Seas of bluebells

Our weather continues to be unsettled so we are having to fit in visits to the allotment and walking with Ruby around whatever the weather throws at us. When it isn't actually raining it is often bitterly cold making it seem more like winter than spring.

We managed a couple of trips to the allotment. Much time was spent weeding and tilling beds that had been too wet earlier. Really, some beds are still rather soggy, but we have to do the best we can as we need to get on with planting.

We sowed two rows of early peas. We sow these thickly into a shallow trench. It's nothing like the recommended way but it works for us and provides us with a good crop. We buy a big bag of seeds so can afford to sow generously and this means there are plenty of seeds to share with any hungry mice. Enivromesh was laid over the bed to deter any animal disturbance. Once the seeds start to shoot this will be removed.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Spring green and blue

Our weather continues to be unsettled. I guess that we should see that as a bonus as now it just rains some of the time.

We have had some hail and rain accompanied by bitingly cold wind. We have had some sunshine but this hasn't meant that the temperature crept up although at times we have been tempted to shed one of our layers of clothing.

At the beginning of the week, the forecast was promising that the weather would improve, but of course, that changed, although the weekend was relatively pleasant.

At least, we have continued to make progress at the allotment. We planted a second bed of onions, shallots and garlic. The shallots were seedlings and so will only each produce one shallot each but last year the individual shallots were huge. Mal informed me that if I replanted a shallot the following year it would produce a cluster. Two of last year's shallots have shooted so I have planted them to see what happens. You may be able to spot these at the end of the far row, they may be too far gone but we'll see what happens.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Some progress

The weather has continued to tease. Some days have been positively spring-like but dark water-laden clouds suddenly appear in the sky threatening and often delivering more rain.

We made the most of the rain-free periods to work on the plot and in the garden as well as fitting in Ruby's walks.

One job was to plant more potatoes. One of our favourite potatoes is Elfe. For the last couple of years, we haven't been able to source any seed potatoes so last year we planted some of the ones we had stored over winter. We did wonder whether they would produce a harvest and it turned out that we had a better harvest from them than most of the other varieties planted. As a result, we will be planting our stored Elfe again. Last week we planted a couple of short rows.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett