Vinny's Allotment Plot

Once you have more wood chip you'll not notice the cardboard.

Once you have more wood chip you'll not notice the cardboard.

You are probably right Bren!

I am expecting another six bags of wood chips soon hopefully which I will add to the same area, so we shall see.

Potted on my red torpedo onions into modules from the pot they were sown into. Watered stuff in greenhouse.

Because of my carer duties I can't spend the time on the plot I would like to. With this in mind I took my Charlotte seed potatoes and four MFB's filled with old compost home with me to allow me to plant them art home. I also took the bone meal to add to the old compost to 'beef it up' a bit.
Started digging, weeding and de-stoning a bed for outdoor planted potatoes but was beaten by the weather once it started chucking it down.
All in all I was only away from home for  one hour.

Finally got three buckets of Charlotte potatoes planted up. They were rubbish seed tatties, very much on the small side so it will be interesting to see how they perform. I always thought seed tatties were supposed to be hens egg size, these were starlings egg size.

Arrived at plot and had to dive inside greenhouse as there was a hail stone shower. I couldn't believe it that we had a covering of snow this morning.
After watering up I halved a bag of compost to take home for setting seeds away and also grabbed a few module trays.

I carried on digging a bed for to plant spuds but after a short time was rained off again with hailstones and sleet!

Never mind, little and often is the way and tomorrows another day!

Took my tray of mixed herbs to the allotment greenhouse.Also took a car load of cardboard to plot. Watered all plants that needed it (ones that haven't been killed by the frost)
Planted eight seed potatoes in recently dug area. Water was lying at bottom of planting holes so hopefully they won't rot. 

Lots of hoeing and weeding, mainly of paths. Managed to weed around my parsnip seedlings and a strawberry bed.

Noticeably warmer so would have been happy to stop longer, but couldn't because of other commitments.

Dropped off my trays of recently sown swedes at the allotment greenhouse. Watered stuff in greenhouse. Also dropped off  a car load of cardboard.
Decided to take the debri netting off my Spring cabbage and tidy up the bed. Also weeded another bed while I was there.

Emptied grass cuttings on beds of onions and leeks.

I was pleased I got quite a bit of bed preparation done today in the 1.5 hours I was at the plot.

Hand weeded onions and leeks. Prepared a bed for planting by digging out weeds and tickling soil with trowel, then hoe-ing and raking. Also part weeded another bed and tickled soil. No idea what I am planting in prepared bed yet.

Piccies of work done and a few leeks I harvested.

I took three bags of grass cuttings and three trays of red torpedo onions to plot along with some butternut squash plants.

I spread the grass cuttings on the cucurbit beds, put the Butternuts in the greenhouse and stood the onion trays on the bed they will be planted into.
I did a lot of hand weeding which was relatively easy as the ground is so wet. Planted the last of the leeks into one of the weeded areas.

Back at plot for an hour today mainly to drop off squash plants started at home and added to greenhouse to harden off.

While I was there I decided one of my priorities was to get some spuds planted. I have some Charlotte planted in buckets at home but have quite a few, of various varieties chitting.
I planted the Maris Piper and the Butter potatoes in a previously prepared bed along the edge of the plot. I had to hand weed the area first(mainly creeping buttercup) then dug trowel holes, added potato and filled hole with a couple of handfuls of compost. I have planted in this way before with some success and never earth potatoes up unless frost threatens.

I still have Desiree potatoes and another variety to find a space for yet. 

I also planted my six soup Celery plants out in another area as they were becoming pot bound.

Pictures shows my potatoes sown today along boundary and my cucurbit beds covered with grass cuttings. When the cucurbits are ready to go out the grass cuttings will have fully died off and should be a useful mulch. Below the grass cuttings are compost then a layer of cardboard to keep weeds at bay and retain moisture.

Back at plot this morning. Dropped off a boatload of cardboard, most of which were huge pieces which my Son had to get rid of. I helped him move house yesterday and these were the boxes some of his new stuff for his house had come in.

I have a rough area at he bottom of the plot which I haven't got round to yet so I just covered the whole lot (roughly 10 foot X 6 foot) with large chunks of cardboard weighed down with bits of wood.

The main reason for visit was to make sure yesterdays dry/sunny day hadn't dried stuff out too much and to water if needed.

I was dismayed to see that three of my red onions had bolted. I think with red onions from sets it depends a lot on the weather and the really cold spells we have been having has done for them.

Placed six courgettes in bed they will be going into. Weeded and cleared of stones the rest of one of the long diagonal beds in preparation for planting the rest of my seed potatoes. Put potatoes in situ to see if there was enough room, which there is.

Planted three tall sunflowers on to plot. Two of them are near to a fence so I can tie them in if need be. The other will need an individual stake.

Left for home with slug pellets, six dwarf sunflowers and three tall sunflowers for my home garden, plus my trowel to plant them.