Dig, Dig, Digging

Between us we have now made 3 trips to the allotment and have almost finished digging the first rectangular strip ready for planting. The earth where the cabbages were was easy to dig, but as we have now gone well past where they were, the earth is harder to dig as it has become a bit compacted and with the glorious weather we had last week there is a very dry crust that we have to dig through. We have also hit a big patch of bindweed roots, so this has slowed our progress a bit. We are being careful to get out all the bits of roots that we can so that in years to come they will not be so prevalent.

Although the digging is getting harder and the progress has slowed down a bit, there is something very satisfying about looking back over what has been dug, and there is a real sense of excitement that as soon as the first strip has been completely dug, the potatoes will go in, followed by the onions.

I picked up a tip from one of the allotment holders about onions - plant them on a shallow bed of compost so that they grow small roots before planting them out in the plot. That way the birds are not able to peck them out of the ground so easily before the top growth starts.

We have also assembled the compost bin and it is already half full of vegetable matter and some grass. When the children come down to the allotment next week I'm sure they will enjoy adding screwed up newspaper and cardboard to the ever-increasing pile.

The sweet peas that I plan to plant up the sides are growing nicely in the greenhouse and are almost ready for pinching out as they are about 6 inches high.

Starting Digging

Today we started to dig out the clumps of cabbages that were left on the plot. It took about 2 hours and some of the roots were at least 2 ft long. Even though it was quite hard work, there was a great sense of satisfaction that at last we had begun to cultivate our plot. When we had finished pulling up all the cabbages we were left with a fairly nicely dug patch of earth that was teeming with worms, and hopefully after another thorough dig in the next week or two, we will be able to plant the potatoes that are happily sprouting in the greenhouse. After the cabbages were all dug up, we cut them up (leaves, stalks, roots and all) into fairly small pieces and started off our compost heap with them. The weather was kind to us and as we were working, the sun was blazing down on us and we both realised that the name chosen of "sunshine allotment" was very apt. So ended our first day.

It's Ours!

Today I went down to the allotments and after paying my sub, became the proud owner of a half plot (no. 25B). Last Monday there was a huge bonfire on our site, so there is a lot of ash left which I am told is very good to dig into the earth. Hopefully, we will be able to get to the site in the next couple of days and start digging and warming up the earth in readiness to start planting in a few weeks time.

The seeds being started off in the greenhouse are beginning to sprout and it's exciting to think that soon they will be placed in their new home in the ground to grow, develop and mature and become wonderful, tasty, fresh organic food on our plates. As Carol Klein said in her recent excellent series "Grow your own Veg" ...."the furthest journey the veg will make is from the plot to the plate" and in our case that is less than a mile away.

Meanwhile, the planting of seeds goes on..... and on.....and on!!

Bonnie Charlotte Sante

Today the children and I started to "chit" our potatoes. I have chosen three different types of potato:-

• Charlotte - a second early very popular salad variety


• Bonnie - second early, good for boiling and baking


• Sante - early maincrop - a good pest and disease resistant potato

I got the children to count the number of "bumps" on each potato and then place them in egg boxes with the most number of "bumps" on the top. So far we have got 4 egg boxes full of potatoes, and they are sitting happily in the greenhouse and will be joined with some more once we have some more empty egg boxes available. The greenhouse is beginning to get very full, so soon the mini greenhouse will have to take the overflow of seeds etc. I can't wait to get planting and free up more space for more seeds and start the succession of planting that we have planned.

All in a heap

I've been searching for a compost bin and have found what I think is a good bargain from crocus.co.uk. It's half price at £29.99 and it is a big wooden slatted one that we assemble on site. When I say "we" of course I mean my husband. We have ordered it today and delivery is in about 2 weeks time.

In the meantime I have planted 70 sweet pea seeds (they have already started to sprout) as my idea is to grow the plants up and around the compost bin a) to hide the essential rotting mass, b) to attract beneficial insects, c) to make good use of every bit of space that I can, and d) because I just love sweet peas. Will let you know how my idea works out in future posts.

Seeds Galore!

The postman has finally arrived with the seeds that we ordered 10 days ago - it seems ages since we filled in the order form. I spent a lovely morning with my daughter (aged 7) sorting out the seeds and she enjoyed reading the backs of the packets to see which month we should start sowing each individual vegetable. There are masses of them and I know that the greenhouse will soon be heaving with trays of seedlings just waiting to burst forth into life.

We have decided to start very simply and grow most of the salads and vegetables that were successful in the garden last year, plus a few others. They are:- cauliflower - all the year round; cauliflower - avalanche; parsnip - tender and true; carrot - sugarsnax; broccoli - belstar; courgette - defender; beetroot - boltardy; onion - Bedfordshire champion; spring onion - white lisbon; radish - rougette; cucumber - burpless tasty green; tomato - balconi red; tomato - brandywine; tomato - ailsa craig; chilli - Thai dragon; chilli - numex twilight; chilli - Hungarian; chilli - jalapeno; chilli - cherry bomb; chives; parsley - French; coriander; and marjoram. In the garden we will be growing lettuce - little gem; basil; and wild rocket.

A quick tally of the total number of seeds is 4,600! Of course I'm not expecting all of them to germinate, but even if one half of them do, and then of those half that have germinated are then thinned out to produce strong, sturdy plants and I am left with one third of my original number, I'll have enough produce to feed our entire road.

Here's to sowing, and hopefully lots of growing.

From the Air

I've just looked on "Google Earth" and found a good aerial shot of the allotment in all its glory. It is the two sections in the middle of the photo just above the green netting. You can see the storage area that the former owners put up in the top left hand corner of the plot. Needless to say, it will be removed soon as it is quite dilapidated and hopefully that is where we will be having the compost area.

The seeds, onion sets and potatoes have not arrived yet, but I am all geared up to get sowing as soon as they arrive. The sacks of compost are piled up, the pots and trays are ready and the greenhouse shelving has been cleaned in preparation. So now, as they say, we wait for the postman.