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?

And they're off!

St Patrick's day saw me down at the plot harvesting the last of the Jerusalem artichokes - 4.88kg of them to be precise. This is where all my recipe books will come in handy I hope.

To start within made a Jerusalem gratin from Sarah Raven's book 'Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook'. I used what looked like a sweet potato but it was white in the middle so have assumed it was a yam. We have a kilo of prosciutto we brought back from Sicily so I was a little more generous with that. It tasted nicer than it looks here, I promise (we started eating before preserving it for posterity!)

I have also been busy on the seed sowing side.
3 types of tomato - black, moneymaker, mixed cherry
Purple sprouting broccoli
Chili

There are also now four large potato tubs on the patio with Charlotte x 2, British Queen x 1 and Ratte in. Plus a mixed lot in the old bean planter.

Last year, the planters were an unexpected success so fingers crossed for this year. The dry weather won't have helped the potatoes and garlic that need lots of water in the early growing stages. Annoyingly, having ignored potatoes most of the year they are the one thing I really want to eat but have no more in store.

The broad beans sowed on 20 February have come through. The experiment is inconclusive. I can see no difference between those exposed to the mild weather and those protected by a cloche.

Times of extremes

In the week the clocks went forward the days were reaching 22 degrees by lunchtime but the clear skies allowed temperatures to drop at night.  A quick visit to the plot saw a touch of frost on the strawberries but everything else untouched. Yorkshire has just joined the South in suffering from drought and though temperatures are due to return to a seasonal average, there is still no sign of rain.

Of the 3 potato trenches I planted, Sharpe's Express and Swift are poking through but Pentland Javelin is still staying under the soil. At home, the potatoes Bernie and I opportunistically planted in pots in the front have survived their January planting and are coming through.

Saturday was a day of action - clearing side passage, taking out the last of brassicas in raised beds, pruning and pressure washing before the water ban comes in on the 4th April.

In contrast to the highs of March (It's official. March 2012 was the sunniest, driest on record in the UK.) April temperatures are back to a seasonal average and we even had some rain on the 3rd. (the right sort of rain not just flash flood heavy rain that washes down the drain.)

A tale of two days in one



Foggy New Cross

What a funny old day it was on Thursday 15th March 2012. The day started with dense fog all over and frost in some areas outside central London. The puffa jacket was definitely brought out of seasonal purgatory (the coat pile in the next room).

But, and it's a big but, the BBC were predicting 20 degrees later in the day. How is a girl supposed to dress for a day like that?!

Sure enough, lunchtime saw me sunning myself, a tiny bit sunburnt and regretting wearing thick tights.  The scene on Islington's Upper Street reflected the day's quandry - a jumper passes by someone with bare legs.

How are we supposed to know what season we are in and what to plant when we seem to be experiencing early winter and early summer in the same day? 

Sunny Islington

Hosepipe ban due 5th April

With the announcement of a hosepipe ban due to start on the 5th April, my thoughts go to ways of preserving water.

One of my water butts is in place on the allotment and I must remember to reclaim it and initial it so that I can use it.

The water butt in the front garden still needs to be fixed by Bernie as he still hasn't fixed a diverter at the end of the downpipe that stops the water overflowing down the side of our house.

Another way to improve water efficiency is to mulch (after it has rained or you have watered) to keep water in the soil not block it out.

I will be following the example of my Turkish allotment neighbours this year and create little sunken beds for the plants so that plants create a reservoir of their own.  Perhaps for the more vulnerable plants I will also bury at time of planting water bottles to allow water to seep down to the roots.

I am also probably planning to install a water meter at home as apparently if you have more bedrooms than people then you can end up paying less per year - there is a handy Uswitch calculator that can help.

Consider using grey water ie water saved from baths, washing up, dehumidifiers to top up water levels in the garden.

Don't pander to plants and over water them as they will become dependent on you and not send roots down into the ground to find water for themselves. Like a disciplinarian parent you must allow them to stand on their own two feet. Or roots. Save watering for when they really need it ie when they are establishing themselves after being first planted and at fruiting times to help the fruit to swell.

Use gel crystals in pots for the most water hungry plants. Avoid terracotta pots that, though attractive, are porous and allow water to leach out. Don't use metal pots that heat up and fry the plants (sort of). Group plants together when watering so they all get the benefit. Water at the root where it will do the most good and so water doesn't evaporate off leaves and scorch them.

The best laid plans of mice and men and all that

To (sort of) quote Robert Burns, it is time to plan out what goes where on the allotment. And to realise there is never enough space both on the plot and at home on window sills. I guess that is where the second half of the quote comes into its own and said plans 'gang aft agley' ie often go awry.

The rotation system means that I should move the potatoes so they don't get blight. They have ended up (almost) where they were in my first year(ie 2 years ago) - not quite the ideal 3 year rotation but it will have to do.

The shallots, onions and garlic can't move unfortunately until at least midsummer so I will have to interplant them with courgettes or tomatoes if I don't want the land to be a dead zone come June/ July. Perhaps the land could be used for PSB (purple sprouting broccoli). I am currently lusting after some ready grown pot plants (to save me seed space at home) from Dobies.

Then there are the perennial plants (asparagus, raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb and herbs) that can't be moved. The Jerusalem Artichokes cast shade so are tough to site and can cope with the dry soil under the overhanging grape vine so they will probably stay put by the wall.

That means that, roughly speaking, the plot will look a little like this. But not as neat.

















PS I may have been over optimistic that the plot is 7m x 14m but I was brought up in a metric/ imperial limbo which means I have no idea of what a metre or a yard looks like.  I have been reliably informed by co-workers that a metre is about a stride's worth. 

The measurement isn't helped much by the allotment society calling it 2 rods. Now, I looked up a rod online and there isn't a general agreement on what one is. It seems to be anything from 1.5 metres squared up to 7 on the continent. In the UK, all I know is that the standard allotment outside of London is 10 rods so I have a fifth of what those lucky out of towners have.

As the hungry gap approaches, my thoughts turn to making the most of the last of the season's bounties especially those in the raised beds at home.  The kale is fast going to seed and the broccoli is probably common old broccoli not BSB so the challenge is to use them up before the next lot of plants come through.

To this end I made a simple supper/ lunchtime snack.  I stir fried tender baby kale leaves with chicken stock and a little tomato paste and a drained can of kidney beans (it was supposed to be chick peas but I had run out). It would also be nice with crumbled feta in it (or bacon).