Well, since my last blog I have indeed had my wellies on, I have checked out my stock of seeds (there are a lot) but I’m afraid the freezer remains un-defrosted...
Yesterday the sun came out and as I walked over to our allotment, it was as if the crocuses had been waiting for that particular moment to show themselves. It really put a smile on my face. If the sun brought out the crocuses, it also brought out the allotment gardeners. It was like a family reunion as some of us hadn’t seen each other since before Christmas. I once borrowed a copy of the book by Lia Leendertz, ‘The Half-Hour Allotment’. Lia argues that you can manage an allotment with half an hour effort a day. Well, in my experience on our allotment, unless you’re the reclusive type, it’s more like half an hour chat before any sort of gardening happens!
Our allotments are now one year old. There are six, thirty metre strips although some of them are divided into two, so we are a fairly small community of veg growers. Last year we worked half of our 30m strip and put in some raised beds. We covered the other half of our allotment with plastic sheeting that I got free from the local builders’ merchant. We have now removed the plastic and the only sign of any weeds is the odd strand of couch grass. It has made for a much easier job this year. As for the raised beds, I am not always one for making a job easy (see photo). It is true that it takes longer to manoeuvre around between the beds, but I say that’s all part of the joy of it!
Yesterday I raked over the bed that last year had runner beans, mange tout, dwarf beans, sweet corn and butternut squash. I planted some shallots and some lines of parsnips and carrots. Hilary, who has one of the allotments next to us, wondered if it was a bit too early. We shall consider it an experiment. Meanwhile, I watched Lindsey (another neighbour) pick a whole head of purple sprouting broccoli and strip it of spears. As I say, if in doubt... so today I picked some of ours. I’m not sure ours was quite ready and when you compare our plants with hers, they don’t look quite the same. However, I think it could start a new trend in wedding bouquets!
Today I sorted out our packets of seeds. I am slightly ashamed to admit that we have 73 packets of seeds that require planting from March onwards. I can’t help it – when I see a bin of half price seeds I have to buy some. As Lindsey said to me yesterday, “It’s like being in a sweet shop!”
Finally, an observation on common sense and crocuses. It was another glorious day at Cockington Manor in Torquay this week. The first daffodils were flowering under the trees amidst a scattering of crocuses and snow drops. I stood and admired, and then saw with dismay, a group of female dog walkers stood chatting with the crushed heads of crocuses at their feet. Hello?!
Our allotment in February
Purple sprouting broccoli, the new range of wedding bouquets!