Plot update

We're in our fourth year of allotmenteering now and one of the things I've noticed is that prepping the plot, planting seeds, planning beds, repotting seedlings etc. have become not so much chores perhaps -- they're too much fun to be called that -- but things we now do without much fanfare, alongside the messy daily bits that also make life round here.

So maybe a quick update on what's been happening to the seeds:

12 aubergine seeds from Lidl -- most of these have now sprouted into impressive plants on the shelf in the utility room and are on the verge of being potted on and put into the "poolhouse" (our makeshift greenhouse during April/May).

1 pot of basil "Sweet Genovese" -- third time lucky. Alas not. I think I managed 2 seedlings. Really don't know what the problem is...Basil hates me. But I love basil! I want the big bushy supermarket-style pots.

40 "Kelvedon Early" peas -- these peas are ancient and may not actually sprout any more but if they don't, I have time to get another batch in. Update: They have not sprouted. Not a single one. Like basil, my luck with peas has been astonishingly poor. I tried it with a fresh batch of Peas Ambassador this time, and only got one to come up. Every primary school pupil gets peas to sprout. I even remember reading an old Astrid Lindgren story about a child pushing peas into its ears and ending up with sprouts coming out of them, and terrible earache. That child had a better hitrate with peas than I. 



24 "Bunyards Exhibition" broadbeans: Most of these have come on, quickly too, and have already been planted out on the plot. So far a success.

1 tray of homegrown lettuce seeds "King of May". Am very pleased: all of them sprouted and I now have a trayful of lettuce seedlings that are dying to be planted out. Unfortunately, I tried planting out one batch of 18, and ended up with only a single survivor in the ground. The rest got got by the slugs, I suspect. And the pigeons.

1 tray of leeks "Autumn Mammoth": Yes, came on well. Still in the tray.

1 tray of saved seeds of what I think is the previous allotment holder's Welsh Onions. Also came on well. Still in the tray.

1 tray of snapdragons (antirrhinum, Loewenmaeulchen), to germinate inside. Brilliant: almost ready to be planted out.

1 tray of ageratum houstonianum (Leberbalsam), to germinate inside. Same: almost ready. Just waiting for May to start. One more week.

1 tray of coriander (saved seeds from own-grown from the allotment). My biggest success: excellent germination rate. Have created 5 different pots and am about to give away one to P next door for services to heating.

1 medium-sized pot of "Amsterdam Maxi" baby carrots, for container growing. Growing ok but not sensational.

1 small tray of carrots "Jeannette" from Lidl, also to germinate inside. This one's now in the ground, in a square raised bed made out of old decking squares I'd been keeping in the garden. They're almost rotted down but they might make it through one more season. I filled them with a mixture of allotment soil and sand, to avoid split carrots.

More seedlings emerging:

Borecole (from homegrown and -harvested seeds)
Bavarian radishes
Red Cabbage
Sweet Peas Parfumiere (from self-harvested seeds)
Nasturtiums (loads of those, and these have also self-seeded on the plot)
Zinnias (self-harvested)
Cornflower (self-harvested)
Calendula (same)
Leucanthemum or Shasta Daisy (a white fluffy-headed flower)
purple salvia
Sweet Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
Tomato ('Hildares')


The other seeds have either just been put in (on Sunday) or are still awaiting planting: the squashes and the sweetcorn.




We've done a lot of work over the Easter break and managed to create more raised beds. OH has transferred most of the currants (red and black and even white) into a separate bed, along with the broadbeans and some stray strawberries. On Easter Monday, he built another raised bed and got the potatoes in the ground.


I created a big raised herb bed and also dug over and weeded a double-sized bed. Last week, I began the process of tidying up our strawberry provision and lifted and replanted 24 plants, this time under weed-suppressant membrane. There is space for another 60 or so strawb plants. I've yet to find a use for the other 20,000 that keep popping up all over the plot.

I've so far insisted on keeping the cavolo nero and the purple frizzy kale and the broccoli plants in the ground even though they're in OH's way and even though they've all flowered and have gone over. Our bumblebees are going wild for the flowers and I am keen to become self-sufficient in seeds. I've been very lucky so far: practically everything I've harvested, from dill to coriander to calendula, lettuce, perpetual spinach, tomatoes, runner beans, onions and all manners of garden flowers, has come up very reliably after I'd harvested the seeds and dried them over winter. So I want to gather these seeds too. That's one expense less each year.

OH and I have got one big project this year: the lifting and replanting of the old raspberries and the reallocation of the space. My big dream is still an asparagus bed. That, to me, is the holy grail of allotmenteering. We've cracked everything else. But an asparagus bed, well, it's permanent. I need to find a good space for it and I haven't got one yet.