Thursday 18 May 2017

Allotment Day

I thought it was probably about time that I posted another allotment post, although I have to say that there isn't an awful lot going on down at the allotment just yet.
 
I decided to visit today, because there appeared to be a break in the weather, before what is supposed to be a rainy few days over the weekend, so it seemed like a good opportunity.  The Flylady zone cleaning was put on the back burner, and I headed over to my plot instead.

Some of the seeds I've sown on the plot so far haven't actually germinated well, so there's not actually much to show for the work I've put in there. The lettuces have probably been the most successful sowings, but the potatoes are coming along well too, thankfully.

The broad beans got blackfly infested due to my not pinching out the tips early enough, and the onions seemed to be rotting already, probably on account of disease being in the soil from the previous tenant growing them.

Not the best start, but such is gardening and to be honest, I'm not really bothered about growing onions or carrots, as they are so cheap in the shops and very prone to disease and pests, I'd rather grow crops that are more expensive to buy, such as salads, beans and fruit.

I still had one bed and the area around the compost bin left to weed this visit, plus a few more weeds had sprung up where I'd weeded before, so I cracked on with getting them under control again.

That's the problem with starting again on a new plot.  You inevitably inherit particular challenges from previous tenants and in this case, I've inherited some very persistent and quite deep rooted perennial weeds, that take a bit of eradicating, as any little piece of root left in the soil tends to shoot and regrow.  I'll get there eventually, but it might take a bit of perseverance.

I took some kale plants with me that I'd grown from seed and planted them out, once I'd done as much weeding as I could manage. They should be pretty hardy. There's just a couple of paths left to finish weeding, but after three hours of digging I just didn't have anymore energy to tackle them and by this time it had started raining quite heavily too.

At least the climbing bean and sweet pea seeds, that I sowed on my last visit a couple of weeks ago, have started to germinate, which was encouraging.  The plot still looks pretty bare compared to more established plots on the site though. I guess I've just got to be a bit patient and give it time.

Apologies for the lack of photos, I took the camera, but unfortunately the battery needed charging. Big fail. I'll post some over the weekend.

3 comments:

  1. At least you have made a start and once everything starts to grow and thicken out it will fill the space more and you will see the fruits of your labours! We had Convolvulus in our Scottish garden - I just had to keep digging it out again and again - but now it is clear.

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    Replies
    1. I think this might be something similar. The plant shoots from both ends of the root, so you get double the weeds appearing.

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  2. You have a good start on your garden. I am hoping that ours comes up well this year.

    God bless.

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