Busy, busy, busy on the Allotment
Thursday was a day mostly spent on weeding the fruit and vegetable beds; we needed to water since there has been no rain (update: there has been rain since then!) but the warmer days means the weeds are growing just as well as the veg.
The old plants of asparagus kale were dug up and some new, young plants put in, a hyssop grown on from cuttings planted and the Hamburg parsley plants which are really too small to plant out yet were taken home again for growing on.
Everything was watered again and this week the rhubarb was given a good soak as well. The leaves were looking as if the plant was dying down for the winter and there were a number of white stalks which hadn’t turned red. There were certainly plenty of leaves so perhaps there is too much growth for the size of root when the soil is dry. Come the winter we shall dig up the root and split it.
The shallots are now a good size, and it is time to reduce each one to three bulbs to get them to a good size. The thinnings are, of course, good for eating.
The spring cabbage has heartened up and ready for cropping. Growing it under enviromesh means that what little damage was caused was from the ever-present slug and snail population.
And the reward for all the hard work was a splendid picking of strawberries!
Jobs for next week
- Watering
- Cut the comfrey, add to compost heap
- Cut the grass
- Mulch the broad beans, peas with leaf mould
