Distractions

I have been trying to be more disciplined. It's not working all that well. There are just too many interesting things to do once the weather warms up. It took me about three weeks to get two short rows of peas in the ground, amongst all the other things that were calling for my attention. On one memorable evening, I spent an hour sitting in the shed because the rain was hammering down so hard, complete with thunder and lightning, that I couldn't even make it home never mind do anything. Luckily one of the distractions was coaxing my lawnmower back into life, otherwise I wouldn't be able to find the plot by now.

As for progress, I can report the potatoes have survived the frost and are growing on well. Carrots and parsnip seeds are sown, finally. Garlic and onions are doing OK, despite the weeds. Both raspberries and strawberries are flowering away, promising another good fruit crop.  Sadly most seedlings that I was growing at home have been a complete disaster, meaning about half the plot is still empty, so I'm going to look out for some young plants in the next week or so. Hopefully garden centres will be stocked up ready for the jubilee weekend.

Potato damage

Last year's new potatoes were a disaster due to frost damage. This time, determined not to be caught out, I carefully placed a plastic tunnel over the bed to keep the crop safe. The spuds have been drawn into early growth by a lengthy warm spell, followed by a cooler period and a couple of frosts, so I was glad I had thought to add protection. On checking the progress yesterday, I can confirm that the tunnel was bloody useless and the young leaves have all been burned to a crisp. Luckily, they do still seem to be growing strongly, so ditched the tunnel and earthed up instead. Let's see if that does the trick, if not, next time I'm going to have to put the potatoes in the ground much later and see if that works.

The firing squad

As I walk down to my own plot there is a horrible messy allotment on the right hand side, surrounded by a six-foot wire fence. It seems solely used to keep a dismal bunch of scrawny, rag-tag chickens who nervously peck around on the bare earth inside their prison. The whole thing stinks, looks ugly and worst of all it is populated by a huge number of rats. I rarely see anyone there. However, last week as I headed home, I was startled to see a group of three men in drab clothing, standing in line in an eerily familiar posture, all with air rifles trained on the rat holes. I tried to strike up a conversation but they were immersed in their grim task and I quickly left them to it. By the looks of it they haven't had much success, the rats are just getting fatter by the day.

Boing! (and parsnips).

What was that noise? Was it spring, springing? Hmm let's not get too excited just yet. It's not long since temperatures were down to brass monkey-worrying -12 at night and if you listen to the BBC then the predicted drought ahead of us will turn most of Britain into a barren wasteland before Easter. If their wildly exaggerated claims are to be believed then soon the only available water will be the tears of allotment gardeners, which will evaporate before they hit the desert sand beneath our feet.

I went to get some parsnips for my Sunday roast this weekend and ended up very glad I had left them in the ground during the recent cold snap. They were tasting a bit bland up until now, but yesterday's were delicious because the freezing temperatures have turned more of the starch into sugar. Every cloud has a silver lining when you're a gardener.

Other signs of spring include the tips of our new daffodils beginning to emerge; we planted the bulbs quite late in the autumn so they are less well advanced than other examples in the local area. I quite like that, it means they'll last longer. The broccoli is looking promising too, I estimate edible purple tips will be ready in about 3 weeks. With a few extra minutes of daylight and a smattering of sunshine, it's possible to get quite happy at this time of year. Better be careful not to over-do it.

Sulking, sheds, and spuds

I went to the plot at the weekend for a sulk in my shed, as the weather was too bad to indulge my other major outdoor pastime of cycling. I rescued the scarecrow from his prone position due to high winds, and found that all the sheds had been broken into again, but like last time, nothing was taken, or even disturbed, apart from the lock. I was careful to use a weedy lock this time, now I won't bother to lock it any more. I was able to get a little bit of work done, including turning my compost between rain showers. I also made a cup of brown liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea, which I threw away.

Later in the week I found myself frozen in front of the potato display in the garden centre for what seemed like hours, completely unable to choose what I wanted to grow this year. In the end I broke the deadlock and picked up Premier first earlies, which promise to be 'very early and resistant to both blight and eelworm' (although an early variety doesn't need to be resistant to blight, because that is usually a late-summer problem). Those were swiftly followed by Desiree maincrop. I was tempted by Pink Fir Apple but reading the description I don't honestly think we would get through many of them back at home, so I went for a traditional variety instead.  I also picked up my  year's supply of parsnip (Tender and True) and carrot (Flyaway) and some potato fertiliser, all on special offer. I do like a bargain.

Depths of winter

I was able to supply parsnips and potatoes for the Christmas dinner table this year. Potatoes were from storage, parsnips were straight out of the ground (well cleaned and cooked first, obviously!). There are a lot of forked and twisted roots this year as I grew the parsnips in poorer soil than before, but they clean up OK with plenty left to eat. I seem to have lost my knack to roast properly and keep burning them, so more practice is definitely required.

There was one chance over Christmas when I had a clear day to go and do some more tidying up, so Scarecrow was stripped of his Christmas suit - although since I was last at the plot we've had really strong winds so I expect he'll be having a lie down when I return. I also cleared a few barrows of weeds, finished pruning the raspberry canes and mulched them ready for next year. I've found work done in the winter to prepare and keep tidy saves a lot of time in the spring and summer. I've taken to removing weeds right off the plot now, rather than composting or burning - it's too wet to burn, and I don't want them laying around rotting on the plot as they'll only re-grow. I'm pleased to report the garlic has finally decided to start growing, their familiar hard green shoots emerging like the tip of Excalibur rising from the lake. Hopefully the bulbs have put on a good amount of root growth under the soil.

I was able to donate some strawberry runners to a fellow plot holder who has done a remarkable amount of work, just round the corner out of sight from me. Pete and Jo, who are (I presume) retired have been spending every available day since late summer working on their two plots. One is a traditional veg plot, the other is like a pretty garden - still in its early stages but by summer it's going to look beautiful. I'm very impressed and will try to post some photos later in the year.

I still haven't really started my gardening 2012, despite having a bulging seed box to sort out, the latest seed catalogues to read, and a garden centre voucher burning a hole in my wallet. Hopefully I'll find time to make some plans and blog about them in the next week or two.

Festive scarecrows

It's a quiet time of year down at the allotments, so it was time at the weekend to give the scarecrow a festive spruce-up:

The Santa suit was £2.99 and the red felt was so bright it hurt my eyes

Also spotted this Cyberman on guard over a nearby plot:

Cabbages safe from marauding Time Lords - for now.