Mystery night showers

It's been a very busy week with the double bank holiday weekends. As a result I haven't spend a great deal of time on the allotment, but have just about managed to keep my head above water with regards to watering, weeding and planting. A lot of plants have made the move from my greenhouse to the allotment this week though, as we are imminently exchanging contracts on our house and may be moving within 3 weeks. This means everything has to go, and QUICKLY! Unfortunately it may result in some sacrifices through cold nights nipping some tender plants, but the sacrifice will not be as great as me having to tip a lot of perfectly good seedlings in the bin as we have to evacuate the greenhouse.

In general I am happy with progress on the plot as it seems we may have had some overnight short showers as the dry dustbowl is now gradually evolving into patches of green here and there, providing a bit of shelter and shade for new seedlings that are emerging.

Today I took down quite a few flowers, marigolds, minarette, larkspur, ox-eyed daisies, poppies to mention a few. I have planted most of them behind the salad area, between the new Glen Ample Raspberries as they are not really established yet.

It's getting very busy all over the plot now, so much so I don't think I could cover every aspect in each plot update, I may have to concentrate on one area at a time now.

Last week

This week

Salad bed last week

and this week...I have eaten all the radishes in the foreground! and sown more...

Courgettes

Onions and roots

Potatoes

View from the back

First harvest from Furnace Lane

Today I harvested 6 spears (very spindly) of Asparagus and three radishes, and now I'm full up!

 

Simnel cake

I have never made one before, but thought it might be nice to take to my sister's house for an early family easter meet up today. I have never actually eaten one either, so not sure what I was aiming for, but to be honest I thought it tasted very similar to Christmas cake and with eyes shut probably couldn't tell much difference. Anyway it looked very pretty and I had fun making it using the River Cottage Year recipe.

 

Broad beans flowering early

This seems insane, my broad beans were planted out at the end of March and have only just got established and now they are flowering! Not sure whether this is a good thing as they are only about 25cms tall. Will have to wait and see, I've given them a good soaking to beef them up a bit.

A topsy turvy year

With Easter almost at May Day this year and the spring unseasonable early, I'm getting pretty confused as to what should be happening when. The weather is baking hot for April, about 26C today, which makes it feel like we have completely by-passed spring and hopped straight to summer! After much deliberation I have decided to plant out some tender varieties a little earlier this year, courgettes, sweetcorn and runner beans have gone in today, under closh though at night. Night temperature have averaged above 10C for the past week and look set to continue, so I wanted to capitalise on the warm spell to get them off to a good start. It doesn't matter if they fail, I have back ups growing!

Courgette Early Gem and Jemmer

 

 Sweetcorn Sundance

Runner beans

Plot overview at dusk

Plot at dusk

I stayed on the plot to almost 9pm last night, couldn't believe it will still light, perhaps the clear skies and full moon had something to do with it. It felt very balmy too, the forecast says we are almost 10C above average for this time of year, amazing! I have good news on the water issue, we are connected, yeay! A tap has been installed about 20 metres away in the adjoining field which fills a cattle trough, the pressure isn't great enough to use a hose to our plots yet, but that will be rectified apparently and any water is better than none in my book. So I've given everything a good soaking so am hoping for some good growth from seeds and plants already in.

Here are a few mobile pics from the plot, showing the greenery starting to show

Quite different from the same view a month ago

Radishes, spinach and lettuce

Sweet peas and nasturtiums

A bluebell walk in Eridge

There are some beautiful walks where we live in the high weald, from farmland to woodland, and the coast is also relatively near. Today I though it was the perfect morning to get out and find some bluebells, so we chose to drive to Eridge, a large country park who's name derives from the eagles that used to live there (eagles ridge). There are some truly spectacular views here, where you can really appreciate all the new greenery appearing in the countryside.

 

 

No room in the greenhouse

It's fast approaching the time when there is no room left for any more plants in the greenhouse.

 Despite my tidy up this January, everythings seems to be stacked on top of each other again, and the mower is piled up with tubs, pots and boxes, which have to be de-stacked everytime we mow the grass. There is of course no remedy for this until things are planted out, and I blindly continue to plant seeds and put them in my bathroom! I am determined not to have large gluts of things this year so have been sowing little and often, but that does mean lots of space is required. There really isn't much to plant out on my plot at the moment as I'm waiting for the tender plants to be ready in a month or so, such as the courgettes, squashes, sweetcorn, french beans, runner beans etc.

While I'm talking about the greenhouse, I have posted some pics below of the progress so far.

Red Onions

Tomatoes

Courgettes

Greenery

I just can't get over how quickly spring has arrived this year after such a hard winter. It's like someone opened a trapdoor and let out all the greenery in one flush. The other morning I was sat looking out of the kitchen window and realised all the leaves were out in view when only 2 weeks ago there were merely twigs, amazing! This weekend, all the borders have filled out and my cherry tree is in blossom

The weeping silver birch has burst it's buds (this tree was in a pot at our wedding)

The geranium I planted beneath this tree only a month or so ago has romped away as is now in flower

and my special white tulips are in full bloom, I don't remember the variety but they have spiked tips which give them an unusual shape. Wish I had jotted down their name now!

Even my lilac tree looks like it will bloom tomorrow, which happened many weeks later last year.

So it really feels like May already, which leaves me to fear a little the coming weeks of weather, will it return to a chilly damp spring like last year?

Dry as a bone

We continue to have very dry weather here in West Kent, and our tap is still shut off, and I've used up all my reserves in the water butt. With no more rain forecast in the next week or so, I'm wondering how to keep the whole plot going without losing all sown seed. I've ordered a 10ltr water butt to take water there from home and will fill up bottles and tubs then drive VERY carefully down to the village!

As a result of the very dry weather here, I've held off doing too much at the plot and concentrated on raising strong plants in the greenhouse to give them a better chance or establishing themselves once the rain arrives. I had a flush of planting the other night, sowing french beans, swede, lettuce, dill, basil, tomatoes and a variety of cut flowers.

I popped to the plot this morning with the children and saw the asparagus tips that emerged a few days ago are still there thankfully, but are coming up really slowly, not sure if they need a good water to get them going, but they are certainly taking their time! Still hoeing off lots of thistles every day or two. I have broad beans, peas, lettuce, radish, parsnip, endive and chard seedlings up now. I sowed another row of carrots (autumn king) in trench of compost (kindly suggested here for parsnips by Green Lane Allotments) so we shall see how that goes.

Aside from that I'm continuing to pot up and harden off. I potted up some Blue Kuri Squash, Pacino Sunflower, Sweetcorn and asters (which mainly died and didn't like being moved at all!) My cucumbers (spacemaster) are growing fast in the propergator so I'm off to pot them up now.

Off to do a raindance too!

April muddle

It's at this time of year I tend to get terribly confused at what needs to be done by when, and usually get in a bit of a tizzy and miss out some essential jobs. This year I'm determined to do little and often with regards to hoeing, watering and sowing seed, which sounds like such a basic list of things to do, but they can so often go neglected by a few days and suddenly you have a glut of jobs to catch up on. Today I was feeling a bit low (pregnancy wise) so decided not to work hard at anything. Instead I enlisted my kind husband to fill up my water butt for me, with a water sack I bought ages ago which is slightly leaking, but needs must. This meant I was at least able to water a few seedlings and not worry to much about things withering. To cheer myself up a bit, I brought my seed sowing kit indoors tonight and crossed off a long list of plants that needed to be sown. They are as follows:

Cucumber spacemaster
Dill
Basil
Tom Thumb lettuce
San Marzano Tomato
French Bean Neckar Queen
French Bean Cobra
Swede Marian
Beetroot Boltardy
Beetroot Burpees Golden
Queen anne's lace
Calendula Indian Queen
Larkspur

The last three are cutting flowers, I am experimenting with a few this year as well as the usual wildflower mix which seems to love my poor soil!

I am growing so much from seed as so little seems to germinate well on my plot. Even the lettuce sown 12 days ago has failed to come up yet, and that's usually a failsafe. I know some of the things hate being transplanted, but if I don't plant relatively big plants, they just don't make it. For example, in a row about 2.5 metres long of parsnips, only 3 have germinated. Either they don't like the soil, or the slugs have polished them off, hard to tell! On a plus note, my asparagus has not given up, there were three new spears appearing this evening, so if they have gone tomorrow, I will know something is definitely chomping it. I can't wait till May when everything gets more established!

Grand National BBQ

Who would have thought it, a BBQ on Grand National day, I have never known it to be this warm this early. Unfortunately, I won nothing on the race this year, my form is waning of late and my family tradition of having a ladies bet is definitely rubbing off on the kids who got very excited at the event. My husband did the best in the end coming second with an each way bet. We celebrated this modest win by having a BBQ and enjoying as much time outside as we could. What could be better.

Morello cherry blossom

Finally my morello cherry is coming into blossom. I feared it may have suffered in the harsh winter, but after a modest pruning and a good feed, it has sprung into life after this warm spell. I will just have to net it quick when the fruits start to form.

Erythronium 'Pagoda'

My above named plant (to avoid writing twice) is in full flower in the garden. I forgot completely that I planted this last year, but it looks well and is a very welcome addition to my spring beds. I think I may have bought this at Sissinghurst, as it's quite unusual and not easy to find. There is more information here on the RHS website.

Weed encyclopedia

I discovered this webpage on a forum I regularly visit for allotment holders. It's most useful for identifying young weed seedlings, and a good reference site to keep bookmarked.

Drought watch

I'm slightly worried we may have a repeat of last years early summer drought on our plots. To aggrivate the problem, the council have cut off our water supply sompletely while the 'dispute' over the latest bill is settled. Many of us are very annoyed about this having put in a lot of work and spent a lot of money on raising plants only to watch them wither. I'm trying not to find this too dispiriting, but it's difficult, I even lost a brand new watering can in the nearby river yesterday trying to hoik water up...all while 7 months pregnant. I especially find annoying the fact that the chap who's in charge as spokesman lives nearby so waters his plant with water brought from his own supply, and doesn't seem that concerned that others like me have to drive to the plot, so this is impossible. Sometimes it's tempting to give it all up, but this year I'd planned to grow enough to really supplement our family's shopping bill so I don't have much choice but the continue to find ways to try and solve the problem. If there was more of a community spirit, perhaps we could club together to complain to the parish council, but any support I've tried to drum up has failed. I just wish I had got my water but in time to fill it up to have enough for my seedlings during this dry spell. Ho hum.

Anyway, enough of my moan and on to my 'progress' which has halted a bit as a result. Yesterday I got rid of the emerging thistles with my fab new hoe which works like a dream. I uncovered the last of my beds which was covered in black plastic to warm the soil/keep weeds down, and gave it a quick rake and left it to dry out. This bed will house brassicas and sweetcorn. I also removed the fleece from the remaining broad beans which had emerged well, and netted them instead. Pretty much all my beans and peas are netted now, apart from any more peas I will sow in the next couple of weeks. Looks like some slugs have munched some broad bean leaves though.

My wild strawberries look really happy and have started to flower

Onions and garlic growing well

and I'm pleased to report my parsnips have germinated, as well as the rocket. Still no carrots despite having sowed four times since Feb!

My comfrey patch is going bananas

and the raspberries are spreading

 but overall you can see they plot is looking pretty dry, which is a shame as the weather is fantastic at the moment, I think it was almost 25C yesterday which is amazing for this time of year. I think a picnic is planned for this weekend!
..oh and I almost forgot to mention my potatoes have sprouted!

A cup of tea to watch the sun go down

This weekend, I have been quite busy, so I've only made it down to the plot in the evening, at 7pm with just about an hour to do some quick jobs before the sun sets. It has meant I have caught some lovely sights and sounds in the process. The sheep in the field adjacent have lambed, so at dusk the mother's call in their little charges, and the lambs bleat in reply. Then an owl starts hooting, and the sky has been particularly beautiful with red pink hues, melting away. I love being outside at dusk, it reminds me of camping with the brownies and beach bbq's.

As for jobs done, I managed to get my second early potatoes in, the variety is Cosmos, which I haven't grown before. I also planted some more carrots, rainbow chard and corn salad. There is quite a lot in the soil now waiting to germinate, so I'm going to sit back for a week or so and see what happens. Not sure what the weather has in store for us, but if it's fine, there should be quite a lot germinating. Another job I've managed to do (or my husband, kindly) is to empty out the compost bins in anticipation of moving, I scavenged 6 bucket loads and took them to the plot which should do quite a bit of good all round, all those lovely microbes. Last but not least, I planted out my sweet peas which were almost 4 inches tall and flopping over, I have planted around a willow tepee from my garden which is one of the many items that will gradually migrate from my garden to the allotment in anticipation of our house move.

As for now I'm pretty whacked so am off to bed!