Final spring bank week round up

As the school holidays come to a close we haven't done anything too drastic this week to change either plots but have been busy all the same, despite the various weather conditions.

Before taking on the challenge of allotmenteering I seldom watched the weather forecast unless it was winter with the prospect of a snow day, or summer and we were taking the troops camping. These days I find myself planning my week very carefully around the weather forecast and checking the BBC website twice a day, although I can quite honestly say it wasn't very accurate this week. This week we found ourselves gardening in beautiful sunshine, being blown away (there were reports of a mini tornado in a nearby town) and soaked through during a spell of heavy rain that hadn't been forecasted.

So anyway as well as having an unhealthy obsession with the weather, this week I have found myself staring at what we have taken on and have been often found deep in thought. Only today has it truly sunk in how much more of a commitment it will be having a second plot.

We spent some time doing a rough outline of plot 47 and found we ran out of room and needed to sticky tape another sheet of paper to the original one. Not the tidiest but it doesn't need to be. We've decided not to make huge changes in the fruit cages other than tidying them up for now. We've planned what is going where and need to do some weeding before we get planting, will keep you posted.

KP and JJ went through the hundreds of seed packets and from the 30 odd different seeds which were still within planting time, chose what they liked to eat. They used the excuse of a wet day to start planting. To speed things up they planted the seeds in modules and small seed trays in the greenhouse instead of directly into the ground. Of course CP had to help ;)



 

 

The flower bed is taking shape with Mark clearly defining the edge and inserting wood for a border.

Straw is now down under the strawberries and we have dug up our Early Purple Picardy Wight garlic

 

This is the first time we have grown this variety. We have had mixed results as you can see. looking forward to using it in our cooking. Last year we had issues with rust but so far so good although not sure if the bulbs have split.

 

So what's on the plans for this week?

 

Mark has banned me from the plot for a week. Its that time of year that all teachers dread, report time! I am under strict orders to abandon tools and don the laptop for work. On the plus side it will be a nice surprise on Saturday to see what Mark and JJ have achieved this week.

 

Thanks for reading :)