Planning ahead on the Allotment
We are having brilliantly sunny days at the moment but with such cold nights (with several degrees of frost) there is no point in doing any seed sowing. And that gives us time to do more weeding, especially along the hazel border.
We are also hoping the plum blossom, which is just opening, will not be frosted otherwise there won’t be many plums this year!
The frame for the sweet peas was put up and with the weather due for a change next week, we are now all set for the start of the sowing and planting.
In the meantime, it is a good idea to do the first sowings of peas in trays/pots/guttering. Direct sowing at this early stage usually only gives the local mice a feast and you are lucky if they leave any peas in the ground.
Asparagus kale grown from seed from Orkney crofts
Growing vegetables is all about planning ahead and it is now about time to be sowing the seeds for next winter’s brassicas – kale, broccoli and so on. These do take several months to grow so time to get busy, either in pots for transplanting later or you can direct sow in a spare bit of ground.
Or you can support your local garden centre and buy young plants!
Jobs for next week
- Plant out the young broad bean plants
- Plant out the sweet peas
- Plant out the remaining early potatoes
- Sow the first row of carrots – weather permitting
