It’s a bright and sunny day again and I was up the plot on my own this morning. It's the first day we have been up at the plot since the New Year and Luke wasn't going to come up at first. We usually go up on a Saturday but it had been pouring down with rain so we didn't go up.
During the week it had rained non stop and we have had very, very bad wind (excuse me). When I arrived at the plot the first thing I noticed was that the greenhouse door had blown off and the glass had smashed in the process (I told you it had been windy). Our plot is situated at the top of the allotment site and the wind really blows across it with some force. Two other people also had glass blown out of their greenhouses nearby. I had a wander round the plot to see if there was any more damage but everything looked OK.
The greenhouse was looking a little empty and I am getting impatient with not growing things during the winter months so I planted up some Little Gem lettuce, broad beans and spring onions in the greenhouse.
Luke managed to get down the plot early in the afternoon. Despite the lack of germination going on at this time of year, we still have a lot of leeks at our disposal. We planted around 250 in the summer and have only dug up around thirty so far. They were fairly slim that last time we picked them. They have thickened up quite a bit so we dug some more up today.
It was also really exciting to see the purple sprouting finally, well... sprouting. It looked more green than purple but it's growing and we are looking forward to sampling our first homegrown calabrese.
After looking around the plot we carried on digging the second plot. You would not believe the rubbish that is coming out of there - stones, building bricks, old clocks, pieces of cast iron, iron bars, carpet and plastic bags, you name it and we have dug it up. It seems a bit more difficult to dig this plot compared to the first plot just because there is so much junk in there. We went home with our bounty of leeks at around 3pm.
Tim was already up at the plot when I turned up. He had some strange looking things in the greenhouse and also a lot of pots and seed trays full of seeds. He really is getting impatient! He had some Jerusalem artichokes and Chinese artichokes, which seemed ridiculous as he hasn't even been to Israel or China. He probably got them from Worthing or somewhere not very exotic. They looked very bizarre indeed.
Because the glass had smashed out of the greenhouse door last week, we decided to replace the broken panes with pieces of cut to fit sheet plastic. I measured it all out and then Tim used a standard saw to cut the pieces out. The plastic is a lot more pliable than glass so shouldn't shatter as easily if the door happens to be blown off the greenhouse once more.
We moved one sheet of the weed-suppressing material from the second plot to cover one of the patches we had dug on the first plot. As soon as we moved it we could see that it had done it's job. The difference in the grass alone was enough to convince us that we would be able to keep weeds at bay on our lovely dug ground.
Here I am again and Luke is away with work. He seems to be having every other week off! The greenhouse door blew off again and another piece of glass is broken!!! Luckily the plastic window panes were intact.
I tried to burn the big pile of weeds we have dug out of the second plot but it's very damp so not much success. The pile did appear to decrease in size by the time I left but not by much.
This time last year I had decided to join Luke on the allotment and we were busy cutting all the brambles back. Today, however, was spent digging, digging and more digging (oh how I love digging).
Most of my time was spent on the first plot. After a few hours of hard work the plot was very nearly dug and prepared for the next growing season compared to last year when nothing was prepared. I dug the patch of ground on the first plot where we had planted sprouts, cabbage, spring onions and lettuce. Unfortunatley, we had planted things a little too late so they hadn't really grown much, hence the reason I was digging it all up.
During the day the word got out that Gordon in the shop had managed to get some supplies in for the new season so I went round for a nose. I came away with 14lbs of Arron Pilot first early potatoes, 14lbs of Desiree main crop potatoes, 3lbs of onion sets (there are loads - oops) and 3lbs of shallots (I counted 56 altogether), don’t tell Luke!!!!!!!!!
You would not believe how hot it was today. I was wearing a T-shirt in January - who would have thought it? I enjoyed today and managed to get lots done all by myself (come back Luke all is forgiven).
When I got home I laid out the potatoes for chitting ready for planting in February and March can’t wait. Roll on the summer!
