At least half of the time was spent in the greenhouse. The first task was a bit of pollinating, just in case the bee that I spotted in there on Saturday failed in its duty to visit the peach and nectarine flowers. The apricot blossom is now falling and so I can do no more there.
The next job was to plant the first lot of onion and shallot sets in modules. These will be left to shoot in the greenhouse and more will be planted later.
Some of the shallot sets were huge and only just fitted in the modules. We planted, Sturon, Stuttgart and Red Karmen onions and Golden Gourmet and Red Sun shallots.
The bag in which I sowed some salad leaves, at the end of last season, has grown well in the main with a couple of failures namely the radishes and spring onions.
I sowed another bag with a selection of salad and some peas to use as pea shoots.
A few weeks ago Janet over at Plantilicious posted about oca and I commented that I had never come across them before. Janet kindly offered to send me some tubers which arrived complete with instructions. These stated that, if the conditions are not right for planting, they could be placed in a light frost free position as for chitting potatoes. I've done this and left them under fleece alongside the seed potatoes.
Outside I planted some native primroses that I had growing in a seed tray in a few gaps amongst the hellebores These came from self sown plants on the plot. I think once I have some plants set seed this year I will scatter some in this area as I think the addition of a few primroses here will work. I may even find some baby plants on the plot or some of the larger clumps may need splittings.
The late flowering clematis had started to shoot and really should have been cut down earlier but better late then never. It would be far easier if it wasn't snuggled up to the passion flower.
The passion flower was trimmed a little but may need a bit more attention.
Martyn mentioned in one of his posts, that in a tub that we planted up for winter/spring interest some bulbs were bullying a heather and pushing this out of the pot.
I had to tease the heather out of the pot to reposition it as the daffodil shoots had grown through the rootball. The shoots are really yellow and so hopefully they will now green up and the plants can live in harmony.
The other task of the day mostly fell to Matyn as we wanted to rearrange our 'cold frame courtyard'. The first phase involved emptying the WoodBlocx raised bed and moving it. At the moving stage I was called in to provide some additional muscle!
The raised bed is now in place and the next job is to move the cold frames. All we need is for the weather to hold out!
Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett
Posts
I love your raised bed Sue. I have 2 of them, similar to yours, usually I grow cucumbers there. I think these beds are very well for my back:)
ReplyDeleteWe have used it to grow salad ingredients in the garden, Nadezda rather than all on the plot.
DeleteSounds like a wonderful day at work in the garden and greenhouse. I so miss my old greenhouse. Nothing tops that wonderful smell of earth when you first walk in.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy
It was nice and warm in there, Sue
DeleteThe weather is certainly here to be out there and starting to move things in the direction of Spring!
ReplyDeleteLove your raised beds. Hoping to get some of my own sometime soon to eradicate bending!
Raised beds are certainly good for the back, Deborah.
DeleteI put my shallots into modules yesterday Su and likewise found some rather big boys. I'm sure that I read somewhere that it's better to plant them small but don't know for definite. Anyway I've just put the smaller ones in for now. What sort of bag do you use for sowing your salad leaves ?
ReplyDeleteI had no choice with regards to size, Anna. The bags are reusable hessian bags from Marshalls as shown here on this page
DeleteMoving the Woodblocx bed must have been tricky. The wood is pretty heavy, even when new. Having been outside I expect it was saturated with moisture too, and thus even heavier.
ReplyDeleteIt was heavy, Mark. Fortunately it didn't need to go far. One end was levered up using a pickaxe and them we pushed.
DeleteYou have been busy, its been such good weather for gardening, unfortunately I had a busy weekend and couldn't get much time out there. I'm hoping for a nice day tomorrow to get some jobs done. I think I'll do the same with my shallots and onions
ReplyDeleteThere is no way our ground is suitable for planting, Anna. It wouldn't be usually but certainly isn't this year.
DeleteI'm very impressed that you managed the Woodblocx bed. That must have taken some doing xx
ReplyDeleteIt did Jo, see my comment to Mark. It had to be emptied first too.
DeleteLove the winter pot, and what a gorgeous table and chair. Well done on moving the raised bed. I'm wondering if I should try planting some onions at this time of year, I've not tried it before but maybe they would do better for me. My first peach flower is out today. Last year the flowers all had tiny peaches, but they almost all fell off. I'm not sure if that's because they weren't pollinated (the "peaches" were the size of a small petit pois) or just a sort of early fruit drop. There were maybe 14-20 left.
ReplyDeleteI bought the table and chairs with the gift cheque I was given when I left work, CJ. Let's hope for at least one peach each this year.
DeleteThank you for telling us about Oca. I had never heard of them. You will have to report on they do and what they taste like.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of them either Alain but since them a few Bloggers have mentioned them. I will certainly be posting about them.
DeletePassion fruit always grows like crazy here and there.
ReplyDeleteOurs doesn't produce the fruits to eat, Endah. They look like orange eggs. It's rampant her too and needs strict control. The roots of this one are buried under concrete.
DeleteCold Frame Courtyard - what a great name! I love growing oca - the foliage is delightful, so even if you don't like the taste of the tubers, you will have something pretty to look at this summer!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you give oca the thumbs up. Sarah. Do you grow it in the ground or a large tub.
DeleteI start it in a pot indoors and plant out once all danger of frost has passed. That said, I forgot about some & left them in pots on the sheltered side of the grain store two years ago, and they came back anyway. (I wouldn't recommend this method though!)
DeleteSorry to comment again - I forgot to ask.... do you find a significant benefit in starting onion and shallot sets in modules?
ReplyDeleteNo problem. We would have to wait a while before the soil was ready to plant outside, Saran. This way the sets develop a root system and shoots earlier and the sets have less chance of shrivelling. You need to get them out before they become root bound or the plants are set back and often don't recover. We do find that the plants grow away quicker than the ones we plants direct. The bulbs produced generally are a bit bigger giving us a variety of sizes. I'll try to remember to write a post compating this year.
DeleteThat's interesting. I get a bit fed up with weeds in onion beds - I wonder if this might cut back the whole weeding thing by a week or three?
DeleteGood to see you powering ahead with all the jobs. I have a passion flower that needs pruning to but has all sorts of other climbers growing through it, it does complicate things! Love your raised beds, I have three of my six and it's dawning on me that they'll take some filling!xxx
ReplyDeleteThey certainly will, Dina
DeleteLots of good work going on there Sue. I almost bought some shallot sets this year, but decided I probably wouldn't have time to look after them with everything else going on - and everything else I was wanting to bring on in the greenhouse.
ReplyDeleteIf we lacked space, we probably wouldn't grow onions or shallots as they really aren't that much better than those that you can buy, Janet. They do take a lot of room to store them too.
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