The weather was nice this Spring Bank Holiday weekend and the soil has dried out enough to work in.
We have planted the last of the main crop potatoes. The bed still had some space so we planted block-planted some peas and two rows of leeks.
The peas (Jaguar second early) were out of date seeds that we never got around to planting last year. Hopefully enough of them will germinate. They are planted quite closely together, approx 2" apart and in rows around 8" apart. The packet says they will self-support if you plant them that way. They are netted to keep the pigeons off until they have established themselves.
The leeks (Winter Giant) should really have been sown by the end of April. We planted a packet in a seed bed for transplanting later on.
The annual weeds are starting to grow quickly. We hoed around the garlic, onions and shallots using a draw hoe for the first time. It is great for getting close to the sets without causing damage. All are growing well.
The hops have wound themselves almost to the tops of their canes so we made a wigwam for them using coppiced hazel we got last year from the nature reserve adjoining the allotments. It's about twelve feet high.
