Woops. Another huge gap. I did pop up to the plot a few times in the back end of 2009 to pick some things, but the slugs pretty much demolished all of the courgettes (I got two) and the sweetcorn didn´t go in fast enough to be ready by the time the autumn hit. And I never got back to dig up the maincrop spuds either.
But being a stubborn gardener, who doesn´t like giving up, I refuse to take the option of quitting the allotment on the grounds that as fast as I can get it refurbished the weeds are taking over again. But I still have to face the fact that this is true. So I´ve gone for the only other option I can see.
I have engaged a gardener to do the preparation and weeding work for me, and to get that wilderness back into productive beds. She´ll probably find a load of potatoes hiding that are usable or starting to grow, and also a lot more bindweed than is desirable (mind you, is any?) and I hope she´s still speaking to me at the end of the first week!
I hadn´t realised how much of a weight this was going to take off my shoulders. I went straight from the allotment to South Heath and bought seed potatoes (all Charlotte - they are the ones we eat most of!) and onion/shallot sets. And parsnip seed. And beetroot seed. All stuff to bung in during March.
Meanwhile, at home I´ve got the usual propagator full of chillies. The conclusion from last year was that we might as well not bother with anything other than the Prairie Fires: tiny, pretty plants, tiny chillies, WHOA heat. And early. And I´ve still got my main plant from last year. All the same, we sowed jalapeno, cayenne and a few others just for the fun of it.
Walked up with small boy and my mate Jools, on a glorious day. Once upon a time I´d have been up there all day. Ah well. Small boy was excited and wanted to run about so Jools took him walkies while I had a look about. Picked two cabbages. Yes, these are last year´s minicoles; 5" across after getting rid of the mankier leaves, and perfect. After this so so cold winter. Amazing. Set the purple sprouting broccoli cage upright again (the snow had made it lean precariously) and the plants, though smaller than the amazing ones of 2007 I never got to eat, seem to be doing ok. No sign of flowering though - but Claret is a late one so I expect it´ll flower in late April.
The view as I arrived.
Astonishingly heavy showers today. Dashed up in snoozebreak armed with Sturon onion sets, and managed somehow to get a mere 77 of them in just before it started to throw it down. Chris was up there somewhere but couldn´t see her and calling didn´t elicit a reply. Assume she was digging up the top end!
No more beds done by Gardening Lady this week. The ones that have been done are now growing couch tuftlets, so will need hand weeding. Great. But on the good side, I´m going to have annual leave again soon, so hopefully I´ll have a day or two to actually do it!!
Update from last entry: small boy now has his two sweet peas up. And I have beetroot! Parsnips as usual no sign after just 2 weeks, though the area is *covered* in germinating pot marigolds. More weeding... PSB looking like it´s thinking about flowering, as the tops are bulking up a bit.
Lots of narcissi out. Love this time of year.