The drier weather has meant that at last I can start to dig the allotment! I am very late this year – the soil has been too wet to even contemplate digging but I was surprised at how easily it turned over with some sun and drying winds on it for a few days. Because I have cultivated the plots for several years now, the soil is in good heart and each spring there are less perennial weed roots to remove, making the job much faster. I am single digging the first plot where I will grow my seed crops this year, burying annual weeds in the trenches, so that the whole plot is tidied up as I go along.
I have also bagged up some rotted horse manure from a friend’s stable yard. I do this each spring and keep it on the allotment so that it is on hand to bury in my runner bean trench and under the courgettes when they are planted out at the end of May.
Today, we are back to cold weather and lots of rain, so it is far too soon to plant anything. I have learned my lesson well in the past by wasting too much seed that has gone into cold, wet soil and not germinated or has been overtaken by sowings made later when the soil is warmer! Unless you have a polythene tunnel or large greenhouse, early crops are something of a gamble in the open ground! I do like to grow as much as possible from seed sown directly in the ground but this week I am sowing some mixed salad leaves and my first crop of broad beans in pots so that they can be planted out once the weather is warmer and the soil more workable.
The tomatoes and chillies that I sowed a few weeks ago in the propagator are doing well and have been potted into individual pots. They are all safely in the heated greenhouse away from cold winds and frosts and will stay there until at least the middle of May when I grow a few outdoors and keep the rest in gro bags under cover.
The potatoes have been chitting in egg boxes for about a month now and are developing sturdy shoots. The spare bedroom is light and not too warm, so they will be fine there until they are planted out towards the end of April.
I still have plenty of crops to use which have stood the winter well, including kale and the sprouting broccoli which has just started to crop well. Leeks and swede are also fine in the ground at the moment, but I have lifted the last of the parsnips as the tops were starting to grow away with the mild weather. They are now safely in the freezer after being blanched and coated in bread crumbs – perfect to roast in the oven from frozen and a favorite in our house!
