I thought I’d start today by saying a ‘Big Welcome’ to anyone that has recently started to follow my blog and a big ‘Thank you’ to the Somerset Waste Partnership, who have included a link to my blog on their website here, I feel most honoured.
This week there has definitely been a feel of spring in the air, as temperatures have been mild compared to the cold, winter weather that we have had lately.
I have noticed that bulbs are growing nicely, the tiny shoots of my autumn raspberries are forming and unfortunately the weeds are starting to germinate. In fact, I saw my first dandelion ready to open its yellow flower this week. This is a stark reminder that the soil is beginning to warm up and spring is on its way and it’s now time to finish winter jobs.
Before I went on holiday last week, I laid plastic sheeting over the beds that I will soon be planting my onions and shallots in. This will help to warm the soil nicely for them.
I also planted my shallots in newspaper pots and put them in my cold greenhouse, to give them a head start. Next month when they have rooted, I will plant the shallots, still in their newspaper pots, as the pots will compost down in the soil. This will also help to stop the birds pulling them up, thinking they are worms.
I will show you how I make the newspaper pots in my blog post on Monday.
Also before my holiday, I cut back my Michaelmas Daisys, ready for the year ahead. They look so unattractive at this time of year and yet they look so beautiful in the autumn and attract many beneficial insects:
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The rhubarb is going nicely now. I don’t know what variety I have, as I inherited it with the plot, but it is a very early variety.
Two weeks ago I covered some of the rhubarb with a bin to ‘force’ it. This will give ‘sweet tasting pink stems’ in a few weeks.
This week, I cut back my autumn raspberries to ground level, which is a job I do every February. Autumn raspberries are treated differently to summer raspberries, as autumn raspberries bear fruit on the new year’s growth, so they can be cut right down to ground level at this time of year.
I have had my autumn raspberries for quite some time and unfortunately they have quite a lot of couch grass and bindweed in amongst them, so I decided it was time to dig them up and start again in a different bed.
I split a few roots and replanted them in a new bed with plenty of compost worked into it and in the next few days I will feed the plants by scattering some sulphate of potash around the roots. I was very careful not to transport the weeds too.
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Another job I completed this week, was to dig up all my Jerusalem artichokes. My family love these roasted in olive oil and my daughters eat them like sweets.
Jerusalem artichokes are one of the easiest vegetables that I know of to grow. Each February, I dig up any that remain in the soil and replant the biggest ones, approximately 30cm apart and 30cm deep. Every other year I dig manure into the bed before I replant them and in November, I cut down the old stems so they don’t suffer from the wind dislodging them from the soil. You can dig them up all through the winter when you need them, as they store really well in the ground and they rarely suffer from any pests or diseases.
One thing to be noted though, is they are thugs and once you have them you will find it hard to get rid of them. So make sure you plant them in an area away from the rest of your vegetables, or you will regret it.
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Remember the area between my summer raspberries, that I prepared the soil and sowed grass seed in the autumn?…I have now edged it with a plastic ‘Lawn Edge’ from Wilkinson’s and gave it a quick mow on a high setting (as it was so long) and I think it has really made a difference:
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This week I have also opened up my oldest compost heap. It is now 3½ years old and it contained all types of perrenial weeds. As you can see all the weeds have completely died off and a beautiful, sweet smelling compost is left.
This proves that perrennial weeds can be composted, provided they are left long enough to fully decompose. So many books I have read tell people to burn them, which really isn’t a very environmently friendly thing to do. This way you are returning them to the ground and adding nutrients into the bargain.
One thing to be noted though, there may be weed seeds in the compost, which is why I quickly hoe off the seedlings as they germinate.
I spread some of the compost in my polytunnel, after I gave it a quick weed and dug up the last of my turnips and celeriac.
The winter salads are doing well in the polytunnel and are ready for eating and I planted some ‘leggy’ broadbeans that I couldn’t plant earlier due to the wet weather in January.
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For those who are new to my blog, my dad has a small area on my 4th, newest plot. He had his own allotment for many years, but sadly age caught up with him and a full plot became far too much to manage. Last Spring, he asked if he could possibly have a small part of my plot to look after and I thought this was a great idea, as I can make sure he doesn’t do too much.
I love it with him there.
So finally this week, I bought our old garden chair from our back garden at home. I put it in a small area next to my dads patch, so he can sit down when he is tired. I made a little table out of bricks and an old piece of crazy paving, so he now has somewhere to put his flask of coffee when he sits down.
I finished it off with some left over woodchip and I think he will be pleased when he sees it.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog today.
I will be back on Monday at 6pm.
My you have been busy – although we had fine weather last weekend it has now turned very cold again and I am back to staring through the window. Like you I did manage to get quite a bit done though including sowing broad beans and peas – now I’m just waiting for it to warm up a bit.
Hi elaine, I so look forward to spring when it will be a bit warmer. We have had a few snow flurries today!
Love your Dad’s little chair and table. I had some Jerusalem Artichokes in my veg box today. I’ve put some of them in a ‘veg dauphinoise’ cooking at the moment! x
Wow that sounds nice. I love using seasonal veg, especially when it hasn’t flown half way round the world before you get it. Your veg box sounds great.
Four plots?! Good grief! That is a lot of work. Love your aster hedges, they look amazing, and your Dad is bound to be chuffed at his new resting place. I adore Jerusalem artichokes, but sadly my digestive system does not, so I won’t be planting any here. Thanks for visiting my blog, good to have found you!
Hi Janet, thanks for popping over, I enjoyed reading your blog today. Yes, Jerusalem artichokes make you very windy lol…I really don’t know how people can use them to make a Jerusalem artichoke soup?
Your plot looks really good, would onion sets work by putting them in the newspaper pots? i have trouble with birds pulling them out, look forward to seeing how you make the pots.
Sue
Yes Sue, my dad puts his onion sets in newspaper pots and they work great. The only reason I don’t put my onion sets in them, is because I plant so many of them. Another way around the birds, is to cover your sets with a net until they start to grow as the birds won’t go near them then.
Great blog! I love the ‘patio’ :o)
Hi Tiddy, it’s lovely you have visited my blog, thank you. We have just spent ages reading your blog and me and my daughters think your blog is the best blog we have ever read! We would love to have Tiddy and Charlie to visit us at our allotment in the Midlands, (now you have finished your visit to Las Vegas).
Hi, green fingers! I have read your post and learned how to plant shallot. I bought it for the first time, before I planted the simple onion only. Thank you! I see you love your dad and take care of him. How lovely! I saw your pots are plastic. Where do you use the newspaper pots?
Nadezda
Hi Nadezda, thanks for visiting my blog. After the shallots have rooted in the pots, I plant them in the the ground at my allotment so they can finish growing. This way they have an earlier start to the growing season, as the pots are kept in my cold greenhouse and the birds don’t pull them out of the ground thinking they are worms when I finally plant them in the soil.
Forced rhubarb is one of the best things about early spring, how wonderful to have your own supply growing! Some fantastic tips here, thank you for sharing them, it sounds like you’ve had a busy week 🙂
How lovely to have your dad helping on your plot, I’m sure he’ll be really pleased when he sees the little area you’ve created for his coffee break. You’re certainly cracking on with all your jobs, i really need to start tackling some of mine.
I love the chair for your dad, quality time spent in the garden is hard to beat.
Hi Kirsty, you are right…time in the garden is marvellous, it can’t be beaten.
Really enjoyable blog post. You’ve done so much!!! I love the look of your poly tunnel. Do you have any more photos of it? Lovely for you to spend time with your dad too 🙂
Yes Anna I do somewhere. I’ll look them up and do a post with them on…I could do a post about my polytunnel year if people would find it interested?
I would absolutely love that! I’m really keen to have a poly tunnel one day so to have a year’s insight would be amazing 🙂
I’m looking forward to gardening again this year – though I have to say that yours looks so much better than ours.
Lol, i’m sure it doesn’t. It feels like it’s been a long wet winter this year and I’ve not been able to get to my allotment until now, so I’ve got some things to catch up on now.
Those Jerusalem artichokes can be real thugs – when we grew them they aimed for plot domination!
They can be thugs can’t they Sue. I have mine contained in a bed away from everything else, I think this is the only way to grow them.
Brilliant photos and blogging – thank you
Hi Catherine, lovely to see you on Sunday. Thanks for your kinds words.
Love bulbs 🙂 The only reason I don’t delegate more of my garden to them is because they are such a brief bloom, in the scope of the year, and also our weather has been so crazy these few years, with extreem heat and exreem cold, and then this horrible muggyness that makes everything go moldy! Geezzzz!!
Your onions look great! My MIL does that (or used to) but I haven’t had much luck with the whole bulbs recently, as they go rotton. But I have had some success with seeds.
What are the masses of purple flowers? They are lovely!
My rhubarb is …alive… I have been watering it along with everything else otherwise they would no longer be with us, methinks.
I hope you get rasberries! Mine were not so good this year partly because they reckoned they wern’t getting enough waer and partly because this flying insect swarm thingy has moved into my front garden and some of them decided my rasberry bushes tasted VERY nice thankyou, and so while they are alive, they are looking very sad :S
Wow. You have no idea how jealous I am of your GREEN grass!!!
And the compost looks… well… delicious actually! I bet it smelled great!
What are you going to do with the turnips and celeriac?
My Mum gave me some Jerusalem Artichokes! But I think they died…
And the pollytunnel is delightful!
It is so nice to read about how close you and your Dad are. I really feel it as I read. Thankyou for sharing 🙂 I hope you are feeling better, yourself?
As you may have noticed, I have a wee bit of time on my hands so am chatty. I have plans to do and write a blog myself after this but you watch! Suddenly I will not have time anymore!! Grrr! It always happens. When I plan to write a blog suddenly every one needs me, LOL!!
Hi Mrs Yub. The flowers are Michaelmas Daisys. I planted them for three reasons: 1) to separate my rotational beds 2) to attact the beneficial insects and 3) It was my grandad’s birthday on Michaelmas Daisy day (Sept 29th). As he died before I was born, I thought it would be a way to remember him and it works.
The grass is so green because we have had so much rain over the last year lol, we seem to have the total opposite to your country. Your poor garden is suffering so much, isn’t it, I find it amazing you are doing as well as you are with it.
LOT of work Mrs Thrift. I am bucketing water almost all day from the kitchen, and the laundry and the bathroom at least once a day, lol! I would be thin as a rake if I weren’t so hungry all the time, LOL!!!!