Spring Has Sprung, Allotment Work Has Been Done

The clocks have gone forward, buds are breaking open everywhere and, yes, the weeds are growing again – it must be Spring!

With temperatures rising in March and the rain holding off for reasonable periods of time, Jo and I have been able to get down to Plot #59 and get stuck in to some of the main jobs of the season. Digging, weeding and clearing away winter’s detritus for starters. But also a few more interesting, positive, forward-looking highlights. The sort of jobs that gardeners and allotmenteers everywhere look forward to, because they mean the new growing season is finally getting under way.

Here are a few of them.

Feeding Soft Fruit Bushes

The soft fruit section is starting to leaf up nicely. There’s even signs of early blossom on the gooseberry and redcurrant bushes – hopefully not too prematurely.

This jostaberry was planted out earlier in the year and it seems to be doing well, which is good to see.

In order to give the bushes a boost, I scraped back the woodchip mulch from around each plant and sprinkled on a handful of fish, blood and bone. That ought to give them a feed just as they’re waking up for the season and hopefully improve fruit yield later on.

Broad Beans, Old and New

Last November we planted out a couple of rows of broad bean ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ and tented them with enviromesh. They seem to have survived and thrived, with only one or two losses, and many of them are already putting out flowers. Hopefully we’ll have an early crop of tasty beans to enjoy in a few weeks.

And back in the greenhouse, this year’s Spring crop is coming along nicely. I’ve potted up a couple of varieties that have been growing strongly. More ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ and a cultivar called ‘Stereo’, which is meant to be a mangetout bean. Interesting, no?

Preparing for Potatoes

We’re only growing one variety of potato this year – good old, reliable, all-rounder Saxon – and only three rows of them. About 24 plants’ worth, all being well and if blight and/or leaf-curl virus stays away this year. Digging the trenches is one of my favourite jobs of the early Spring.

I’ve remembered to allow plenty of space between them this year, and have manured them well. Two rows are in already, and I’m saving the third for a week or two, in a vague attempt to spread the harvest. I suspect everything will catch up once the weather warms up and I’ll end up harvesting them all at once, as usual, but we’ll see.

Planting Out Onions

We planted out garlic last Autumn and we’re still harvesting last year’s leeks, but we didn’t try to over-winter any onions this year. Instead we’ve gone down the route of starting sets off in modules, and as they’d mostly reached the 10-15cm leaf length stage it was time to get them in the ground. Jo took charge of the operation last weekend and did a much neater job of it than I probably would have done, too.

Next Up

More digging and clearing, preparing the beds for the SoilFixer trial section, planting out those broad beans and the first of the peas. And seed sowing. So much seed sowing…