Although I have always promised not to panic about digging the allotment, I have done nothing as yet because the soil is far too wet. As well as making a mess of boots, tools and the soil, digging in adverse conditions is always hard going, puts me in a bad mood and takes twice as long! There will soon be a gap in the weather and I will be able to spend a couple of days digging and enjoying my ‘thinking time’ as I do so.
I love digging the plots by hand, rather than using a rotavator. It helps to keep me fit and I get a huge sense of achievement when the first one for my onions and crops grown from seed is finished. I can also scrutinise each spade full of soil and remove pesky weed roots such as Couch Grass, Docks and Dandilions!
The soil is a heavy loam, so I try to incorporate plenty of rotted manure or garden compost as I dig, as well as skimming off any plant waste and weeds that are there and laying them in the bottom of the trench before filling it with the soil from the next trench. Methodical work but very therapeutic. The second plot is used to grow potatoes, courgettes, leeks and brassicas so this is forked over and manure added to the trenches when planting the potatoes and courgettes.
My cropping plan has been completed, based on last season but I am still perusing seed varieties on the Notcutt’s website. There are so many to choose from and although I am a creature of habit I am tempted to try something different this year!
When it comes to potatoes though, I will stick to my tested varieties; ‘Arran Pilot’ for first earlies and ‘International Kidney’ (aka. ‘Jersey Royals’) and ‘Estima’ or ‘Wilja’ as second earlies. We like waxy early potatoes to use in salads and to boil through the summer, so ‘Arran Pilot’ fits the bill. ‘International Kidney’ has one of the best flavours in my view and ‘Estima’ and ‘Wilja’ are both good general purpose varieties that store well and produce good sized potatoes that can be used for baking as well as roasting and mashing. Potato planting is always a bit of a chore so I like to stick to varieties that I know will yield well as long as the dreaded Late Blight does not strike!
Last year I grew the large, white onion ‘Sturon’ which is a reliable variety and planted them closer than usual at 15cm instead of 20cm in the rows. The resulting crop was smaller but just as tasty and has stored well – we are still using them from the garage! I usually grow the variety ‘Red Baron’ for Mrs McGregor to make red onion marmalade but it was sold out (a gentle reminder to get to your local Notcutt’s soon!) and I bought a variety called ‘Red Lake’ instead. They grew and stored just as well, so that we still have some left to use now.
So for now, like all gardeners, I am waiting for drier weather so that ‘operation allotment’ can commence, but that will not make me put off my visit to Notcutts to buy my potato seed and onions sets!
