May Week Two Saturday 12th 2007
Working on the allotment this week was very difficult due to the harsh winds and it meant that we were not able to complete a very important project, namely the final repairs and relocation of the monolith towards the back of the plot due to the blustery conditions. This will now have to be completed next week as many of our tomato plants will shortly be ready for moving into thier final positions.
As such we re-prioritised and decided to give a thorough weeding from top to bottom of the plot which was completed relatively quickly despite the very damp and difficult soil due to the terrential rain which has been a prominent feature this week. Following this the plot was looking very smart and the rich dark brown of the moist soil was good to see after the parched weeks we saw in April and although it is not particularly warm we hope this will stand our crops in good stead for the coming months.
"On its Way"
However this satisfaction was quite short lived when we realised we had suffered the first casualties of the spring from local pests. The broad beans we are cultivating at the front of the plot, although looking healthy had attracted the first blackfly of the season. There were several stems which had a liberal covering of the little swines and as such had to be pinched out (destroying many prospective flowers) and destroyed to ensure they did not spread. Next week I may experiment and see if the particularly smelly rhubarb waters weve been brewing are an effective detterent for this pest should further colonies have materialised. Our spirits were further diminsihed when we realised the mixed cabbages and brassicas we had grown from seed and uncovered from its fleece last week in one of the central beds had been utterly destroyed. By the looks of it this vandalism was made by local pigeons who left thier characteristic peck marks allover the remaining battered leaves.
"Infested broads"
Luckily due to limited sucess in growing our own brussels, cabbages and cauliflowers from seed we had purchased some replacement, established seedlings from a local market vendor in the town centre and had bought some of them along today to plant. With a liberal sprinkling of Lime at the roots to prevent clubroot and a lot of tamping down to create a firm soil environment, they plugged the gap qute nicely and reminded us of the lesson we learned earlier in the year which was to never leave brassicas uncovered. We shall now also always extend this to our youg plants in future years, and after planting protected them with the use of plastic bottles and cloches with sealed up ends to prevent further carnage. When the rest oft he established, purchased specimines and plants we raised from seed go in towards the end of this month, we now intend to protect each variety of brassica with a more substantial and extendable mesh structure which will hoperfully house them until it is time for cropping in the winter/early next spring.
"Pigeon proofing"
We also made another, smaller harvest of the everlasting rhubarb and new radishes and earthed up the showing carrot seedlings to try and make burrowing to the roots more difficult for the carrot fly as well as added some remnants of weeding the potato drills to the top of thier mounds to further protect the developing tubers.
"Smashing spuds"
Our final task on site today was to help make the mixed salad patch a little more organised, lots of seedlings in some areas had germinated and relatively few in others and so the lines were reorganised and thinned to allow for more even growth and a variety of species. Some of the leftovers from the thinnings were planted in lines past the reorganised drills to try and increase our crop and lessen the need for more extensive sowings. They were then covered with cloches to help them recover from the root disturbance, we look forward to seeing if thier relocation has agreed with them this week. There are seveal new faces in the herb garden as well, a sowing of rocket is making its prescence felt and direct sowings and transplants of Chearino fennel are now looking very healthy and so were cloched to protect them from harsh winds. Before departing we took some of our beautifully flowering chives for our lunches in the week and installed a small gift a family friend had kindly given us which means that even we are not there someone will be looking out for the lottie.
"Flower pot men and blooming marvallous chives"
On our return home we turned our attention to the home grown seedlings currently inhabiting our conservatory and small outside greenhouse. The repotting of the celery, pumpkins and squashes to larger quarters seems to have been a sucess and many of the plants are now beefing up nicely. We in the week we have had one of our courgette seeds sprout and made further plantings of runner beans, sweetcorn and will soon be trying to raise some of our won plants of celeric. With the latter vegetable we are aware we are slightly late but are hopeful we can raise something worth planting before the spring is out. Unfortunately due to the ammount of plants in the conservatory and the heavy rain we are suffering with a lot of condensation and so are hopefully aiming to get most things hardened off and outside to help stop the structure from rotting from the inside out. For full details of the progress of all the varieties used on our plot and at home, dont forget to check out our newly updated "Seed and Cultivation Diary".