Swapping around

Last week wasn't very pleasant weatherwise, it was cold and windy and no-one in their right minds, given the choice, would be working on a cold, windswept allotment. The fact is that we have never claimed to be in our right minds and so we spent what were probably the coldest couple of days last week working on the allotment.

One of the main tasks was to prepare a new raspberry bed. At the beginning of the year we decided that our existing raspberries were probably dead and so we made plans to replace them and start buying new canes. Of course, as the season progressed,  the 'dead' raspberries began to shoot and so we needed to decided where we would locate the new raspberries. Having earmarked the spot we thought that we had better start preparing the bed for planting. This was the main task for last week. The bed is now prepared and we just need to start planting the new raspberry canes.

Another fruit bed that was looking decidedly shabby was one of our strawberry beds. Last year we didn't water the strawberries. Partly due to the fact that we couldn't physically water everything and had to prioritise, and partly through choice as I always think overwatered strawberries produce tasteless fruit. As it happened the latter reason was redundant as the plants didn't really produce much in the way of fruit.

This year one of the strawberry beds is very sparse with only a few plants making any effort to grow. When I removed the weed control fabric the reason that the plants were struggling became clear, as the 'soil' was rock hard with large cracks, testifying to the lack of care we had given the plants last year. The Malwina strawberries in the other bed look OK and we also have some strawberries in bags that were planted last year, however we decided to create another new bed and so have been collecting various varieties of strawberries. The varieties are more a case of what was available rather than conscious choice. We've ended up with Elsanta,  Honeoye, Elegance and Symphony. To be honest the Elegance plants have looked dead since we received them but the company won't refund us until they are sure the plants will not grow which means waiting until June. If they make any growth it will be a miracle.

I also potted up some Sweetheart runners from the strawberries planted last year in bags. All these strawberries are currently in pots in the coldframe waiting to be planted out when the new bed and weather conditions are ready.

On our tour of the garden centres we also came across a tray of All Year Round cauliflowers which will fill up the bed of early brassicas planted earlier. These too will grow on on the coldframe before being planted out.

We still haven't sown many seeds but the leeks and broad beans that we have sown are starting to grow away. Leeks clearly demonstrate the cyclical nature of growing your own vegetables, as we only last week lifted the last of last year's leek crop.

Plants often find themselves moving between the allotment and our garden. Last week a kiwi berry - kiwi Issai - that has been growing for some years in a large pot in the garden has been moved to open ground on the allotment. We didn't think it was happy growing in a pot. It only produced berries the year after it was planted and each year has been attacked by red spider mite so we will see whether it's change of home improves its health.

Movement of plants isn't all one way as last week, I transferred some native primroses from the allotment to the garden. The primroses seed freely and the batch I removed was growing in the thin layer of mulch covering some weed control fabric.

I'm hoping that they see their move as an upgrade from a squat to a penthouse and thrive in  the garden.

They have joined the native bluebells and snowdrops that were bought earlier in the year and were potted up. They were all planted out last week in what will hopefully become a spring patch in part of the garden we are renovating. I currently thinks that maybe we will plant a red stemmed cornus in the gap by the fence. What do you think? If you are interested I've posted a video of this area here.

4 April

We are still managing a modest harvest. The rhubarb had quite a battering in the winds, but we hope it is sturdy enough to shrug off this assault.

1 April

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli is continuing to provide us with a harvest. The red cabbage and some leeks  were made into Cider Braised Red Cabbage with Leeks and frozen in portion sizes.

5 April

All the leeks have been dug up, not only were they starting to seed but they were planted in the bed that we wanted to prepare for the raspberries. Any we can't use quickly will be sliced and frozen.

So that's our garden week - how was it for you?

Our complete monthly harvests are listed here.

This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres

By the way, I know I get lots of visitors who never comment and I'd love to know who you are - unlike the annoying spammers who can't seem to grasp that the their comments go straight into my spam folder and never see the light of day.

Why not say hello? You don't have to have your own blog in order to join in conversations. It may seem that everyone who comments knows one another but bloggers always welcome new commenters, after all that is how we all started.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett