Peak Planting Week on the allotment

A lovely sunny day with a slight background breeze – perfect conditions for what felt like peak planting week, with the soil warm and rain predicted for the weekend.

The picnic table was quickly laden with trays of young plants, germinated on windowsills and in greenhouses and hardened off in back gardens.

Raking over, manuring and frame-building were accompanying activities for each crop. These included cauliflower, Greyhound cabbage, runner and climbing French beans, courgettes (Marrow and Syres) and Heritage peas (Brochette and Hurst Greenshaft). We also planted some traditional perennials: skirret – a hardy veg grown for its sweet parsnip-like roots and Chinese artichoke – a crunchy root that can be harvested throughout winter. Both can be eaten raw or cooked also Cottagers Kale ( Taunton Deane) a mix of purple and green leaves which can be picked as required over the year. Yacon – a sweet-tasting tuber and member of the sunflower family joined the party over in the Unusual Veg bed.

Some harvesting today too – a first for the strawberries and sweet peas – marking the start of Scottish summertime. We also pulled up the garlic (Carcassone and Thermadrone) as we needed their bed. We’ll hang them to dry out for a few weeks.

 

The grass was mown and clippings used as a mulch under our young plants. No flatworms detected!

Jobs for next week: plant more Heritage veg; thin the plums; edge the grass; harvest more strawberries; weed over in the Communal Bed