2nd May

My work threw an extra job at me at the last minute so I had to reduce my time at the allotment. I finally sowed the leek seeds which could have gone in during March or April. I sowed half the packet – 150, which means allowing for failures I should be able to fill the whole of section 5 without having to throw away many. There is always the first section to slot in any extras, or even to find a space at home. I sowed 3 rows of rocket in section 2 after the carrots. Rocket really doesn’t like overcrowding, it should be thinned out to one plant every 8 inches. The seeds though are small, hard and round and very easily roll out from between your fingertips. I think I will have a lot of thinning to do, but at least you can eat the thinnings – or I guess transplant them if you are careful. The good thing is that once established, they are a ‘cut and come again’ crop – you just go with your scissors and snip what you want, and the pruning gives a boost to the plant to produce more. It is also good for successional sowing; I’ll sow another couple of rows about a week after our holiday and every 3 weeks after that to have a continuous supply right through to the end of the season in autumn. I love rocket; to my taste it is far better than our standard lettuce yet can be used in the same way. With some freshly crushed black pepper and some olive oil and white wine vinegar, I can eat loads of it on its own as a side salad. The only thing to be wary of (aside from rabbits and slugs of course) is not to let them get too dry or else the plants will bolt very easily. If they bolt the leaves become rather bitter. Mind you, another summer like last year and that will not be a concern.

 

I came home and the work did not stop there. I began the hanging basket project. At lunch time I had put up the 3 brackets on the fence posts in the back garden, now I started filling the baskets. First I made some drainage holes at the bottom then placed in some lumps of polystyrene so that the compost will not block those holes (they are a lot lighter than the other material often used – broken pots or stones – a good thing to consider as the basket will be swinging from a bracket held on by 2 screws). Then I placed in some compost mixed with slow release fertiliser granules to almost half way up, then placed the plants in, still in their pots, just to see what plants will go in what basket. Each will have a trailing fuchsia and each will have at least one other trailing plant with blue or purple flowers. That is as far as I got before tea. After our meal, I decided that the big planting could happen tomorrow or some other time over the weekend (a bank holiday!) as I wanted to sort out the Nicotianas. They really have been looking weak so I potted on just over 20 of the best ones into individual pots. Maybe the new fertiliser will help. Their droopiness wasn’t due to becoming pot bound as their roots were still very thin and straight and nowhere near the bottom of the modules. With putting the plants in the hanging baskets, I could then put the Nicotiana pots in the large tray which now had more space, and I could take up less space on the conservatory floor. With the extra blue mushroom pots I now have, I planted up the rest of the petunias my Dad gave me. A good day’s work.

3^rd May

I was out with the family most of the day; I just had time to do a better job of deadheading the daffodils and tulips. I had seen on Gardener’s World that a presenter took most of the stem out, not just the flowerheads, so that’s what I did, and made more material for the compost bin!