A year of allotmenteering.

Hooray! It’s a year today we first started our allotment adventures on plot 18a.

Strange seeds

Good days allotmenteering done today. The beginnings of the mammoth seed sowing season began with the sowing of some Brassicas in the form of Brussels Sprouts. And what bizarre blue seeds they were!

blue seeds

The variety is ‘Cronus’ from the Unwin Grosure range, which I wonder if maybe counts for their odd appearance? Possibly coated in some kind of treatment maybe? Anyhow, I picked this variety as they are mooted as a good variety for a Christmas harvest. All part of my plan for chrimbo vegetables to come from plot to plate.

Other sowing’s made today included, sweet peas scrumped from Capel Manor (shhh) and an early start on some nasturtiums for companion planting with the broad bean seedlings we transplanted from the coldframe into the plot yesterday.

Finally P-S-B!

Patience is often a virtue down the allotment, and it doesn’t ring more true than with Purple Sprouting Broccoli. After almost a 12 month wait today finally our first shoots are ready to harvest.

PSB

We purchased (missed the boat to sow our own) the seedling PSB from our local garden centre back in late May, transplanting them into their home in the Brassica bed and left them mostly to their own devices. After many a struggle with netting and canes to protect them from the invading wildlife (persistent cabbage whites and devious wood pigeons) and after loosing many of their rank to the bitter winter weather, we finally have a modest harvest.

As much as I love PSB this year we’ll only grow a few to try out more smaller quick growing Brassica. One of which we’ll be trying as an alternative to the plot-hoggers PSB is Cima Di Rapa. which is actually a sprouting Turnip top ready in under 60 days! A popular southern Italian vegetable used commonly to make Orecchiette dishes. Picked up a packet reduced to 50p in my local garden centre. I do love a good bargain.

Sunshine and shoots

What a lovely spring-like day today. Had to keep reminding ourselves it’s only February and not be lead into a false sense of springtime. Although it looked like some of our insect friends set their alarm clocks too early, saw at least 3 little bees. Whom weren’t even drowsy queens, drunkenly stumbling around but confused looking worker bees.

Nothing like making hay while the sun shines so we set about todays tasks with vigour. I get all excited like a little girl arriving at the plot after a week’s absence, eager to see what’s happened in our leave…

The Rhubarb was sprouting away merrily…

Rhubarb bursting free

Tree-rrific! The fruit tree’s are in.

Hooray, at last! Finally we’ve gotten the minarette fruit trees in down the plot. Much like the raspberries we’ve been waiting patiently for the right conditions to transplant our lil trees into their  final home. Ordered back in November from Ken Muir, due to the snow and cold the bare-root trees  did not arrive until a little annoyingly, just before christmas. But thankfully we had potted them up and tucked them into a cosy corner of the plot to wait it out until the conditions where right.

There’s something significant to planting trees, a feeling of achieving something momentous. To think that what you’re planting has the potential to outlive the person that planted it, well it calls for a bit of respect. Ok they may just be minarette cordon fruit trees but still they are the first trees I’ve ever planted and I’ve been nervous about getting them in. Do it right do it once as the mantra goes. After researching  and preparing the ground with manure and potash from our News Years day bonfire, getting the kit together (tree stakes and ties) we were ready. So this was to be it the weekend Mr Wilson and I planted our trees!

Ra Ra Raspberries!

Hooray! At last the allotment weather gods have been on our side. Today was it, that day we’ve all been waiting for… we finally got the raspberry canes tucked into their beds. Ever since they were purchased back in November the elements and social engagements have conspired against us. Either too wet or frozen solid the allotment gods just weren’t smiling on us. Well today was the big day, a good spell of dry weather, milder temperatures everything perfect. However as ever with these things it came with a catch, it weren’t ‘arf windy!

Battling against 36 kmph winds I tucked straight into the job at hand. Started by digging a trench for the summer raspberries, the variety we went with was Tulameen as we’ve always enjoyed this variety when bought in supermarkets and after a bit of research made our decision. As the earth of our allotment at the best of times isn’t the most hospitable (fairly heavy clay) we decided to back-fill the trenches with an organic peat free garden compost from Homebase. To give them a good start in life we had already manured the bed earlier in winter but to give a kick start I also sprinkled some good ole chicken poop pellets in the bottom of the trenches (not fun in the wind, pee-eww)

Died and gone to seed and sundry heaven

Had a reluctant weekend off from the lottie whilst visiting the parents for my dads birthday.  Ventured out in gloomy damp day of sunday afternoon with the folks for a drive to a little chain garden centre out in sticks of  Upminster, Essex. To find they had a 50% sale on all seeds and lots of other bits and bobs , oooh I was like a kid in sweet shop.  Managed to get most of the seeds on my wish list for this years grandplans including, sweetcorn, bright lights chard (tried rainbow last year which turned out to be distinctly un-rainbow like.), beetroot  moulin rogue, celariac, romanesque broccoli, a nantes carrot and a big roll of weed matt to continue the path saga battling with the couch grass.  Also bagseyd a lovely big tub of organic chick poop!

Seeds galore!