This week on the plot - 27/2-2/3/12

Ultra busy week on the plot brought about by a week of dry(ish) weather. Motivated by needing to feel that everything was under control so that there is space for plants to go in when they're ready.

 So this week on the plot:

 Space made ready for first early potatoes

Compost bin turned into the one emptied last week

 then refilled with the contents that were in here

 Red Sun shallots planted (which curiously smelled like garlic!)

 and covered so the pesky birds dont pull them out

Space made ready for onion sets to go in in a couple of weeks

And then finally today pallets de-constructed (with limited swearing and only a couple of hand/hammer incidents)

 and the edges of my 30m path started to be edged

 which will then have weed membrane put down and bark chippings added on top in a couple of weeks.

I've managed to fit a lot in to the couple of hours I've spent there each day. Everything feels like its coming together now. Tis very good :)

Parsnips

I inspected the parsnip seeds when I got home last night and there were quite a lot that have germinated. 

The trick I've found in the past is not to let them get too big before trying to move them. Last year I moved them straight into their final locations at the plot with very poor results due to a very dry spring. This year I decided to go the slightly longer route, but a more reliable one for getting a good crop.

Using an old jam funnel I filled the toilet roll tubes to about an inch from the top with multi-purpose compost 

and firmed it down

Carefully handling the seeds only by the seed case placed them onto the firmed down compost. This is now where I could (probably) bore you by explaining about tropisms, types of germination and root hairs. 

Normal advice is not to handle the seeds when they are in this state as the developing shoot is very fragile. However I have had good success from this before and handling the seed only by the seed case eliminates most cases of damage occuring.

Some of the seeds havent yet germinated and may not (I will leave these a few more days to see if any more do then repeat the process above). This is the whole reason that I have come to use this method of sowing parsnips. They have a ridiculously poor germination percentage under good circumstances and in the past I've had 3 rows of parsnips where there have been 5 seeds all develop at one end and nothing else in the whole row. Doing this means that they will get planted out as plants, at the correct final spacing, and there wont be any need for thinning out, or empty rows with sporadic crops.

 Finally watered gently and now in the (unheated) greenhouse to grow on for a while.

Sunshine and wellies

The sun shone as promised. I sat in the garden having coffee and wearing wellies. It was a (mostly) good day today :)

Bought this loganberry yesterday and it desperately needed repotting. The amount of soil round the root was ok, but the shoot was in danger of getting really damaged as it was growing through the polythene.

I soaked it in water for about an hour and then potted it into a tall ish pot to grow on a bit further. Once it has established in this I will then decide where I want to plant it finally. Space needs making which is why its gone into a pot to start.

 The cauliflower seeds I started last month have got to this stage now and I decided that they could do with moving into their own plugs and then be put out into the greenhouse, having been on a cold windowsill for the past month.

 This afternoon took a trip down to the allotment. The asparagus will hopefully soon be making an appearance and clearing away all the chickweed will certainly help. Also cleared the area to the left of the asparagus bed as well.

Greenhouses and Compost

First job this morning was to get the cover back on the greenhouses ready for plants to go out into them in a few weeks when its warmed up a bit more. The 6x4 wasnt as difficult to get the cover back on as I thought it would be

Also got the covers on the two smaller ones so they're all ready now to bed filled up with plug trays.

Just behind the smaller greenhouses is the worm composter. The bottom section was completely filled and not allowing the water to drain so I scooped the worms and the associated compost into one of the other sections. I may need to transfer some of the worms down to the allotment compost bins as they have really been breeding over the winter and I think they may have reached critical mass.

There are a couple of snowdrops out in the garden and the snowflakes are opening as well. Also the quince tree has flower buds appearing which is really exciting. 

The liquid (tea) that had drained from the worm bin I have decanted into squash bottles and took to the allotment. It is a really good liquid feed and completely natural for the veggies and is used diluted 1/10.

The first job on the plot last year was to sort out the compost bins and the same has happened this year. I'd covered them at the end of last season and they were literally bulging over the top of the bins when everything was cleared. Today, their volume had reduced by about half.

Six barrow loads moved from this bin

 The bin where everything has been moved that was not completely rotted down has been recovered with black plastic to help keep it warm and damp and hopefully it will rot down quite quickly.

I'm now home, absolutely exhausted and slightly achy. Its a good kind of tired though.

February Sowings

More seeds sown this morning.

Unfortunately not all of these as I ran out of seed compost, but have sown

Tomato - tumbling tom, Gardener's Delight, black cherry and Moneymaker

Leek -musselburgh

Aubergine - early long purple 2

Stock - ten week mixed

Early purple sprouting broccoli

Onion - Ailsa Craig, Sweet Spanish yellow

Pepper - D'asi Giallo

Also have started some last year's parsnip seed and a new batch. Both germinated last year contrary to people being hesitant to use old seed, but most of the crop were lost with an usually dry spring and me not being able to get to the allotment and water them.

For the past 3 years I have set them like this. Waited until they have germinated then either placed them straight into the ground at the required spacings, or transferred them into toilet roll tubes and grown on until a couple of true leaves have appeared. I am going for the latter version this year, so that there is more chance of a crop appearing. Parsnips (especially roasted) are one of my favourite veg.

Yesterday I bought the seed potato I am going to use. I decided against the large bags of one variety and have gone for 5 seeds of 4 different varieties. The girls and I don't eat that many anyway and I really dont have room to store too many, and last years have started sprouting and a lot are going to be wasted. Hopefully this way we will have just what we need through the summer and autumn

Anya, Charlotte, Rooster, Kestrel

I wasnt going to bother with onions from set this year having had poor results in the past with bolting, but as I was there and buying spuds anyway I thought what the hell! Have got a bag of red and whites, and also some red shallots to try. Hopefully if the ground drys out a little on the plot they will go in this week. At the moment it is too wet to weed and make ready for them.

Final news is I have bought a new tap for the water butt that I was given at the end of last year. I need to decide where I want to site it now. 

Think that's it for now.