In the Garden and Allotment in mid April

The Garden and Allotment in mid April

The weather this week has been glorious. Although foggy in the mornings, the fog has cleared to give mild sunny days.

I guess it is now the start of the main sowing time. As I go to my plot with my bag of seeds and my plan for the day, I am aware of how much I should have planted but, the ground is just not ready for all of it.

My tomato plants also need to be moved to the poly-tunnel as they are becoming a bit leggy but, I am afraid of a late frost which would kill them, even in the protected environment. Perhaps I will pot them on and take some to the poly-tunnel and keep some at home for a little while longer.

Yesterday, I sowed 4 rows of peas [ Hurst Green Shaft]. They have the merit of being particularly good for freezing and mature more-or-less at the same time which means I can pick and freeze over the space of 4 or 5 days and clear the crop ready for brassicas. I still have a few tubs from last year but I’m looking forward to my new crops.

I also sowed some leeks [Musselburgh]. This year I thought I would try seed tape. I’m sure leeks should be easy but my germination rate has been a bit dismal in the last few years.

I see my early potatoes are already showing above the ground so I spend some time ‘earthing or ridging them up’ – heaping more soil over the emerging plants. This process helps to protect the young shoots from frost and encourages more potatoes to develop up the underground stems.

I planted out a row of spring sown broad beans [Imperial Green Longpod] which I had sprouted, potted up and  ‘hardened off’ [set outside for increasing times during the days to allow the plants to be more tolerant of colder conditions]. Spring sown broad beans are more prone to black fly than the autumn sown seeds but I do like them and want to extend the harvesting period.

Over the last couple of years I am increasingly moving my culinary herbs to my back garden so that I can pick them fresh as I need them rather than picking a lot and string in the fridge.

This spring’s sowings of parsley have germinated well and when They are a little bigger I will have to thin them vigorously. Last year’s are starting to grow again so, hopefully I will have a crop until the new plants are ready to harvest.

My chives, rosemary, thyme, mint, tarragon, oregano are all putting on healthy new growth.

As I write this there is none of the usual birdsong around our gardens but a sparrow hawk circling the sky above us.

The bluetit in my nesting box is still busily building her nest.

Late February on the Allotment

Late February on the Allotment

The last time I wrote a blog was a couple of weeks ago. While I have sown seeds I am still trying to hold back as our weather here turned bitterly cold with hard frosts and damaging winds. We did have a few flakes of snow which lay overnight but, disappeared the following morning. It’s a pity as, many of the plants which had survived the ‘real’ wintertime were seriously affected by this late cold-snap. As always, we will take what the weather throws at us and work with it.

I have been most dismayed to learn from our News that there has been so little winter rain [when we expected it to refill our reservoirs and rivers] that we are in a potentially drought situation for the coming spring and summer months. I suppose I should be relieved that this doesn’t affect the South West – yet! We have had a lot of rain during January. However, for the East of England and swathes of the Midlands where a large proportion of the crops which supply the shops and homes in this country are grown, this will affect the cost of products to households that are already hard-pressed financially and, to the growers who have also had damaging set-backs during the last couple of years from harsh weather. We must hope that these concerns don’t become a reality.

I have planted my first early potatoes in my poly-tunnel last week. This year I’m trying Vales Emerald from Thompson & Morgan. The Potato Council says about this potato:-

An outstanding early bulking variety with attractive appearance on the shelf and excellent flavour. With 25% higher yields than existing punnet varieties, Emerald is proving to be extremely popular with growers and retailers alike.

In previous years I have grown and enjoyed Accent as my First Early of choice but, this year I was unable to find the seed – pity! I did like them.

I have only planted half of these seeds in my tunnel. The rest will be sown outdoors from the middle of March – weather allowing! For the first time, I still have some potatoes left from last year’s cropping which will almost last until the new crops are ready. I did give a couple of bags away, perhaps I will be meaner next year. I have been quite disappointed in some of the supposed ‘maincrop’ potatoes I grew. While Sarpo Mira and Sarpo Axona have continued to live up to their reputation on all fronts, British Queen kept poorly and the last half bag of them has been dumped. This was a new one for me to try and I won’t try it again though, perhaps I lifted them too early and the problem lay with my treatment of them.

I have taken a risk with sowing a variety of seeds in my propagator during February. Of course, the issue is not that of providing enough heat to encourage the seeds to germinate but of providing enough light with adequate heat once they have germinated. There would be no problem if I had a heated greenhouse or conservatory but – I don’t. I have been very pleased this year that all of the chilli seeds I’ve sown. 100% germination - 10 out of 10 seeds sown [Joe’s Long from Dobies, my favourite variety]. You don’t get many in a packet and it is important that at least some of them germinate. Last year my first sowing gave me 0% germination and my second sowing a mere 25%. I don’t think I can blame the seeds. I think the level of heat I provided was too great so, this time I’ve set the temperature in my propagator to 50%.

Now, of course, I must find a way of providing enough light until it is mild enough to move them to my poly-tunnel.

I have, already, moved my leek seedlings [Musselburgh from Dobies] and my early lettuce seedlings [Cos – Vaila, Winter gem, from Dobies] to the tunnel. Both should be hardy though, maybe not hardy enough to be planted outside just yet. Last year my Winter Gem lettuces were outstanding and stood over a long period – I seriously recommend them. I intend to plant some out in my ploy-tunnel for early consumption and a few more outdoors next month for later. They can, of course be resown to extend the harvest time. Like all ‘Cos’ type lettuces they are a robust crunchy type of lettuce. I’m not much of a fan of the softer varieties.

The leek seedlings are in a fairly deep tray but, will probably need to be transplanted to a growing-on bed before planted out to their final bed. Last year’s disastrous germination, which resulted in me begging seedlings from neighbours and from my daughter have, in the long run, provided me with an outstanding and very excessive crop of leeks which I’m now struggling to give away. Still, winter is not over yet.

On my trip to my allotment this morning, mostly to feed the birds, I see that my white sprouted broccoli are starting to shoot at last. A few, very raggy purple sprouting are also starting to sprout but, I have not covered them and I see that the resident pigeons are enjoying the leaves – I might leave those plants for the birds.

I do see Spring on the way. My ‘no-dig’ area where I keep my spring bulbs is already showing encouraging signs of spring.