Monday 23rd February 2009 - Free Seeds

Today the free seeds came in the post which I'm chuffed about - it seems ages ago we sent off for them from the Daily Telegraph voucher Dave's Dad gave us. We got 10 different packets (Autumn King Carrot, Bedford Brussels Sprout, Moneymaker Tomato, Salad Bowl Lettuce, Detroit 2 Crimson Globe Beetroot, Greyhound Cabbage, Bouquet Dill - Herb, Coriander Confetti - Herb, Rocket - Herb, French (plain-leaved) Parsley - Herb).

Looking forward to March now and I can start sowing things and watching things slowly growing again !

Spring is definitely coming - Sunday 22nd February 2009

Well, the weather was lovely again today so Daddy, Mummy & Henry all went for a work-out at the allotment ! First of all we dug over and weeded one of the new beds near the shed, and then Daddy dug over and weeded the smaller bed next to it ready for the rhubarb (which we must remember to ask Uncle Nige to dig out of his garden !).

Next Mummy & Henry planted some potatoes that Mummy found all sprouting nicely in the kitchen cupboard yesterday ! We think they were Desiree, and they may not survive being planted now but otherwise they would have just gone in the bin so we will wait and see ! We have put them in next to the broad beans.

Then we dug over and weeded Henry's patch and checked the 9 garlic plants Henry has in his patch were doing well. Then we dug over and weeded the final bed at the front of the allotment, so that is now clear apart from a few spring cabbage plants.

Henry and Mummy checked all the fruit trees and bushes and they all have little buds coming - the apples seem to have more than the plum or cherry tree - maybe they come a bit earlier - will wait and see. The gooseberry bush is showing signs of life too. The only things not showing anything at the moment are the raspberrys and the blueberry bush.

The front of the plot looking a little tidier !

Henry digging the potato bed over - 15th February

Henry did enjoy trying to do the digging but he wanted to use Mummy & Daddy's fork, not his own one which is sized especially for him - hence it was a slow process !!

Sunday 15th February 2009

Well, it felt like the start of Spring this morning. The weather was alot milder and there was 'almost' sunshine !!! Henry and I decided to go down to the allotment this morning to give it a good sorting out in readiness for the Spring planting to begin.

We arrived about 10am and were the only ones there at that point, but during the morning we saw quite few people arrive (Graham came, Maxie the dog and his Daddy, Mark the chicken man, and the tall Royal Mail man who gave us the leeks last year). It was nice to see it getting busier again, its been so quite recently.

Everything was looking well, all the trees and bushes had little buds starting so that was nice to see. The first thing we did was to dig over the new large bed ready for the early potatoes in a few weeks time. Apart from a couple of bricks and a bit of metal wire, this wasn't too bad. And Henry helped !!!

The next photo is looking at the broad beans (which are not doing as badly as I thought after the snow, they seem to have picked up a bit), and you can just see the new fruit trees as well in the background. Unfortunately the photo also illustrates all the work we still have to do digging out the back end next to the shed and getting ready for the greenhouse.

Sunday 8th February 2009

We all went down early this morning, the snow was still on the ground and it was freezing but under the snow the ground was soft enough to be able to plant the 3 fruit trees (Bramley Seedling apple, Dual apple (Sunset & Golden Delicious) & the dual plum (Marjorie's Seedling & Cambridge Gage). We had a brief look at the other things but couldn't see alot of them for the snow. The broad beans are not looking too good, but we'll see what happens when Spring come properly and the weather gets warmer ! Fingers crossed it won't be too long !!!

Saturday 7th February 2009 - The Allotment Shop is open !!!

Hooray ! The allotment shop is now open once again for the season. I went down fairly early to get my potatoes and seeds - very pleased with my purchases. I bought 7 Accent potatoes (1st early), 7 Anya potatoes (2nd early), 10 Cara potatoes & 10 Desiree potatoes (both maincrop). I also got 5 free Yukon Gold potatoes (these are early potatoes too) which came with the membership.

Membership has gone up to £3 for the year but the savings on the potatoes and seeds must easily pay for that. Graham has set up a website as well for the allotment so I'm looking forward to looking at that later on tonight. I also bought Broad bean - Sutton Dwarf, Climbing French Bean - Corona D'Oro, Cucumber - Crystal Lemon, Sweetcorn - Early Sweet, Squash - Sweet Dumpling, Cauliflower - Clapton, Pea - Hurst Greenshaft, Leek - Mussleburgh, Lettuce - Tom Thumb & Parsnip - Countess. The whole lot including membership cost about £17.50 !!