Early seed sowings for 08

Sowing for this season started on the 9th January when we sowed 2 types of onion and our first sowing of leeks. The varieties we are growing this year are red brunswick and alisa craig. For leeks, we are going for a tried and tested variety, musselburgh. We sowed the seeds in a seed tray and pricked them out into individual toilet rolls 5 weeks later. The leeks are being kept together in one large pot, as these can be separated later for planting on the plot. The onions and leeks were transferred to the coldframe and have been growing slowly since! In addition, we have sown sweet peas, both saved seed (unknown variety) and sweet king blue on the 15th Feb, broad beans on 2nd March (imperial green longpod) and peas 13th March (kelvedon wonder).



In the conservatory we have planted chillies, aubergines and tomato. The aubergines germinated well without heat, but the chillies and tomato varieties faired better in a heated propagator.

We are growing a number of chilli varieties, ranging from the interestingly named 'ring of fire' to apache, which were very successful for us last year.



Pictured below are recently germinated tomato seedlings, which will be pricked out into individual pots over the next couple of days. All the varieties of tomato took 8 or 9 days to germinate in the heated propagator.

The aubergine seeds germinated within 1 week sowing and are growing well. We will be growing these in a greenhouse to be situated on plot four.

A busy Easter weekend

Over the Easter weekend we planned to get some hard graft done on plot 4. Although the weather has been disappointing, we have managed to get quite a lot done. Firstly, we were able to finish preparing our first plot for the upcoming planting season. In Autumn, we had covered most of the beds with manure. This has now been dug in, leaving only 1 bed without manure. This will be for carrots and parsnips. You can see in the picture below that we have some overwintering onions and garlic growing. They both seem to be doing well.


Our first plot also has 3 rhubarb crowns. These are just starting to show, behind most other rhubarb growers on the allotment site. We are unsure of the variety. They are most likely a late variety, or have taken a while to sprout through the huge pile of manure we placed over them in autumn!


With the first plot prepared, we moved back to plot four. With the top third almost clear we have started to tackle the rest.

Here you can see the how bottom third of the plot is covered with black plastic. We will be planning pumpkins, squash and sweetcorn through this and not clearing this area fully until next season.



We set to work on the middle third of the plot. We simply do not have the time to clear this area of weed roots before the planting season starts, so we took the decision to rough dig, remove the roots we can see and plant potatoes. This is in hope that the potatoes will help break up the soil, allowing us to fully weed the area in September when we dig the spuds up.


Even the snow did not dishearten our project! Although strangely enough I was doing the digging whilst Sparkly was taking pictures...

Bindweed is still the main problem perennial on the middle third. Here you can see the typical state of the plot when rough-dug. This area did have some couch grass, but the glyphosphate seems to have done a good job of controlling this. Unfortunately, the bindweed roots still feel fleshy and alive!


In some areas the bindweed is beginning to sprout.


Here you can see the result of our Easter effort - 30x30ft of freshly dug ground. The task of removing all obvious perennials and putting in the potato trenches lies ahead for the rest of the week.

the right tools for the job

This afternoon I laid another two flags for the path and dragged another one round ready for use.
The problem with using reclaimed flagstones is that they inevitably have some concrete stuck to the bottom, and mortar stuck around the sides. Since I want to try and avoid gaps I needed to chip some of the mortar off the edges.

Did I have a hammer? No. Could I be bothered looking for one or going home to get one. No.
Did I have a rock? Yes...


You can see the aforementioned hitting rock balanced on the edge of the standing flag, although it got all of the mortar off, it didn't really help with the stuff on the bottom. So next time, remember the hammer...

have path, will stamp muddy boots...

I spent a couple of hours at the plot this afternoon and got the path level, marked (sort of) and then set about leveling the rest of the grassy, muddy slope that should be our path.

At one point I was worried I was running downhill a bit, but it was just an illusion caused by Mt. Compost. Now all I need is a hand dragging the paving slabs into place, they are just the ideal size to be a bit too much for one person to move them easily.

The new beginning...

In late summer 2007 we were offered a new plot, in addition to our half plot. This is the story of plot four...



Plot four had been standing derelict for around 4 years. The previous owner had used the plot to grow fruit; including apples, brambles and blackcurrants. As the plot had been left untended for so long, this is a long-term project. Plot four was a mass of brambles, bindweed and couch grass. About half the plot was approximately 6ft high in brambles and, hidden by bindweed, there were 4 apple trees in the area of the plot photographed.

The plan is to cultivate the full plot using a system of raised beds. The area to the right of this photograph is a large compost heap. This is 7ft tall, and although infested with perrenial weeds, should be an excellent source to fill our raised beds.

The compost heap fills half of the area which is normally used for a shed. Between this area and the main plot should be a path approximately 2 feet wide. As you can see from the photo the weeds have taken over the path!

Here is a 2nd photo showing the extent of brambles and bindweed on the top half of the plot.


Over the winter period we set on clearing plot four. During September we used glyphosphate to try and get a hold on the couch and bindweed problem. Although this is not ideal, plot four was in such a bad state that this seemed the best solution to help us get the area under control.

Here you can see the whole of plot four, taken from the bottom end in September, before the glyphosphate spraying. The bottom half of the plot did not have many brambles. but still had a problem with with bindweed and couch grass.


After spraying we purchased a bulk lot of black plastic and used this to cover about half of the plot. You can see the effect of the glyphosphate on the top growth of the weeds. This photo was taken in late October 2007.


During November we began clearing the top third of the plot. We used a mattock to dig out the bramble roots and by hand worked to remove the perenial weed roots.



The extent of the bindweed problem was quite daunting. We were, on average, filling this basket out of an area of 1 metre square.


We have now, in March 2008, nearly cleared the top 1/3 of plot four. The image below shows the same area as the first photo in this post! This area will be used for the greenhouse and 4 raised beds.


We have started to level the path which will be made from 3x2ft flags.





The raised beds for this area are 6x3ft and made from decking.