What Weed Is This?
Lovely day down on the plot yesterday - really warm.
Where my onions are growing I’ve got a decent covering of weed but I’m not sure what it is. Chickweed maybe? Think it is but I’m not sure. Bloomin’ pain anyway. Hey-ho !
Had a chat with Eddie, my neighbour over the back. He was saying that I missed out on a shed that was going free. Now that would have been really handy - I need my own shed but I’m hoping to get one on the cheap.
Bought a few packets of seeds the other day in Tescos - will post about them in the next day or so. Need to get them planted!
Spuds Are In!
Spent an enjoyable couple of hours down on the plot this sunny afternoon planting my first attempt at potatoes. Second earlies I think they are - so they’ll be ready in the summer.
I just about managed to fill the section behind the fruit cage - a portion of which has been taken over by the rampant raspberry bush. Need to do something with this at the end of the growing season.
I made some wooden spaces yesterday (with the help of my 6 year old daughter) and I used the 12 inch and 6 inch today. Potatoes went in 6 inches deep, 12 inches apart. Each row 18 inches apart. I’d been chitting the potatoes at home in the garage, though they’d only sprouted a little. Please grow!
The idea for the spacers came from watching a recent telly programme where a blind allotmenteer used wooden spacers. He hung them up on the back of shed door. Like a good scout I’ve prepared… I’ve drilled holes in the spacers even though I haven’t yet got a shed door to hand them on.
Onions are coming on - slowly. A few more have sprouted. And a few more have been pulled up by the birds. Just stuck ‘em back in.
I’ve developed a bad habit …eyeing up the contents of skips. Happened to spot a decent wooden pallet this week, so I rescued it and barrowed it down to the plot. Need to crack on with my compost bins.
Met another neighbour today. Eddie manages the plot behind mine for about 5 years.
Also met Rose and Fil and managed to get a freebie plastic tray with lid that should make a useful propogator. And just as I was leaving Simon from next door turned up.
Finally Planted Something
After several weeks were each visit has simply been a weeding session I finally got around to planting something on Saturday (yesterday). I’d spoken to Dave at Friday nights AGM and he told me that he had a 1lb of onion sets left to sell and also a few kg of seed potatoes.
So on Saturday afternoon I met Dave and his wife Sally down at the site and bought myself the Sturon onions (for 80p) and about 6kg of seed potatoes for a fiver. Dave also kindly gave me 6 broadbean plants.
So I weeded again the back section of the plot and planted the broadbeans and all the onions. Should be alright for onions for a while if they grow well ! I planted them at about every 6 inches - I understand that planting them further apart gives rise to bigger onions.
Here are the broadbeans; obviously need to stick some canes in at some point.
Here are the Sturon onions, spaced at about 6 inch intervals. I’ve got quite a few rows, 5 I think. I pushed them into the soil with the tops just peeking out. I think that they should be ready to harvest around August.
I’m hoping to plant out the potatoes toward the end of the month, though I gather the traditional day is St Patricks day. Today, Sunday, I placed all of these seed potatoes in plastic trays so that they’ll start to sprout - chitting as it’s called. I’ve just put them in my garage where they’ll get light but not direct sunlight.
Also today I popped down to the plot to pick up the spuds that I’d forgotten to bring home yesterday. I did a bit of pruning on the big raspberry bush in the left of the fruit cage. Not quite sure what to prune really so I sort of tidied it up a bit and removed any branches that were heading off along the ground. Need some advice next season on how to prune it and train it properly.
Bagged Up Some Weeds
Bagged up some previously pulled weeds and did some tidying up in the fruit cage. Only had an hour to spend so didn’t get a great deal done.
A little bit of icy snow around:
The apparently resident pheasant took flight as soon as I arrived. And the apparently resident robin was around too.
Barrowing The Weeds
Went down to the plot this morning and got there before 9am. Said hello to a couple of other early visitors. Really mild for 01-Feb and quite nice with the birds singing away.
Spent an hour or so bagging up some weeds and couch grass that I’m trying to do a good job of clearing. Every other plotter I speak to suggests that I need to really attack the couch grass because it can be such a pain.
Then barrowed some of it back home to throw in our brown, garden waste recycling bin. Spot the Tesco carrier bag …flask, empty, inside!
Visit Report
After what has reportedly been the strongest winds for 17 years it’s not surprising that the plots took a bit of a hammering. The main greenhouse has lost a few panes here and there. Unfortunately for my neighbours Simon and Sibena their front fence has gone and so has the gate (which may be a blessing in disguise).
Did an hours wedding, getting up the couch grass and a few spuds too.
Some photos
So this is what the plot looks like in early Jan, 07.
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Seed Shopping
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