Last week we managed to carry out quite a lot of work on the allotment. We are still preparing some beds for this year's crops.
The last lot of the over wintering brassicas have been cleared and a bed is now ready for our second lot of this year's brassicas. Our first planting is growing well under its enviromesh protection. This will hopefully thwart the wood pigeons, a pair of which have had the cheek to nest in a tree on our plot. Hopefully the buzzard, which was circling above the allotment last week, will stay around and also act as a deterrent. It certainly had them running (or rather flying) scared. The covering also offers some protection from white butterflies and whiteflies.
After a break, due to the cold spell of weather, I finally finished planting up the new strawberry bed. The next job, once the berries start to appear, is that we will need to cover with netting. How's that for being hopeful? I've posted a video about the creation of the new strawberry bed and posted it here.
We sowed quite a few seeds last week. The carrots and parsnips were sown so now we will anxiously await the appearance of the seedlings and hope that any emerging carrot seedlings survive the inevitable slug assault.
Our soil is heavy clay and so most seeds sown directly are sown in drills of multipurpose compost. The parsnip bed was covered with twigs but the carrot bed was covered with enviromesh. This will be loosened as the carrot tops grow but will remain in place throughout the season to protect against carrot fly. It is very rarely lifted as the weed control fabric means little weeding is necessary and we don't thin the carrots, they seem to sort themselves out with little interference from us. We may have some strange shapes but they taste as good as perfectly formed specimens. Two parsnip seeds are sown to each station and these will be thinned if both seeds germinate. We posted a video on YouTube some time ago of our sowing methods.
Other seeds that were direct sown were the first lot of hardy annuals which I sow succesionally. The seeds that I sowed last autumn are now strong plants that are beginning to flower. Seeds sown to overwinter always seem to produce stronger, more vigorous plants for some reason.
Another job in our battle with pests was to set up the lures for codling moths and plum tree moths. Hopefully these will cut down on the number of spoiled fruits.
As well as working on the plot we have also been busy in the garden greenhouse sowing seeds and pricking out seedlings, Martyn has posted about this on his blog here
The one thing that we didn't manage to do was to gather a harvest - the hungry gap is upon us. No worries though as we have enough in the freezer to see us through.
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Busy, busy, busy - as always! A question for you about the coppiced Hazel: how long do your beanpoles last before going brittle? And have you got enough trees on your plot to keep you fully supplied? I have no idea how long it takes for a Hazel tree to re-grow to a useable size after coppicing!
ReplyDeleteWe replace ours every couple of years as we have plenty they may last longer but they do tend to become brittle from then on. We have two bushes which we coppice alternate years. Useable poles are produced after a couple of years but after three they are longer and stronger. Hazels grow very quickly,
DeleteThanks for your detailed response, Sue.
DeleteHi Sue, I was always told that those codling moth lures just tell you when the moths are active and hence when to spray. They don't actually reduce the spoilage, especially on an allotment, so it will be interesting to see how you get on. I sprayed for the first time last year, it was a hard decision because everything else we do is pesticide free. However the result was startling, we went from 80% spoilage to effectively zero, with just two sprays, both in early summer when the fruit was very small. Compared to commercial fruit this is a very small pesticide load, so I think we will do it again, because in all previous years we've had to start eating commercially grown apples for most of the year.
ReplyDeleteI know that's the theory, Steve but it seems to have improved things by just putting them up. We don't want to spray and can cope with the few fruits that are still affected. Our plum and greengages are too big to spray anyway Also the trees are browsed by lots of different birds debugging so I wouldn't want to spray for their sakes too.
DeleteIt's certainly a busy time of year so it helps when the weather cooperates and allows you to get on with the jobs. It doesn't seem long since you planted up your last strawberry bed, just goes to show how quickly time passes by.
ReplyDeleteIt's frightening how quickly the years fly by, Jo.
DeleteHell for leather as the expression goes. Funnily enough strawberry grown from seed (Temptation) is the one crop that has given up before being planted out at the allotment. Either they just didn't like the conditions at home (too wet/too dry/too cold) or the birds pecked them out of the soil. To add to that the neighbourhood fox also used them as a peeing spot.
ReplyDeleteThat's a shame, Mal.
DeleteYou've gotten a lot done on the plot - and reminded me that I need to get my peas in the ground. It's been such a cool spring that I've been worried the seeds would rot if I planted too soon, but the harvest may now be compromised if our hot summer weather sets in too soon.
ReplyDeleteWe sowed more peas this week, Margaret and will sow another lot when they come up as we really enjoy home grown peas.
DeleteIt is so pretty and green. I am envious. Right no we have 20 inches of snow. I'm dying to garden.
ReplyDeleteI hope your snow melts away soon, Bonnie
DeleteI'm most envious of those hazel poles Sue. Are those cornflowers coming into flower? My September sown ones have just started to open in the last week. I hope that you have not had the same chilly winds that we've been experiencing over the last week or so.
ReplyDeleteI picked the first cornflowers last week, Anna. We have had the winds too battering everything.
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