Pricking out and sowing........................

Raining again this morning, but I still needed to go to the allotment and get some work done in the greenhouses. Everything seems to be doing well but I am rapidly running out of space. I pricked out 12 Celeriac and 20 Brussels Sprout seedlings and sowed my Sweetcorn, Climbing French Beans (Blue Lake), Red Cabbage (Red Drumhead) and two types of Cauliflower, (Snowball) which is a miniature type and (Green Trevi) which as the name suggests has green curds.

It did stop raining and the sun came out for a short while and I toyed with the idea of planting out my main crop onions but I found the ground to be too wet so they will have to be done another day.

Hangman!

After the long and harsh winter I was pleased to find that some of the cauliflowers were ready to be harvested. But within the next week or two if I'm really lucky the rest of them will be ready too. It is obvious I have sown far to many again. Cauliflowers don't stand well in the ground. They can be looking fine one day and go over the next. I tried to freeze my surplus last year, but was not to happy with the results. So I was interested to hear from one of the old timers at the allotment that you can store cauliflowers by hanging the whole thing up side down, roots and all in your shed and they should last an extra couple of weeks. Its got to be worth a try! From allotmenteer to Hangman, I wasn't expecting that!.

Can I pick some now?

My Rhubarb "Timpperly Early" is looking geat, will look even better as it comes out of the oven baked with ginger and honey, cant wait, can I pick some now?

The Dig Continues!...................

I had a few hours down on the allotment yesterday. After all the rain we have had, I thought I would make the most of the dry weather although it was a bit on the blustery side and very cold with it, I needed to get some more digging done plot 29b. I have only got one area left to dig but on the plot, but it seems to be the worst bit. As I mentioned in a earlier post the half plot I took on was used as a dumping ground by my very nice neighbours (tongue in cheek) crap. It has been buried with mounds of soil and engulfed by weeds. Not only am I battling with "Chooch grass " roots and "Docks" I have to deal with carpet, plastic bags, bricks and coke to say just a few. But I persevered on ,and hopefully It wont be long before I manage to bet it how I want it. I intend to use it for my late potatoes thus leaving me the space on plot 36 to fill with other lovely produce.

Having the two plots I came up with idea, whether it will work or not is a different matter, but I thought that once all the spuds had been harvested I could use plot 29b for all my winter crops, so that would leave plot 36 clear once all the summer produce had been harvested. I could then dig all of the plot, add manure etc with out having to work around things such as the spring and winter cabbage, cauliflowers and Japanese onions. We will have to see how it works out, Watch this space!

"Cooch Grass" Horrible stuff.

Install A "Bee Hotel"

As part of a nationwide effort to protect our bee population, I have just fitted a "Bee Hotel" to the side of my shed. There are apparently 250 species of bees in this country many of which are in decline due to habitat loss, pesticides and the recent wet summers we have experienced. Not all bees and wasps live together in hives or swarms some are solitary creatures and these are the ones that will be attracted to this kind of habitat. Bee are important and play a vital role in pollinating our fruit and vegetables so I believe we should all make an effort to encourage them into our gardens and allotments.
As well as bees, they are also a ideal habitat for Ladybirds and Hover flies which is a bonus. All this for a mere £4 from "Morrison's"........Bargain!