Monday, April 8

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?



This week I am linking to harvest Monday hosted on 

Dave's blog Our Happy Acres


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18 comments:

  1. Your first paragraph gave me a good laugh - I am quite sure our neighbors must think I'm not in my right mind much of the time! I remember working here in the cold until my fingers were blue. Your leeks sound like one of my kale beds. It's starting to bloom and I need the space for something else, so we will be eating kale this week!

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    1. We often look very round, Dave with all the layers of clothing we have on.

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  2. I love reading your blog - one of my favourites!

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    1. Thanks so much for commenting, Nicky. Glad that you enjoy reading.

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  3. Raspberries are a luxury. They are difficult to find around here.
    Your harvest looks yummy.

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    1. If all goes well we should be enjoying lots of raspberries, Lisa but I’m not counting our chickens.

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  4. Once again so happy to see all the PSB. You have been very busy! The days are full of garden tasks this time of year.

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  5. It's great to see that you are still harvesting Sue, so many allotments around me are barren wastelands at this time of year. We managed to pick our biggest ever harvest yesterday, picking more in April than in mid-summer last year certainly put a smile on my face. I too am waiting for the weather to warm up and the wind to die down a bit, I've loads of onions seedlings to get in the ground and I don't want the cold wind to burn them : All the best - Steve

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    1. It’s always better to wait for the conditions to improve, Steve. Planting into cold ground doesn’t gain anything really as it then takes a while for plants to get over the shock. We don;t use Monty Don’s suggestion for treating soil temperatures though, we’re far to shy.

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  6. It's great to see your allotment! My partner and I have just bought our first house with a large garden just up the road from you in York, so although we're a little behind you in planting and bed prep (we only moved in in March!), hopefully we'll catch up soon. We just planted out our first raspberry canes too and although we have no plan yet (that's for next year!), we'll just bung what we can into the beds and see what we get.

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    1. Hello Dodoqueen, thank you so much for taking the time to comment, You have beaten us with your raspberries, our new canes are still in the greenhouse. We’d love to have a garden big enough to use to grow our own but when we looked around once we couldn’t find somewhere we liked enough. Are you going you blog about your gardening? It provides as good record as well as a way of linking up with other like minded people and sharing ideas,

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  7. Wrap up warm and get digging! It's cheaper than putting the heat on and it's what our forebears had to do, no choice, get out and cultivate or starve. We are lucky to have so much local and imported food to fall back on if needed!

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    1. Digging’s done, Deborah - it’s the planting we need to move on to now.

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  8. You two are certainly more resilient than I - the temps were not too bad yesterday (about 12 or so) but I went outside and it was so windy that I went right back in.

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    1. It is so tempting to hunker down indoors, Margaret but some things just can’t wait.

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  9. I will garden in just about any weather other than pouring rain or scorching heat. Fortunately neither situation occurs frequently here and freezing days are almost nonexistent so I'm in the garden quite often. I'm looking forward to seeing how all your hard work now pays off as the seasons progress.

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  10. Maybe if the situation was more common for you, you would change your mind, Michelle. I do hope we get a pay off.

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