Good weather

Saturday saw some pretty pleasant weather - the couch grass and docks are doing very well down on the allotment...
Potatoes are beginning to come through which is nice. Onions are looking pretty good too - no sign of action from the beetroot yet.
Turned over an area and covered it in cardboard - then put a raised bed on top. I'll probably try this on a few other areas as well.

Was surprised how quiet it was on the allotment site - our first really good day weather wise - I expected to see it a lot busier.

Greenery

In the greenhouse there's some signs of life - looks like a tray of chillies have come up - also sweetcorn, tomotoes, courgettes all germinating.

Beetroots in the raised bed in the garden have just shown a tiny bit of growth.

The weather is still really odd - pouring down then sunny spells - the roads were half way flooded on the way home.

Finally a picture of the allotment.

Tom wanted to take a look so we dove down to the allotment. It was very bleak there today - only a couple of other people around - very wet and cold so we decided against doing any digging. Brought my Fuji FinePix S7800 with me but made a schoolboy error - always check that your kids/wife haven't nicked the batteries. Luckily he had his Leica snapper with him.
Anyway, on careful inspection we decided that I've dug a third over rather than half the plot. Bleh!

Finished potatos

Put the last row of King Edwards in on Saturday - it wasn't raining but it wasn't all that pleasant. Not very warm and not much of a hint of sun. Bah.
Onions look like they're doing quite well now - inch or two showing. Nowt from the beetroots, but when pulling up a very large dock I got an accidental sighting of one of my second earlies - will probably need to earth them up in a week or two.
The rescued wheelbarrow isn't much use really so I've taken to reversing 10 yrds and then emptying it out - the allotment's barrow seems to have disappeared so looks like I'll have to buy a cheappie...

Onions showing

Spent half an hour on the site this evening - had some sprouting King Edwards to put in (thanks Simon)
Got rid of some weeds, bent my cheap hand fork and spotted quite a number of my onions - turbos - coming through - cheered me up a bit as the weather so far this "spring" hasn't been up to much.

Half cleared

With a little help from my old mate Winny - Ive now cleared half the plot! Woop-de-f-do....

My pink fir apple potatoes went in yesterday - we shall see how they progress.

Rescued some rhubarb from the abandoned plot next door and have split five clumps into my plot.

Had a go at building a simple coldframe - used a load of old rubble and a double glazed window I rescued some time back. Looks like it will work, but the frame is very heavy so I might need to re-engineer and find something lighter to use.

My raised bed construction is something of a disgrace - so my plot has a touch of Steptoe a Son about it at the moment.

Reckon we spent about 3 hours on site yesterday - the sun had actually come out... which was nice.

Pallets - taking them apart

I've been busy collecting pallets as a wood source - thought I'd use them to make some free raised beds, then a compost heap then maybe a storage box. First problem I've noticed is that getting them apart is quite tricky - at least using a crowbar and claw hammer was tricky. Used quite a bit of energy and ended up splitting quite a few planks. Still - managed to put together enough wood for the first raised bed - used the split stuff to reinforce the rest.
Tonight I'll maybe try using a hacksaw and just cut through the nails...

Spend spend spend...

What money am I spending on this stuff? Well apart from the £22 for the allotment rent and £5 on some spades for the kids Im doing my best not to spend on anything apart from seeds, sets and the odd bag of seed compost.

Guess seeds etc will be the most regular expenditure

• Leek - Autumn Giant 3 - Albana : £2.35
• Leek - Musselburgh : £1.45
• Onion - Spring Onion Lisbon : 59p (Wilko)
  
• Onion - Spring Onion Lisbon : £1.35 (Johnsons)
• Parlsey - Plain Leaved 2 : £1.50
• Corriander : £1.45
• Beetroot - Boltardy : 30p (*2)
• Carrot - Autumn King : 30p
• Onion Set : £3
• Onion Set : £3
• Potato : First Earlies : £3
• Potato : Second Earlies : £3

Need a computer to add that up...

Autumn leeks

Planted a handful of seeds in the greenhouse using some old mushroom containers - should see some germination in about 3 weeks, think they can be harvested from September time. There's this here youtube video that shows you how to tranplant 'em.

Musselburgh - (sowing Mar-Apr, harvest Nov-Feb)

I've got some Autumn Giant 3 - Albana - (harvest Sep-Feb) leeks to plant out too - guess they can go in a bit later - might just shove 'em straight in at the allotment.


Simon's allegedly going to let me have some King Edward seeds - if he remembers I can put them in at the same time as the firs... so there's a hint to my regular readership!

Wireworm

Have I got wireworm on the allotment?

Greenhouse

The plastic sheet repairs survived the snow - so planted out

• chillies - cayenne
  
• parsley
• peppers
• tomatoes - gardners delight & moneymaker
  

So whats gone in...

• Boltardy beetroot - been in two weeks now
  
• Potatoes
• First earlies
• Second earlies
• Pink firs (going in next few days)
• Onion sets (two types)

Carrots are due in next week - if I can clear enough space
Leeks ditto

Couch grass

Its pretty inundated with couch grass - Ive decided to dig it out where possible - pretty time consuming but probably worth it.
What I might try is an area given over to raised beds - turn the couch grass over, then put a layer of carboard down to inhibit growth then put the wood down and fill with compost and soil.
Seen mention of growing without digging - looks like it might be worth a try. Also, might try to get a digging hoe (azada) using gravity to brake up the earth.