This section of the site is intended as a personal record of jobs undertaken and work completed on the allotment, either on plot #59, our main growing plot; or plot #79, our orchard plot. Please feel free to visit the front page of Allotment Notes for more blog-style content.
2019: Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | June | July
01 May 19 Weather overcast 10 – 12o.
Greenhouse: Potted up chilli plants into larger pots. 2x ‘Bolivian Rainbow’ & 2x ‘Trifetti’ in small air-pots. 3x each in 10cm pots. 3x over-wintered ‘Aji Lemon’ in Chilligrow planter.
02 May 19 Weather overcast 10 – 12o.
Greenhouse: Potted up patty pan squash seedlings, ‘Sunburst F1’x9. Sowed squash ‘Crown Prince’ x5, ‘Harlequin’ x4, ‘Chicago Warted Hubbard’ x3 and ‘Uchiki Kuri’ x8, courgette ‘Burpees Golden’.
Sowing: Squash – 5x ‘Crown Prince’, 3x ‘Chicago Warted Hubbard’ (HSL), 4x ‘Harlequin’, 8x ‘Uchiki Kuri’. Plus 4x courgette ‘Burpees Golden’.
05 May 19 p.m. session, DT & JT. Weather fine to overcast 12 – 14o
Plot #59: Put up cane & large mesh frame for maincrop peas and cane & string pea-harp for mange-tout.
Cut nettles and packed into terracotta pot for nettle tea (Charles Dowding recommended method – no water added).
Harvested: asparagus.
06 May 19 a.m. session, DT. Weather fine but breezy 13 – 14o
Plot #59: Fetched and planted donated Malus ‘Royalty’, courtesy of one of Roger’s neighbours.
Spread wood-chip mulch around soft fruit section to cover bare patches, improve depth.
11 May 19 p.m. session, DT & JT. Weather clear to light overcast, sunshine, light breeze 18 – 20o
Plot #59: Planted maincrop and mangetout peas, set up support frames & planted sweet peas.
Plot #79: Weeding tree circles & side path.
12 May 19 p.m. session, DT & JT. Weather clear to light overcast, sunshine, light breeze 18 – 20o
Plot #59: Spread wood-chip mulch, set up 2″x1″ stakes for courgettes, front left bed, watering as required.
Plot #79: Weeding tree circles.
Harvesting: asparagus.
Sowing, At Home: 8 varieties of climbing French bean, all HSL.
14 May 19 a.m. session, DT. Weather clear, sunshine, light breeze 21 – 22o
Plot #59: Spread wood-chip mulch on path areas & on top of cardboard for no-dig growing areas. Laid brick pavers along main slab path.
Harvesting: asparagus.
15 May 19 a.m. session, DT. Weather clear, strong sunshine, light breeze 20 – 21o
Plot #59: Laid brick pavers along main slab path to current end of slabs. Back-filled with soil from back of site. Setup new batch of comfrey tea.
Sowing Direct: Parsnip ‘Tender & True’ (replacement for failed ‘The Student’)
Sowing at Home: 8 varieties of beans, assorted dwarf, climbing, heritage & modern.
16 May 19 p.m. flying visit
Harvesting: asparagus, rhubarb, bolted onions.
19 May 19 p.m. session, DT & JT. Weather clear, strong sunshine, light breeze 20 – 21o
Plot #59: (First visit with bikes…) General weeding, tidying, watering, spreading wood-chip mulch etc.
20 May 19 p.m. session, DT. Weather clear, strong sunshine, light breeze 18 – 20o
Plot #59: Planted out onions, approx. 80x ‘Bedfordshire Champion’, 40x ‘Ailsa Craig’. Another 80-odd ‘Lilia’ still to do…
Home: Took delivery of Super Composter equipment. For setup at the weekend.
24 May 19 p.m. flying visit
Plot 59: watering after three days away at in-laws. Very dry on plot, rain forecast at weekend though (can’t come soon enough).
26 May 19 p.m. session, DT & JT. Weather light overcast, some sunshine, drizzle later, light breeze 14 – 16o
Plot #59: Planted out courgettes x8 (3x ‘Black Beauty’, 2x ‘Romanesco’, 2x ‘Jaguar F1’, 1x ‘Burpees Golden’). Planted up tomatoes in trial growbags, 4x ‘Maghrebi’ plants 2 each in Slyvagrow planter and standard growbag. Planted out pot of carlin peas with cane supports.
Plumbed in large water butt at back of shed (just in time for good rainfall on 26th & 27th).
Set up Super Composter for trialling.
Harvested: asparagus.
Plot #79: Stripped all leaves from massively infested damson tree. FBB to be applied, hopefully will regenerate leaves without pests…
27 May 19
Home: Greenhouse sowing – ‘Kelvedon Wonder’ peas for pea-shoots.
28 May 19
Home: Potted up sprouted Yacon tubers in greenhouse. Reorganised greenhouse for tomato plants. Pricked out 48x leek ‘Lyon 2 (Prizetaker).
29 May 19 a.m. session, DT. Weather light overcast, hardly any breeze 13 – 14o
Plot 79: Finished checking trees for aphid / other issues. Tied up pear tree to canes to try to counter extreme branch bend.
Plot 59: Reorganised plastic compost bins. Dug out weeds between greenhouse and shed, levelled and added wood-chip. Filled wood-chip bin with leaf + wood-chip mix for composting down. Comfrey feed all raspberries, plus stepover apples. Tied down growing ends of stepover apples. Started putting in roof tiles at back left as anti-bindweed barrier (hopefully…)
Harvested: Asparagus, rhubarb.
To-Do:
- Re-sowing: squash.
- Load Super Composter & control bin.
- Continue lifting grass, add to turf bin.
- Continue mulching paths / no-dig areas w. card & chippings (when available).
- Sort and tidy shed.
- Clear junk from front of Plot #59 (w/on skip at home?)
- Clear horsetail from Plot #79.
- Comfrey feed all trees on Plot #79.
- Weed (& mulch?) potato patch.