Construction, Growing, Polytunnel & Watering

 26th March 2022, Construction, Growing, Polytunnel & Watering

We’re close to the end of March now. April is when everything kicks off down here at the allotment. If you haven’t started sorting out the plot yet, then it’s time, as April goes a bit mad, especially if the weather is good… Here, in England, sunshine and showers is the typical weather in April, which is ideal for plants (and weeds) as the weather warms up too…

In the 1st picture the first part of the potato structure has been installed and some potatoes + soil planted… we need to get this thing sorted now otherwise we will be later than we wanted with the rest of the potatoes.

The neighbour’s Rosemary has started growing fast already, right across the pathway, hopefully this will get tied up soon… in the meantime maybe a few cuttings and lamb on the menu? 

In the 2nd picture we have taken the Cloche off the raised bed while we sow some produce, and Desi is making good use of the relocated water pipe. Although it is still March, the weather has been so dry we are having to use water to soften the soil so we can plant or get the ground ready. Some carrots, parsnips, beetroot and strawberries in the raised bed to kick start things…

In the Polytunnel we are collecting the rainwater from the cold frame into saved up milk containers. These have been stored on the ledge constructed from the outside raised bed, already sorted on this side of the polytunnel. The wood is being kept dry here. It will be used on the potato construction. All this stuff in here needs sorting out ready for the tomatoes, peppers and aubergine a bit later on. We were late last year, so hoping we manage to time things a little better in 2022!

We are starting to plan what we are going to put into the cold frame. Because of the double skinned walls, sealed floor, lid, and a small heater, plants can be kept at a temperature of about 12C even if it's freezing during the night, so we can put tender plants such as tomatoes, peppers, aubergines in here as they need to get going early in the season when it is too cold to put them in the ground.

Still plenty of work to do in the front of the polytunnel. We’re up against this time-wise as well, because we want to sow the grass this spring now the weather is warming up.

The raised bed now with the Cloche cover on, protecting those tender plants as well from too much exposure to the cold, although these plants are a bit more hardy than the ones in the cold frame. Carrots and parsnips can be sowed as seeds here.

We have no idea how the carrots and parsnips will fare in the soil that we have put into this raised bed. It might be a bit too hard and restrict growth. It's possible we will need to lighten things up with some sand and look further into the companion planting idea. This is where we try and grow crops that work well when planted adjacent to each other…