The New Allotment: Mid-spring

What a difference a month makes – and what a month. My diary at the start of April records “No sign of anything growing yet except a few onions – and ground elder!” but by the end of the month it was “Popped in to water – it’s obvious things have grown since yesterday!”

21st March

24th April

By the middle of the month the potatoes, onions and beans I’d sowed in March were all in evidence. The onions in particular are doing much better in the half of the plot which I’d dug over and weeded, so my little experiment is turning out to be useful. When I planted more potatoes, 2nd earlies Wilja and Nicola, it was really evident that the compacted soil on the not-dug side drains much more slowly than the side I dug over. So if I do go for a no-dig system I’ll dig it over first to open the soil structure, as recommended by some proponents of no-dig gardening.

Sowed ‘Suger Bon’ sugar-snap peas (Lidl), early carrots ‘Nantes 2’ (Lidl) and ‘Amsterdam 2 – Amice’ (Wilko). Going for short rows in blocks rather than rows across the beds, which were what I did before. It’ll make them easier to weed. Carrots are a bit of an experiment as the soil isn’t ideal. Things were holding up well in the dry spell, moisture still coming up through the clay.

As well as the things I’ve planted and sown, I’ve had a few surprises. Several rhubarb and comfrey plants have appeared, possibly from where their roots were chucked after the plot was cleared. I dug up a sprouting stick from a rose bush and planted it near the gate. Maybe I’ll have roses trailing over my gate in years to come.

By mid-April I was starting to have to do lots of watering. Rain was unusual enough to record on 11th April. It’s going to be a year when getting into low-water habits is the thing. I’ve got a little system to cope with the low water pressure and save wasting water. Pop hose in watering can, go and do a bit of weeding. Grab can just as water is getting to the top, pop hose into water butt. Water part of a plot, put hose back into can and go back to the weeding… repeat as necessary. I’ve also started mulching the soft fruit, copying an idea from EcoWorks who I’d been working with earlier in the week. You soak newspaper then put it in a layer over watered ground. I put leaves/chippings from the avenue on top as I’ve nothing else, but straw looks better.

Newspaper and woodchip mulch

Later in the month I finally started on the brassica bed, planting a few scrounged cabbage plants, and sowing some kohl rabi ‘Superschmelz’. I’ve grown kohl rabi before, but I’m looking forward to trying a few more different brassicas as I’ve not had enough space before. I also sowed 3 rows of 8 Red Baron onions. The whites are looking good – I looked at them and thought “I know they are doing all the work, but it was me that weeded the soil and put them there” and felt a little glow of satisfaction.

I’m sure weeding’s going be a theme this year, especially once it does rain. I’ve tried to pre-empt this by covering up the worst area of weeds with cardboard. Well, maybe second-worst. The Japanese Knotweed at the bottom of the allotment is getting huge. It doubled in size in a few days earlier in the month. Scary. However the other clump looks distinctly peaky so hopefully another treatment will sort it out.

Cardboard over ground elder, thistles, etc, but Japanese knotweed loomimg in the background!

By the Easter holidays I was trying to decide where to put my main-crop potatoes, as there’s only room for a few more in the potato plot, and I still had twenty seed potatoes chitting. I started digging an area further down the plot, but it was full of sticks and rubbish. Tried another area near the top, but it was very dry and sandy with lumps of real clay, no good for spuds at all. So back to the first spot – at least it is full of organic matter. Planted Highland Burgundy Red and Robinta maincrop potatoes. The latter was particularly keen to get growing, it’d started growing little leaves on it’s ‘chits’. Later realized I’d done the traditional thing of planting my potatoes on Easter Sunday. I’ll have to find another spot for a potato bed especially for Pink Fir Apples, and make it a particularly comfy bed.