Potatoes 2011

I have sourced seed potatoes from the garden centre this year rather than mail order, as I am normally disappointed by how long it takes for them to arrive. Often by the time they get here there's not much time for them to develop decent shoots before planting time. Plus, I'm impatient. So, two types of potatoes are now busy chitting on various window sills. I have Cara maincrop from Thompson & Morgan again, because I was very happy with results last year - not only a good crop but tasty potatoes. I am also trying Pentland Javelin first earlies, which are supposed to be ready only 10-12 weeks after planting. These are from Taylor's, according to the packet.

Not rotten enough yet

The council have delivered some stable manure to the allotments. My neighbour John pointed this out to me in the late Autumn when he started to add mounds of the stuff to his beds. I went and inspected the pile, but to me it looks a bit too fresh to be incorporated just yet. There's hardly any muck, it's mainly fresh straw and wood shavings. In his book (that I have mentioned before here) Terry Walton notes that manure with wood chippings and sawdust is to be avoided, as it takes too long to break down, making plant growth poor. So, I have opted to stack a few barrow-loads in my new compost heap and maybe use it next year.

Roll on to January and John has now covered virtually all his 10 poles in the stuff, and I was a bit concerned to see another experienced plot holder, Roy, wandering off with barrow-loads of the same. However, when I spoke to Roy (a dangerous thing to do if you've got less than half an hour to spare), he volunteered that he wasn't using it on his plot, but was stacking it 'for a year, maybe two' before using any. Great, at least that's two of us with the same opinion. We mused a bit on the worn state of the ridings, and Roy told me how they used to bring sewage and waste from Wolverton Works down for allotmenteers to use. That was, until they discovered that due to the industrial processes it was full of poisons like lead. Hardly what you want on your vegetables. In those days, enterprising gardeners used to stack up the sewage (animal and human I guess) into a smelly pile, set a fire in the middle and let it burn for a couple of days to dry it out enough to use. I went away fairly pleased that we don't need to do that any more!

More seeds

Leek seeds were sown indoors last week. Must remember to label them because they look exactly like onions when they first come up.

Onion progress

Some very cheerful progess by my onion seeds. At first I thought they looked a little weak and pale, with one or two going down to a white fluffy mould. I removed the sickly ones so they didn't pass on any infection and the best examples have now managed to get enough light and are starting to grow strongly. I have negotiated a more sunny position with the boss so hopefully the rest will catch up.

Onion seedlings ready to pot on

Advice on Terry Walton's website http://www.gardenersclick.com/ is that these now need to be potted on whilst they are still at the 'hairpin' stage, so that is my job this weekend if I can find something to pot them into.

Parsnip success



A 14" parsnip

There's always one crop that does particularly well every year, even if everything else fails. This year it's parsnips.

New compost bins

Rain again this morning, but by the afternoon the sky changed from its usual grey to a funny blue colour and a strange, bright yellow light appeared in the sky, so I took a chance and disappeared off to the plot for a couple of hours until the light disappeared again.

 I cleared out my 'rubbish corner' and used a combination of new and old pallets to make two new compost bins. It's been nearly a year since I dismantled my previous heap, and I've missed it.

Now harvesting: leeks, parsnips.

The new compost heap

Never make plans

I was looking forward to heading down to the plot today, as for the first time in ages I expected to be free of other commitments for a few hours, but the heavens opened and it lashed down with rain most of the day. The moral of the story, never get your hopes up, you'll only be disappointed.