A typical March day on the allotment

A proper March day with the weather starting sunny and with a good drying wind but by the middle of the day there was a downpour and we were quite soaked by the time we had cleared up and left.

Today saw the start of the growing season on the plot with the planting out of the shallots. Tom has grown these on from seed sown on the shortest day of the year and we shall pull them up around the longest day.

The soil is in wonderful condition for digging and we managed two beds today, one for the onions and one of the new raised beds for the potatoes before we had to leave. The bed for the potatoes had a good layer of leaves put in the bottom of the trenches to help keep in the moisture as well as manure to boost the fertility.

The ground is surprisingly dry for this time of year and the strawberries being on raised rows are even drier so they were given a good watering.

The area for the sweet peas was dug over last week and this week had manure dug into the trenches where the plants will go.

The last of the leeks was used up today and we had a picking of pak choi, kale and broccoli and still plenty of Jerusalem artichokes.

Jobs for next week
Digging
More digging!