Tuesday, February 20

Not much happening

I haven't been very active in blogland recently. The reason is that I have had very little to tell you. The past couple of months have been very inactive. The weather hasn't been very allotmenting or gardening friendly. Not only that but days out have been planned and cancelled so I haven't had any visits to share either.

Last year January and February were very different. By this time last year we had completed the mammoth task of clearing our overgrown flower bed and were feeling very pleased with ourselves.
At the end of last year, Martyn set to clearing another large overgrown patch with the intention of creating another growing area for this year. It all started off well but there has been slow progress over the last couple of months. This is shown in the photo on the bottom right below
I started clearing the ends of a couple of beds - a task that shouldn't take very long. The apple hedge bed was extended slightly  - top left. The other task was to sort out an overgrown clump of rhubarb at the end of another bed - top right. There was, and still is, lots of couch grass roots intermingled with the rhubarb. The wet drizzly conditions, that seem to have been a constant feature of the last couple of months or so, have produced very wet, soggy, claggy soil that sticks to everything and so progress is very slow. I had plans to start on another patch and replant the lavender hedges around a couple of fruit beds but so far haven't managed to start on either task.

When we have managed a plot visit, other than digging up some winter vegetables, we have had to be content to carry out non-soil related activities. 

Sweet pea frames and some annual flower debris have been cleared and work has been done on our trees.

Martyn applied a winter wash to the fruit trees to try and control some of the bugs especially the plum leaf curling aphid that in the past has devastated our plum trees.

He also cut back our row of buddleias - not only does this create a huge pile of 'prunings' but also reveals the need to tidy around the base of the shrubs. For a couple of years the buddleias have virtually been a butterfly free zone. I hope that this will prove to be the year the peacocks and tortoiseshell hoards of previous years return.
Martyn also cut back the large hawthorn tree growing by the greenhouse. This grew from a self sown seedling that I found growing there, pre-greenhouse days. I trained it into a tree which had rather overgrown the position and so a serious cut-back was required. This should have happened earlier but absence of the correct tools for the job meant that it didn't get done. It was quite a large job and resulted in a huge pile of debris. We have started sorting through, clipping off the ferocious thorns and preparing suitable twiggy bits to be used as peas stick and plant supports. The thicker boughs will be used to edge some of our beds and hold down weed control fabric.

For those of you who enjoy watching videos, Martyn has put together some films of some of our gardening activities on our vlog here.

At least the weather isn't holding back some of the plants. The cobnut is sporting female and male flowers ...
... and the blueberries and blackcurrants are in bud.

Towards the end of last year's growing season we seemed to be ahead of schedule as far as plot preparation went but now we really are falling behind. We just need some gardening weather to set the ball rolling again! No use fretting about it - it's just a case of Keep Calm and Carry On Buying Kindle Books.


10 comments:

  1. I know how you feel. It's been a quiet time for me too - lots of digging at my new plot, but not much else. I have brought my Broad Beans (planted in little pots) indoors, because there was no sign of them germinating in the coldframe. They are beginning to pop up now, so at least that's a start...

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    1. Looks like nest week is going to delay things even further, Mark

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  2. Lovely to see the cobnut flowers, I haven't seen them before. I managed to cut the grass on Saturday and weed most of the raised beds. The pond is suddenly full of frogs splashing around and croaking - just in the past couple of days. Peach buds are swelling and the camellia is flowering. Won't be long until full-on gardening begins again.

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    1. No frogs here yet, CJ. We have buds on the camellia but no flowers yet. The apricot in the greenhouse has lots of flower buds. It's due for a good harvest this year so I'd better get out my bee gear.

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  3. I know exactly how you feel. We really need to get to the allotment but time and the weather are always against us it seems. I'm sure we are behind as well but we plan to visit soon and get our seeds. Luckily things start quite late up here in Northern Ireland so we ought to be ok. Lovely photos and great work in this post (as usual) xx

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    1. We tend to be on the late side too, Carrie

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  4. Awesome update thank you for sharing Sue finding the ground is so wet and muddy in the garden blessing to you and Martin

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    1. It is indeed Linda. Clay soil tends to often be either too wet or rock hard but is great when caught just right.

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  5. We haven't been down to the allotment for a few weeks due to me having fractured my ankle:( Not sure what we'll find when we do get down there again.

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    1. Sorry to hear about your ankle, Margaret. I hope that you are soon on the mend.

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