My First Allotment Weblog

Been to the allotment again today (also went last Friday)!  The garlic is growing at a rate of knots, I’m very happy.  Also on Friday we had to earth up the potatoes as the foliage was quiet high.  Whilst my dad was earthing up it became clear that my ‘rows’ weren’t up to scratch   There were some places with plenty of earth to use and other places very little.  During my watering visit today I was surprised to find that I needed to earth up again.  The glourious weather we’ve been having has certainly helped the plot grow – this also includes the weeds on the empty part of my area.  Thats this weeks project.

The Broadbeans seem to be doing ok, I’ve a feeling that the next few days it going to be a make or break situation.

On the home front, my 6 tomato plants, 1 Chile plant, roughly 13 Soya bean plant, 12 leeks, 6 aubergine and 7 runner bean plants are growing like good ‘uns.  I do have 2 sweetcorn plants on the go but they look a little ropey, I’m trying to protect them by using pop bottles with the bottom cut off as cloches.  We’ll see.

I’ve got lots of pics I need to post but haven’t got time at the mo, I’ll try to get some more shots tomorrow as I need to pop over and see if the ground is soft enought to dig.

All in all it been a great weekend.

Phew, finally got of my expanding butt and got over to the allotment.  The UK had snow, Cardiff had glourious sunshine!

First job was to turn over some of the soil again, this was going to be easy I thought, until I saw all the couch grass roots everywhere.  So after an hour and a half of weeding again I started to plant the potatoes (I can’t remember for the life of me what type though).  I planted 1 row and it recommended the next row be 28″ apart, I spoke to John from the one plot over and he said there was no need for this – just use 12″.  Excellent, this meant I have 3 rows planted next to the garlic.

Next, Broadbeans – I am sooooo excited about these I absolutely love ‘em.  These I decided to plant near the top of the plot as they can grow a few feet high I believe.

2 rows of broadbeans, wooohoooo.

I’d done enough by this point so I headed for home, but I had a closer look at the garlic first – looking good.

I’ve been spending my hard (well sort of) earned cash on the weekend, I’ve invested in some early potatoes – can’t remember what type at the mo. 

Seeds:-

• Courgette.
• Broad Bean.
• Spinach.
• Parsnip.
• Runner bean.

and I’m sure I’m forgetting something!

I also started a tomato plant off in the house just for fun, oh yeah we also bought some chickpea’s that we’re currently soaking – curious to see what they’re like.

 Regarding all of the above purchases I just need to figure how and when to plant them, I also have to put some paths in between row’s to avoid standing on the seedlings.  I think I’ve got to wait till the last frost has passed too, which is a bit of a nightmare with the current weather conditions we’ve been experiencing.  I’m looking forward to getting the potatoes in soon as I’ve been told they help break the soil up even more and can help control the weeds.

Another exciting thing I’ve found on the plot is that the garlic is starting to sprout woohooooo, I’m officially growing something.