18th - 19th May

18^th May

Well, we have had some good rainy days and the ground is much better for it. On Saturday I went to the stables and fetched 6 bags of horse manure which today I emptied out over section 9. I pondered at some length whether to begin putting my newly acquired netting around the posts to enclose the brassica patch. The netting is a fine green nylon mesh that I got from a builders merchant and is the type that is put around scaffolding to stop debris flying off and hitting people. Quite a few plots have it. I decided it was too windy.

In the evening at home I sowed some more squash seeds – 6 butternut squash, 4 pumpkins, 1 cucumber 4 green courgettes and 4 yellow courgettes (I presume that as there were no seeds left in the packet but 4 in the container – I deduced these had fallen out of the packet – we’ll see later in the summer). This was done because I seem to be having a poor rate of germination with the ones sown thus far. I scratched around in the compost and found some seeds that had just sprouted so I quickly buried them again, but still, I don’t want to risk bare patches at the allotment where squash plants could be – seeing as I have good results and yields from them. I potted on the last 4 sweet peppers, sowed a pot of parsley seed as my wife said she would like a supply of it and a large container with mixed oriental salad leaves and potted up a snowcap fuchsia cutting into the front hanging basket and the fourth basket in the back garden.

19^th May

So it was netting day at the allotment and I was rather pleased at how well I got on. I managed to surround sections 4 and 5 as one unit and screw on batons over the netting to the main posts to make a secure wall. I have left a good fold at the base so that I can tuck the ends under some chunks of wood that will be there anyway to hold down the weed suppressing membrane. This should stop butterflies getting in at the bottom.

12th - 13th May

12^th May

The wind continued but the rain is not here yet so I went to the allotment where today I started making some upright poles for the protection system for the brassicas. Dad had acquired an abundance of 2x2 poles of decent length and with an axe I made points on them. This was not good for my right elbow which I twinged a month or 2 ago whilst forking for the first time in the year and have felt little pangs or worse on and off since then. Clenching an axe, lifting it and forcing it down really brought it out in pain again. Anyway, like the stubborn chap that I am, I completed the pointing and got most into the ground using a lump hammer which further aggravated the elbow. By the time I got home after cycling uphill into the strong wind I was rather worn out.

13^th May

No wind to mention and only a very light rain, a drizzle really. I’m beginning to think that maybe the forecasters have not got it quite right – can that really be the case? It meant though, that I could complete posting at the allotment which I did. I then tore up a lot of the long grass around the compost bin and generally in the wider area between sections 8 and 9 so it looks tidier and feeds the compost. I found a lot of wooden sticks and batons that I have laid across the top of the compost bin and collected up all pieces of wood that are not really going to be of any use and put them in Dad’s incinerator. In not a great deal of time this week I have got to the point of being ready to put up the netting for the brassicas, then I will lay down the membrane after we have had some rain (presuming we actually do!) then I can plant out the brassicas that are ready. Then I can get some manure down for the squashes and peppers, put membrane down there as well and be all ready to plant them out so that all there will be to do will be carrots and leeks and watering and sit back and wait for the harvest to start rolling in. Funny, something tells me it won’t be quite as simple as that.

11th May

11^th May

It was my birthday on Saturday and we were all out celebrating, so no gardening. Sunday was an extended birthday so it all started again today. At lunchtime I potted on the cineraria seedlings into yoghurt pots – 77 seedlings in all, and I also potted on the 10 sweet corn plants from the 1 pot I bought them in into 10 recycled plastic drinks cups.

After work I went to the allotment and forked over sections 5 and 9. The end of section 5 was the rest of that really hard, compacted and deep weeded patch and so when I moved on to the end section which had been covered with the membrane, the work became suddenly far more enjoyable and faster. Whilst doing that, a chap came by and gave me a hearty well done for being at work. From a distance he thought I was working on the plot behind me and he came over as he was on the committee and they had done an inspection yesterday and wanted to speak to plot holders of some unruly plots. He said mine was alright. That was a relief as I do need to do a bit of tidying, however, you can see that I am active and there are no tall weeds or areas that are completely out of control. The people behind me took over their plot last year and have done a good job of the first half, but the back half has a large cherry tree which is underplanted with raspberries. I guess the plot holders don’t think they can cultivate under the tree or round the raspberries, so they don’t do anything and end up with a small jungle of tall weeds. The chap said that a few plot holders were going to lose their plots as they have had warning letters in the past and no improvement has been made, and with a waiting list of 34 it is not fair that existing allotmenteers leave their plots go to rack and ruin. This time last year there were vacant plots and nowthere's a hefty waiting list. Two plots either side of the gate have recently been taken on and have been transformed. Both were a mass of weeds and grass and now are a great example to us all as we come in – an obvious amount of hard work has been done. One of them has sprouted raised beds and enormous compost bins all made out of pallets and plenty of manure thrown around.

Back home I mowed the lawn for only the second time this year and it needed it. I read recently that if you think your lawn needs cutting you should have done it yesterday. Well, 2 weeks ago for me! I was, of course, ably assisted by my 2 assistant gardeners. After that it was a case of battening down the hatches and securing all movable items as it has been very windy today and reports predict gales of 50mph over the next couple of days and rain for the rest of the week. As I came in through the conservatory I saw that the first squash has germinated, one of the cucumbers.

8th May

8^th May

I had a good couple of hours in the garden with my 2 year old. He ‘helped’ me make a miniature raised bed for the new rosemary plant to live it. Being a Mediterranean herb, rosemary likes a well drained soil that is not that rich. I have wondered if the reason my 2 or 3 year old rosemary is just 3 twigs with some leaves attached is due to the fact it sits on a water retaining level in decent soil. It is now about 4 inches off normal ground level in mainly recycled garden soil with a little topsoil to improve the appearance. There is a good handful of gravel under its roots as well so it is not sitting in a wet patch.

My timing is impeccable sometimes! I bought a pot of French tarragon because I was convinced, after much searching and waiting, that last year’s tarragon had not survived the frost. When I went to plant it out into the sunken bucket, before my eyes was a little sprig. I dug up the old roots and separated them – this is the only way to propagate the French variety – and potted it up, and replaced the root part with the sprig back in the bucket just in front of the new plant.

With both boys I got some sawn-up sections of drainpipe and buried their bases in the ground, the names of all four of us written in gold marker pen at the top, then proceeded to fill with soil and compost, and watered them down. When the soil is not quite so waterlogged (thank you boys!) we will each plant 3 carrot seeds, thin down to 1 carrot plant and see who can grow the largest carrot. The idea is that each carrot will grow long in the pipe. I have heard that competition growers do this with pipes tall enough to reach an upstairs window.

Later on I got out the 5 hanging baskets from the shed and hung them up and then worked my way along filling them and potting them up. I managed to get the first 3 done before it was time to call it a day (the day is called either by the severe lack of daylight or by my wife calling me for a meal – otherwise I would be out there all hours!). The 3 fuchsias from last year are now in their summer homes joined by the various trailing plants I bought some time ago and have been growing on in the greenhouse just itching to get out. It is quite a balancing act in the greenhouse and the shelves in the conservatory with potting-on plants and sowing more seed. I seem to be getting it just about right in managing the space. Some go out as others are sown. There will be over half a shelf free once I get the remaining sweet peas out but I really want to wait until the spring bulbs have fully died down so I can give the borders a good clear out of dead leaves and weeds before I plant out the sweet peas. I need to get the fillbasket sprouts, the cauliflowers and the calabrese out into the ground and sow the purple sprouting broccoli soon, but the allotment is not ready yet. I fear a repeat of last years’ butterfly and caterpillar attack if they go out before protection is up. Well, I don’t just fear it, I can guarantee it.

7th May

7^th May

Lunchtime was high time to do something with the leeks. The seedlings have been fine in their little seed trays but there is not much room for their further development and they are too small to be planted out at the moment. In a skip at work I have found a series of wholesale vegetable boxes that I have rescued and brought back and one of them I lined with a plastic bag, filled it with a mixture of soil and multipurpose compost and transplanted 95 leeks into it. There they can grow more until they are thick enough to plant out – the famous pencil thickness. Before actually eating lunch I just had time to plant out 5 more teasels at home along the back of the rockery.

At the allotment after work I forked over section 5 which was the membrane-covered one from last year. The membrane certainly works well, and not only is the soil fairly weed free except for the slits where the plants were, but the soil is light and friable – really easy to stick a fork into and give a little twist to loosen up the soil. I think the fact that the membrane was down and therefore I did not walk over it helped the soil to not become compacted. The other end of this section was a totally different matter however. This area seems to be the epicentre for bindweed production with some thicker, older stems plunging down deep into the clay subsoil a foot below the surface. I cleared as much as I could. The ground was very hard and needed a lot of effort not only to fork up a section but to break it up and clear away the thistle, dandelion and bindweed roots. I didn’t finish the section simply because this end piece where the membrane had not been laid was so riddled with deep rooted weeds and compacted.

6th May

6^th May

At lunch time I put out a few trays of plants to get the air and sun and I thinned the 2 pots of salad leaves – the mixed salad and the rossa lettuce. After work I again visited the allotment and before forking over sections 7 and 8, I planted out 5 teasels. 3 were in a line next to the poppies, and 2 were between the garlic. Speaking of garlic, I found one growing from last year so transplanted that to this years’ garlic area. In the evening back home I pricked out and potted on the best of the ageratum – I managed 45 into 3 plastic egg cartons with their lids underneath as drip trays. Using the same system I potted on 15 nicotianas. Both these plants are still tiny, it’s hard to believe they will grow into tall, strong flowers. I would have called it a day then but I noticed that the one pot holding the batch of calabrese plants I bought last week was now holding some very wilting and lifeless specimens. These were potted up individually into recycled plastic drinks cups and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had 20 plants even after discarding 2 or 3 poor ones then they were given a good watering. I hope I don’t lose them.

Thinking of calabrese and brassicas in general, I have these calabrese, 20 cauliflower, 20 fillbasket sprouts and a host of brigitte sprouts before I even get out the sprouting broccoli seeds. I love all these vegetables and as I was saying to my Dad the other day, we could do with 4 allotments between us and concentrate on one type of crop per plot and work a good and full rotation that meant I could grow a whole plot of brassicas. I eat loads of them, and they freeze well so it would be a beneficial, no waste approach!

3rd - 5th May

3^rd May

It seems a little overdue (although it isn’t) but today I have sown most of the squash seeds, with maybe a few more to follow. The early ones I sowed a little while ago have not materialised as yet so today I sowed 6 green courgettes, 5 yellow courgettes, 6 butternut squash, my last remaining 2 crown prince squashes, 2 more cucumbers and 1 pumpkin (time was pressing!). All the pots are now filling up the space in the conservatory on the shelves.

5^{th May}

I managed to squeeze in an hour at the allotment after work. Sections 4 and 6 were forked over to remove couch grass and dandelions and a few sprigs of bindweed. The grass on the paths between sections has really grown and that will need clipping down. I remember it was about this time last year that we went away for the week and came back to find a mass of weeds had shot up all over the allotment. At least this year I’m ahead of the game. Section 5 is last years’ leek section and it has the black matting on it which has now been raised from beneath by weeds growing, so that will be a big task. I have a few of last years’ leeks growing there. They are a biennial plant although harvested for food use after 1 year.