Checking in with the changes

B.W. Before Weeding

After heat and drought, temperatures are back to seasonal norm and Easter onwards gave us rain. However now half the country is in drought (predicted to be the worst since 1976) and we are unlikely to have hosepipe bans lifted until December.

Temperatures at night dropped so much that the emerging potato tops have browned a little in the frost. This weekend it was time to plant last Shetland black potatoes and earth up others. This is done easily by using a rake to drag the soil from the mounds to cover the green (and brown) leaves. Damage to the leaves is noticeably worse on the plot than near house where there are no signs of frost damage.  The house itself must give them a little protection.

I finally got around to weeding the onions and garlic which are shallow rooted and hate competition. This should be a lesson to me to regularly weed rather than do a marathon job - two wheelbarrows later and I was exhausted.  But as you can see, it made a huge difference. Now I just need to fertilise them and water the Jerusalem artichokes which are in the shadow of the grape vines so don't get rained on even if it does rain.

A.W. After Weeding

Great excitment was felt (well, by me anyway) after the weeding revealed our very first stems of asparagus. 2 weedy little specimens but mine own no less.
Window box salad is through as are some spring onion shoots (I think).
We had a mini disaster with the chili seedlings. Tom knocked them off the window sill and all but 3 seedlings are no more. I suppose it's a crude form of survival of fittest. Mind you I don't need many just enough to make chili jelly. Plus  the overwintering grafted one we bought from the RHS Hampton Court flower show is coming back to life. Both tomatoes and chili are actually perennials but our winters usually kill them off and they grow so easily from seed that they are usually treated as annuals.
Other seedlings that are doing well are the butter nut squash - I need to pot them on as can't plant out yet but I want to make room for sowing giant pumpkin seeds. My beetroot and PSB (purple sprouting broccoli) probably need repotting too as they are too fiddly and tiny to plant out but I will also try to direct sow as they look unhappy in their seed trays.

Some tomato seedlings are out but I have let them get leggy and should really pot them on deeper (ie plant them with half the stem submerged) to allow for roots to form further up the stem and make sure they are sturdy.  I also want to sow the black tomatoes to test them out.  Where will I find all the place?

Patience is needed for asparagus

I planted out my asparagus crowns ignoring all gardening advice. You are supposed to dig a trench, fill it with good compost, create a ridge, water it, place the crown with the roots spread out on the ridge and back fill gently. And water again.

I did none of that. I scraped out some space in one of my compacted raised beds, dumped the crowns in, leaving some roots a bit exposed and forgot to water. in the dry weather I assumed they were dead.

Despite this, I've spotted a few brave shoots breaking through. Maybe they are tougher than we give them credit for.

Asparagus are perennial plants and need time to establish themselves and that is why it is wise to give them the best possible start in life.

This includes ignoring the exciting new shoots that are appearing from the crowns I planted last year (somewhat unwisely in a sort of pathway). You should only really harvest in the 3rd year and even then sparingly.

Not an ideal crop for impatient people like me. But the taste will be all the sweeter for waiting. Hopefully.

Setting a mad March pace

The passing of a couple of days means that with the arrival of March it is now time to finish digging and start sowing seeds and considering potatoes.

As I live in the south we are lucky enough to have relatively mild weather but still it doesn't do to be too confident. Last year we had frosts as late as mid May. I will carry on regardless full of hope for an early spring.

After a tempting spring morning, last weekend brought more rain and a drop in temperature. This means the soil is too claggy and wet to dig. Trying to turn wet earth makes it not only heavy, back threatening work but also that the soil structure is damaged and it encourages compaction which eliminates nutrients, water and air that plant roots need.

Despite not having finished last year's harvest of potatoes, I have already been sucked into planning for this coming year. Aldi had a special offer on vegetable plants and seeds and I fell for it. Now they are languishing in my kitchen waiting for me to plant them out. I also have last year's potatoes sprouting like mad.

I bought two variety of seed potato - pentland javelin that is supposed to be a good early variety that has a firm, waxy texture that is ideal for salads and Maris piper that is a good floury all rounder that is great for chips, roasts and mash. I'm tempted by a bag of charlotte's, another salad variety and would also love to try an unusual variety like anya or pink fir which are both long in shape and strangely enough pink fit is actually pink (wonder if it loses the colour on cooking like the blue potato does). However I suspect I have already run out if space. I still need to dig over the area I have allocated for the potatoes (clearly - as the picture shows!).

I am planning on following the advice on rotation and will be moving the potato area to where the tomatoes  and squashes last grew. While neither tomatoes nor squash fall into the standard rotation groups and I am reducing the amount of brassicas I'm growing it still makes sense to rotate plants to reduce the build up of diseases and depletion of nutrients.
Also Aldi had asparagus crowns and I intend to devote half of one of the raised beds to them as they are a permanent crop that deserve being well treated. I did also have some last year but I fear they got trampled in the brassica harvesting.