we put in recently are growing well, but the red onions haven't come through yet. There isn't a lot to do on the plot now other than tidying and some Winter digging.

There should be a nice harvest for Christmas.

Spring Cabbages

The onions and garlic have mostly come through so we took up the fleece to use on the Spring cabbages ("Duncan") that went in this weekend where the legumes had been. They should have been in weeks ago but we left it very late. We got 24 organic plants on the internet at the end of October. They were nice but quite expensive. Must remember to start some from seed next June or July. We made a planting mix from compost, chicken manure pellets, the remains of a bag of bonemeal and crushed egg shells (for alkalinity). Gave them a sprinkle of organic slug pellets and covered them with fleece to keep cabbage whitefly and pigeons away.

Before we left we gathered up fallen leaves to stuff into the leaf mould bin.

Green Manure

This weekend we planted nitrogen fixing Winter Tares (vetch) where the onions were. We are going to plant brassicas there next year.

Autumn planting - raspberry canes, garlic and early onions. Leaf mould

Sunday was a lovely Autumn day, quite warm.  A pair of red kites were circling low overhead for most of the afternoon.

The brassica cage is very sturdy so we are going to use it as a permanent fruit cage.  We planted 15 raspberry canes among the cabbages; 5 each of Malling Jewel, Tulameen and Autumn Bliss.

We planted 6 rows of garlic (Wight) maybe 100 cloves, and 100 early onion sets; 50 Senshyu Yellow and 50 of a red one, Electric.  They went into in shallow trenches made with the Azada, which was a lot faster than using a dibber, and we covered them with horticultural fleece to keep the birds off.

We put pile of leaf mould which had been under black plastic for a year into a plastic compost bin and will add this year's fallen leaves.  It will make good seed compost.  We use a lot of it and it is very expensive to buy.

First frost

There was some frost last last night so we had to harvest the sweetcorn. Not a big harvest, but enough for a bag each and better than we've done before.

We dug up the last row of Cara potatoes.  They were really good sized and unblemished.  We put a layer of comfrey leaves in the trench when we were planting them, so that seems to be worth doing.

We have been digging over where we have taken crops out and have been composting, adding comfrey tea to the heap before covering it with black plastic.

Fantastic potato harvest

We should have more than enough potatoes to last for months.  We have been eating potatoes since July but still harvested six hessian sacks of Cara and Pentland Javelin, and three trays of Pink Fir Aple. Some of the Pentland Javelins are huge.  The feeding with compost, chicken manure and comfrey has certainly paid off and despite the wet Summer there was no blight. Very happy.

Hottest October day ever

It has been really warm. 29.9C today and really sunny with a good forecast for the next few days.  Hopefully the sweetcorn will ripen.  It has been a cold wet Summer overall

Another half plot!

Great news.  Our request for the front half of Plot 204 next to ours was approved by the Committee. We are very pleased, especially as the fruit trees spread out over both plots.  For now we have mulched it all with black plastic and will probably plant a lot of potatoes there next spring.  Three households share our allotment so the extra space will hopefully mean we can now become self-sufficient for potatoes and onions.

We haven't done much work on the plot since our last post because of holiday and wet windy weather, and have only been visiting occasionally to pick some vegetables.  The weather was quite nice this weekend so we spent Sunday afternoon on the plot.

We hoed and weeded around the leeks and fed them with comfrey tea.  They are quite well-established now.

There is plenty to eat.  Today we harvested pink fir apple potatoes, some greens, a couple of beetroot and some apples.  We finally harvested the last of the maincrop onions (Sturion).  They are nice, but quite small.

The purple sprouting, Tuscan kale and Brussels sprouts seem to be growing quite well but we have lots of brassica problems. There is a terrible infestation of cabbage whitefly.  The marigolds were completely ineffective.  Maybe they were the wrong kind of marigold. Our cauliflowers were small and discoloured this year; not very appetising.  The swedes should be growing much better than they are.  Perhaps they are too close to the fruit trees?  The snails are noticeable in the brassica cage so we spread some organic slug pellets and fed the plants with comfrey tea.

There was enough comfrey growing to make one last 'brew' before the Winter.

Courgettes and Beans but not quite a glut

Plenty of courgettes and cucumbers to harvest at the moment, although the plants at home are doing much better than the ones on the allotment, probably due to TLC, watering and growing them in garden compost.

There is a variety of beans to pick; Runner, climbing French and dwarf French.  There are still broad beans too.

The plot is beginning to look quite Autumnal now.  The maincrop onions (Sturion) are ready to harvest now, they look nice but are not as big as we hoped.  The first row of beetroot and the Pink Fir Apple potatoes look ready.  There are ripe damsons on the trees and the hops look ready to harvest soon.

The brassicas and swedes are growing quite slowly- must feed them this week. The carrots are still quite small but we have done much better with these this year and will hopefully have a steady supply next year.

Pentland Javelin Harvest

We have eaten all three rows of first early potatoes.  We were growing the Pentland Javelin as main crop potatoes but dug up a couple of plants yesterday.  They are still very much a new potato with thin, easily rubbed off skins but some of them are really big.  Another success we think, thanks to spacing, feeding, watering, and only leaving two or three chits on the seed potatoes.

First Runner Beans

Picked the first three runner beans of the season today.  They plants aren't very tall yet but they have plenty of salmon pink flowers.  We got the seeds (Celebration) at Elder Stubbs Festival last year and they are supposed to out-perform all other types.  We'll see.


We dug up the last plant from the three rows of first early potatoes. We have been eating them since the beginning of July and there were plenty of them.  Seems that it was worth paying attention to spacing, watering and feeding (chicken manure pellets and compost before planting, then comfrey tea two or three times).

Planted out the Leeks

It was very rainy all week so the plot is looking green again.

We dug and weeded where the Arran Pilot potatoes have been lifted.  The tubers were big  and very plentiful; there is still half a row left of the three we planted.

We put in three rows of  leeks where the potatoes had been.  They should probably have been planted out weeks ago but they are much better plants this year (we grew them singly in modules) so hopefully they will catch up.

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Garlic Harvest, Ladybirds, Some Planting, More Weeding and Watering

It has been quite hot and dry this week.  We did a lot of watering and more weeding this weekend.  We planted out another row and a half of dwarf French beans but still haven't managed to plant more carrots, beetroot and peas.  We harvested the rest of the garlic.  It looks very good this year.

There seems to be a huge increase in the ladybird population on our plot which can only be a good thing.  They look like native ladybirds rather than the invasive Harlequin species.  The blackfly have arrived too:  They are especially noticeable on the broad beans tips which we have now removed.

More Weeding. Shallots, Garlic, Beans and Plums

There is a greater variety of food ready to harvest every time we go to Plot 205 at the moment; and more and more weeds.  We did lots of weeding and hoeing in the brassica and roots beds and pulled up any ragwort that was on the plot.

The pak choi we planted between the cabbages has been pretty much destroyed by flea beetle.  Might try this in a planter at home instead next year.

We have a really good crop of shallots and garlic this year.  We have started to harvest the garlic and all of the shallots have been lifted for drying.  The early onions have been harvested and the main crop will be ready very soon.  The peas and broad beans have all been picked for now but there are some dwarf and climbing French beans.  One of the big trees that were on the plot when we came here has a good crop of small yellow plums that are just about ripe.

Weeding, Thinning and Feeding

It has been raining a lot and the weeds are growing at a phenomenal rate.   The ground was too wet for hoeing but we did some strimming and pulled up lots of weeds in the potato and onion beds.  The damp weather has been good for the slugs so we put some more organic pellets on the brassica bed.  We fed the maincrop potatoes with comfrey tea and thinned out the swedes.

It was too wet to plant anything this weekend but we sorted out the seed box and found some carrots, beetroot, peas and radishes that there is still just enough time to plant.

There is plenty of food to harvest and all of the crops are growing well.  We gave the comfrey another cut and added it to the brew in our dustbin of comfrey tea.

Pea Moth

We went down to the plot today to pick some vegetables.  The Durham Early cabbages have nice hearts and there are carrots.  We have plenty of broad beans this year.  They are nearly finished for now, but some of the plants are flowering again and there are a few more coming along from a later planting.  We dug up another Arran Pilot.  There were over a dozen good sized, scab-free potatoes on the plant; a far better yield of earlies than we have ever had before.  

A couple of the pea pods we picked had been attacked by the pea moth caterpillar.  The gardening books say that usually only about one in fifteen pods is affected but crop rotation is essential.

New Potatoes and Carrots. Weeding, Hoeing and Planting Out. Flea Beetle

The harvest is beginning to get into full swing.  We dug up some first early potatoes.  There are plenty of good sized potatoes per plant so the chicken manure, comfrey and watering seems to have paid off .  We were also pleasantly surprised that there are some decent sized carrots to harvest too, along with plenty of peas, cabbages, early onions and broad beans.  More leaves are growing from the early cabbage stalks that we left in the ground with a cross cut into them.

We did some more weeding and hoed around the sweetcorn.  33 of  the 72 sweetcorn we planted out as chitted seedlings have survived.  We are continuing to plant out pumpkins, butternut squash, marrows and courgettes with them, and we put some cucumber plants at the edge of the bed where they can climb up the outside of the brassica cage.  All had a good handful of chicken manure pellets in the planting holes.  To finish off our 'Three Sisters' bed we will plant some climbing bean seeds when the sweetcorn is a little taller.

The pak choi we planted out last week has been badly attacked by flea beetle, leaving lots of tiny holes in the leaves.  There doesn't seem to be a really effective organic way to deal with them.  The advice is to wait until plants are a good size before planting out and to keep them well watered until they are past the vulnerable stage.

We planted more pak choi and some Florence fennel seed at home for transplanting later.  There is still time to plant other seeds such as carrots, beetroot, peas, beans and radishes to extend the harvest so we must remember to pay attention to that.

More Weeding and Planting Out. Peas and Currants

After another wet week, Sunday was sunny and a very hot and humid 31 c.

We did lots more weeding and interplanted pak choi seedlings among the savoy cabbages and kale. The pak choi will have been harvested before the space is needed by the brassicas.  We finished planting the row of dwarf French beans.  We also planted out a few more runner bean and pea plants, and some butternut squash among the sweetcorn.

Suddenly there are lots of peas so we started to harvest them from the bottom of the plants. There are ripe currants too. We should pick them. There are still plenty of early onions, broad beans and early cabbages.  Some of the first early potatoes are in flower so we should have new potatoes very soon, and baby carrots.

It looks as if we will be able to get another half plot next door but one to ours.  If we do we could possibly grow enough potatoes and onions to last all year.

Brassicas, French Marigolds and Cabbage Whitefly. Astonishing Weed Growth

There has been a lot of heavy rain in the past week but it was dry on Sunday and most of Monday so we planted out our brassicas and added crushed egg shells to the planting holes to make the soil alkaline.  We planted out Brussels sprouts, savoy cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, purple sprouting and black Tuscan kale.  Some of the plants are probably a bit close to one another but we can thin these out later if the slugs don't do it for us first.  We planted some French marigolds around the brassica bed as they are supposed to deter cabbage whitefly which are quite a problem on our allotment.

We also started a row of dwarf French beans where we have lifted most of the first row of early onions.

Everything is growing very fast and the amount of weed growth over the past couple of weeks is unbelievable.  We did some serious weeding and strimming, and will need to prioritise this for a while.

There are quite a few nice looking blackcurrants, much better than last year, so the pruning was worth doing.  We netted them to keep the birds off.

Brassica Cage

It was a very wet weekend apart from Saturday afternoon when we were all on the plot to finish the brassica bed and make a new cage to keep the pigeons off.  The rain was badly needed.  The ground was very dry, even an arm's length down where we dug the holes for the alder poles we used to make the cage.  Brought crushed egg shells (a good source of lime) we have been collecting to put in the brassica planting holes but it was too wet on Sunday to plant anything out.

The purple sprouting is finished and has started to flower.  It was badly infested with literally thousands of cabbage whitefly so we pulled it all up and buried it deep in the compost heap.

Planted another row of beetroot where the purple sprouting was.

There is lots of weeding to do.

Harvested broad beans, green garlic, early cabbage and Japanese onions.  Also tried a few broad bean tops before the blackfly arrive.

Potato Feeding and Earthing Up. Beetroot. Early Onions

We have more or less caught up with what we should have done by the beginning of June.  Today we weeded the early potatoes, fed them with comfrey tea, earthed up the main crop and finally got around to planting a row of beetroot (Boltardy).

Some of the chitted sweetcorn seed we planted earlier in the week has come up already.  Once it is established we can plant out courgettes and marrows between the plants and maybe add some climbing beans if the corn looks like it is is going to be tall.  This is the 'Three Sisters' planting, a native American growing method.  The principle is that the corn provides support for the beans, the marrows and courgettes shade the soil and suppress weeds and the beans fix nitrogen which benefits the sweetcorn.

There are plenty of broad beans now so harvested the biggest ones from the bottom of the plants.  Also picked some spring cabbage leaves, some green garlic, an early onion and a few strawberries, redcurrants and blackcurrants.

Green Garlic. Planting Out Beans. Seed Sowing. Mulching

Over the past week we have planted out 12 climbing French beans, 18 runner beans, and a block of  72 chitted sweetcorn seeds, spaced 15" apart.

We sowed more red spring and silverskin onions, four rows of swede and a row of almost out of date perpetual spinach seed.  At home we planted some sunflower seeds saved from  last year, and another 36 dwarf beans as only a few have survived a snail attack.

The soft fruit bed is infested with bindweed, dock, couch grass and other hard to get rid of perennial weeds so we mulched it with black plastic, leaving just the fruit bushes poking out.

Tried some green garlic.  Mild, garlicky and very tasty.  You can eat the whole plant.  There are some baby broad beans and spring cabbage leaves.  All but the last row of potatoes have come up and there are flowers on the peas.

Chitting Sweetcorn

Sweetcorn hates root disturbance so this year, rather than growing seedlings at home, we are going to try pre-sprouting the seeds and planting them directly.  They are chitting on wet kitchen paper in a sealed plastic container on the window ledge at the moment ( Zea Mays 'Incredible' F1).

The seeds we planted at home at the end of April are all doing very well apart from the dwarf beans (Nomad).  The runner beans are ready to plant out.

On the plot we weeded the roots bed and took the tallest branches off the huge plum tree to comply with the 'twelve feet tall' rule.  We haven't had much free time for a couple of weeks and the weather has been quite wet and very windy, but we intend to spend some time on the plot this weekend catching up on planting seeds and weeding.

Seed Potatoes with Comfrey. Pak Choi. Strawberries!

We had nine seed potatoes left over (Cara), so we planted them in the front bed.  We added comfrey leaves to the trench, which is supposed to be a good thing to do.  It will be interesting to see if it makes any difference.

We finally dug in the green manure and added lime where we are going to grow brassicas and sweetcorn. They like the soil to be a little alkaline.  We used only a small amount of lime: 2 kilos spread over an area of approximately 30 square metres. This wasn't by design; it's because we didn't know how much to buy.  The recommended amount is around half a kilo per square metre, but it's getting a bit too close to planting time to add lots of lime.

Some of the peas are growing well but not many have germinated, or else they have been eaten by something, so we planted some at home to give them a good start.  Also planted pak choi (red) at home for transplanting later.

Harvested the last of the leeks which are about to flower, probably the last of the purple sprouting, and two exceptionally early strawberries.

Rain. Potato Planting Finished

It rained a lot yesterday; enough to fill the water butt.  It has been one of the driest March and April recorded.

Planted the last of the maincrop potatoes at the front of the plot- 3 rows of Pink Fir Apple.

Harvested a handful of outer leaves from the spring cabbage (Durham Early), planted out last October.

A Touch of Frost

So much for thinking the risk of frost has passed:  There was a little frost earlier this week but there doesn't seem to be any real damage other than to the early potatoes.  However, they will recover and new shoots are already pushing through the soil.  They have now been earthed up.

Apparently spring arrived three weeks early this year.  The broad beans are flowering.  The spring cabbages and early onions are growing quickly now, and we will have a few sticks of our first crop of rhubarb very soon.  One of the hop plants (Fuggles) is already about eight feet tall and the strawberries, currants and gooseberries look like they are going to to crop well.

Warmest April Ever. Spring Planting

It has been the warmest April since records began 350 years ago; and the the fourth sunniest and sixth driest for 100 years.  The risk of frost has more or less passed now which is a good thing as there has been lots of growth because of the hot weather, including the early potatoes which need to be earthed up already.

We have been kept busy throughout April and the plot looks good.  May is set to be a very busy month for us.

Since the last post there has been lots of activity on Plot 205 - weeding, watering, strimming and hoeing.  We have also planted some celery seed.  The main crop potatoes have mostly been planted now.  We still have three rows of Pink Fir Apple seed potatoes which can go into the front bed without messing up our rotation.

We still haven't dug in the green manure so this is our most urgent task as we we will need to be planting there in just a few weeks time.

We have all been busy at home planting seed for transplanting later on:
cucumbers (Marketmore 76 - very successful last year)
yellow courgettes (Gold Rush F1)
marrows (seed saved from last year)
chillies (Heatwave- mixed colours and Naga Jolokia "World's Hottest")
runner beans (Celebration)
dwarf beans (Nomad)
leeks (Autumn Mammoth 2 - Snowstar)
purple sprouting (Red Arrow)
kale (Black Tuscany)
broccoli (Autumn Green Calabrese)
cauliflower (Andes)
cabbage (Savoy)

Seed we have that needs to be planted directly includes beetroot, sweetcorn, Florence fennel, pak choi and swedes, and we need to continue with small successional sowings of spring onions, peas and carrots every couple of weeks to ensure a steady supply. We will grow salad leaves at home rather than leave them to the slugs on the plot.

We are still harvesting leeks, purple sprouting and spinach, although this is beginning to bolt - probably because of the hot weather.

Maincrop Onions, Purple Sprouting and a Scarecrow

A very pleasant and sociable weekend on the plot.  We also took part in a work party with other allotments holders for a couple of hours on Sunday.

The unseasonable hot and sunny weather continues with temperatures as high as 25C.   We have had no rain for two weeks now so we have been watering where we have planted seeds. 

A rather realistic looking new scarecrow dangling shiny strings of recycled CDs from his arms is now watching over the currants, raspberries and gooseberries, all of which seem to have responded well to pruning. 

We have started to dig in the green manure on the front bed and need to finish this as soon as possible. We should also get the main crop potatoes in the ground before the end of the month.  We planted four rows of  main crop onion sets (Sturon) which will be harvested in late August or September for winter storage.  400g of smallish sets was exactly enough to plant four rows with the sets planted four inches apart. 

Our neighbour gave us a horseradish plant which is looking very happy at the front of the plot.

There is still a row of  leeks left which need to be eaten by the end of the month.  There is also some purple sprouting which is a pleasant surprise as it didn't seem to be doing too well after the hard winter.  We have harvested the central stems so will hopefully get more side shoots.

Apple Blossom, Parsnips and Early Potatoes

It was a beautiful warm sunny weekend with temperatures reaching as high as 20C so we spent quite a bit of time on the plot.

We planted three rows of early potatoes (Arran Pilot).  There is still a risk of frost so we planted them quite deeply and drew some earth up over them to make ridges.  Once we have planted the early potatoes it really feels like another growing season has started.

In the roots bed we planted four rows of carrots (Chantenay Red Cored and James Scarlett Intermediate), and four rows of parsnips (Countess F1).  We had great success with parsnips last year by planting the seed very thinly during April.  We also planted a few more broad beans (Bunyard's Exhibition) and a handful of Petits Pois.

We chopped back the green manure ready for digging in as soon as possible so that it can rot down and release its nitrogen.  We will be needing the bed for brassicas and sweetcorn in about six weeks.

We will need to build a new structure to net the cabbages so were grateful to acquire some long straight alder from our friends who have been coppicing at the nature reserve adjoining the allotments.

The annual weeds have started to grow so the endless process of hoeing has begun, and our little lawn got its first strim.

Not much to eat at the moment, just leeks and a few spinach leaves.

Pea and Bean Weevil

We were all away at the weekend so went down to the allotment briefly this morning to see what's happening.

Spread more pelleted chicken manure pellets on the potato bed.  Altogether it has been fed around 2kg of chicken manure and a cubic metre of last year's compost per 10 square metres so hopefully we will get a good crop.

The kale looks like it's starting to go to seed now but it needs to be dug up soon to make room for seed planting.   The carrots in the cold frame have germinated and a few pea and broad been seedlings have come up too.  Very exciting!

Some of the broad beans have little U-shaped notches around the edges of the leaves.  Apparently this is characteristic of Pea and Bean Weevil.  They are a common pest of young pea and bean plants but they usually grow out of the vulnerable stage.  There is nothing much that can be done about it other than keeping the young plants watered in dry weather.  We had this with the peas last year but we thought it was mice nibbling the leaves.

B

Been Seed Planting

Over the last few weeks have planted some seeds:

Indoors - Used up all tomato seeds from last year (3 tumbler, 3 beef tomatoes); planted 3 twilight chillies; 6 orange peppers; 6 red peppers (all pepper seeds taken from peppers brought to eat).  So far 4 tomato seedlings have appeared.

Cold Frame: Have planted 19 Brussels Sprouts (Evesham Special); 11 Cabbage (Golden Acre/Primo); 10 Cauliflower (All Year Round); 6 Lettuce (All Year Round); 5 Lettuce (Butterhead - Trial).

Shallot Sets and Salad Onions. Cabbage Whitefly

Another lovely day, and very productive.

The plum trees are in blossom and there are bees about.  The broad beans have started to come up.  The green manure (Winter tares / vetch) sown last Autumn at the front of the plot where we are going to plant brassicas and sweetcorn is growing strongly.  It will need to be dug in next month.

In the fruit bed, the currants we pruned last month are looking healthy with plenty of new leaves starting to open.  The whole fruit bed could do with a good weeding and a mulch when we get time - maybe with cardboard and a layer of compost.  Weeded, fed and mulched the Wye Challenger hop that we put in two years ago, and fixed up its hazel wigwam.  It has really strong roots now so should do well this year.  There are plenty of strawberry plants and runners around the base of the hops.

Planted four rows of shallots (Red Sun and Golden Gourmet) and gave the whole onion bed a top dressing of chicken manure pellets.

Thickly sowed a short but wide drill of mixed red and white salad and pickling onion seed (Paris Silverskin and Lilia) in the raised bed  near to where we will be planting carrots next month.  They make a good companion plant as the smell from onions deters carrot fly.

Used the heavy Azada to finish making the potato bed and spread chicken manure pellets and a whole bin of our compost on top.

Small clouds of Cabbage Whitefly were seen as we hoed around the brassicas.  Marigolds as a companion plant are supposed to repel them so might try that this year.

We harvested leeks, young kale leaves and some sprout tops.

Peas and Carrots

A lovely Spring day today.

Planted a triple row of peas (Rondo) in a shallow trench in the raised bed and laid some window panes on top to make a cloche.

Found a packet of carrot seeds in the shed (Kingston F1) still in date so gave them a try; broadcast sown in the cold- frame.  Maybe a bit over- enthusiastic in planting the seed so soon but if they grow we will have some very early carrots.

Dug most of the rest of the potato bed.  It hasn't been cultivated and was well-trampled, so the Azadas were needed to break it up and get the bramble roots out.  The bed is still quite wet at the lower end so it should hold more moisture and be good for the main crop.

Slugs

The Spring cabbages we planted out last Autumn have been nibbled.  Checked over the leaves in case the culprits were those tiny snails.  No sign of them, so it must be slugs.  Hoed around the cabbages and put down some organic slug pellets.  They should be OK.

Laid out the old windows we use for cold frames on the ground to warm it up for planting peas and early carrots, hopefully next week, weather permitting.

Compost, Comfrey & Manure

It hasn't rained for most of the week and the ground is dry enough to dig.  A beautiful sunny day today but cold.

Dug over half the potato bed, around 25 square metres.  Got a lot of couch grass roots out; there will be plenty more still in the ground.  Spread one of the bins of our own compost from last year  and added 2 kilos of chicken manure pellets (quite a lot, but the ground needs it) ready for planting out the early potatoes at the end of the month.

The comfrey patch got a good feed of chicken manure pellets and a mulch of the free compost.  It is much wetter on the lowest part of the plot where the comfrey is, so it's in a good spot.

The broad beans haven't come up yet.  To keep the pigeons off we strung up some CDs and put some cut plastic bottle 'noise makers' on bamboo poles where they are planted.

Dug up some leeks to make room for the shallots.  They are very small this year.  Drought we think, and maybe need to pay more attention to feeding.

Also picked a few tiny sprouts and sprout tops, a few small leaves of kale, some Jerusalem artichokes, and the last two parsnips.

Broad Beans

The Spring onions are definitely a non- starter so we planted three rows of broad beans (Witkiem Manita) where they were.

Fed comfrey tea to the leeks, kale and purple sprouting.  They all look like they have started growing again, especially the leeks but they are fairly small after the very cold winter.  The Jerusalem artichokes are big and really plentiful.

Finished pruning the currants and got four barrows of the free compost to mulch them with once they are weeded.

Seed Potatoes and some pruning

Went to the allotment shop yesterday and bought nine kilos of seed potatoes for only £10.80.

Earlies:  Arran Pilot - 3 rows
Main Crop:  Pink Fir Apple - 3 Rows, Cara - 3 Rows, Pentland Javelin - 3 Rows.

Had a go at pruning the blackcurrants.  Took off all the old wood with black bark at ground level, leaving some new shoots from last year.  Still need to weed around them and lop some more of the tallest branches off the trees soon to get better fruit within easier reach.

The garlic and early onions are up and looking lovely and the spring cabbages are doing well.  We're not so sure about the spring onions in the cold frame though.

There isn't much to eat at the moment; some sprouts and Jerusalem artichokes.  There might still be the odd parsnip but it was too wet to dig.  There is a row of celeriac beside the parsnips but it doesn't look like it's up to much.  It went in way too late last year we think, but it's our second attempt at celeriac without success.  The kale and and leeks are good to start eating in a week or so. They could maybe do with a feed of comfrey tea.