A week later on the allotment!

What a difference over the course of a week! Last Thursday driving wind and rain forced a retreat to the café, where we spent time finalising our seed order. Then today (Thursday) we had glorious Spring sunshine. It was a wonderful day for pottering in the allotment amongst the bees, ladybirds and birdsong. We saw our first Peacock butterfly of the year – all out enjoying a bit of early Spring warmth.

Conditions were perfect for a second bonfire, and we got through the remaining brash and fruit tree prunings.

Biztro shallots were planted between established garlic and onion sets, and we cleared a second bed for more. We laid a blanket of our own compost, covered the beds in plastic sheeting to warm up the soil for the first of our Early potatoes, which are currently chitting in someone’s attic.

Activity too, over in the Polyculture bed. Troughs were dug for more Dwarf Jerusalem Artichokes with some weeding in preparation for this year’s crops – including hopniss, climbing spinach and a new kid on the block – “Mangelwurzel” – a monstrous looking root vegetable from past times that we’re growing for interest as much as anything else.

One of today’s toughest tasks involved teasing out well-established perennial weeds and tubers from an under-used area where we hope to grow herbs. Bunches of chives were transplanted here, as the area does get a bit of shade and won’t suit more sun-loving varieties.

The job of fixing up bed surrounds continues, with some heavy-duty boring in advance of new posts going in.

We finished with some late season harvesting – perpetual spinach, Cottagers Kale, purple-sprouting broccoli and the last of the leeks.

Jobs for next week: Net the plum tree to protect emerging blossom from late frosts; coppice the willow; plant the first of our early potatoes; continue weeding and bed prep