Its seems safe to say it – spring is well and truly in the air! The milder weather and warming spells of sunshine has prompted us into a frenzy of activity down on the plot. We are hoping this warm and early start will get our first sowings and plantings well underway. A fine display of spring flowers; Hyacinths and Daffodils welcomed onto the plot with a renewed vigour that we have not felt since this time last year.
The main task of the month was to finish our ground preparations, which mainly included rotorvation of the empty seed beds. This quickly turned the uneven and tired ground of last year into an easily workable surface, ideal for sowing new crops.
The other big activity was to get our Potatoes in place, this was done immediately after the rotorvator had finished chewing its way through the soil. So that the earth was light and easy to move – an utter godsend when you have eight trenches to dig let us tell you! Our Rocket, Pentland Javelin and Anya tubers were lovingly deposited at the bottom of our trenches, with a warm blanket of shredded paper to retain moisture later in the year. The trenches were then back filled and piled as high as we could manage to protect them from frosts and help them grow tall. A final top dressing of mulch, occasional earthing up, weeding and regular watering should be all that is required until these little beauties are ready for harvest in July.
Our inexhaustible fruit bed needed its final bit of attention this month, in the form of some Strawberry relocation. This scruffy and rather neglected patch has evolved away from its initial incarnation over the past few years, as such we decided to give them a dedicated area to grow and thrive this time around. Standing clear of the fruit cage and out of the way of trampling feet, we created dedicated ridges for our plants to sit on. With sufficient room for a bit of muck and later in the season, straw mulch to protect the fruit and preserve moisture it looked immediately better. Last year’s strawberry haul was disappointing to say the least, so with a bit of care and attention we are hoping for bigger and better things of this patch in 2009.
The Japanese Onions and Garlic we planted very early on this year are clearly marking their territory and thanks to our freshly prepared soil, they welcomed some compatriots in the form of Red and White Onions, as well as Shallots. This summer we will be keeping them quite dry and leaving them to mature as long as possible to encourage firmer growth and better keeping qualities.
Other sowings which were completed once all the seed beds had been prepared were Salads, Radishes, Beetroot, Carrots, Kale, Chard and Parsnips. The more temperamental of these were covered with cloches and on our next visit, we will very much be hoping for some signs of life to properly get the spring ball rolling. Remember to take a look at our Seed Cultivation Diary for details of the varieties and sowing methods we are using.
Other additions to the plot this month were the relocation of a small plastic Greenhouse from home and the creation of a pond to encourage wildlife (preferably of the slug eating variety). The greenhouse was fastened to one side of our shed to prevent it falling over and will hopefully provide us with a bit of extra space for cultivating crops and hardening off seedlings. The pond we decided to make out of our old unused Belfast Sink which we discovered on the plot when we took it over in 2006. Being of little use to us, we decided to make it a haven for water loving animals that might be able to assist us in some small way with pest control. Despite some minor teething problems, i.e. the covering we put in it to retain water having a hole – we are hoping that this will be a valuable and attractive addition to the site.
We erected our bean pole frames in readiness for our Runner, Broad, Climbing and French Beans that should hopefully be assuming their place towards the end of April.
All in all we’ve managed to get the plot in good order during March; ready for the busy, fast moving times to come in the summer months. Yet, there is plenty more work to be done and projects to be completed before we can say that we’re home and dry, or that its now all down to the thee W’s (weather, weeding and watering). Keep an eye out for April’s update to see what else we’ve been getting on with.
