25th April 2022, Looking around the allotment now…
Having completed the fence and levelled off the three plots, as well as put up the potato structure and built around the back of the polytunnel, perhaps now is a good time to take stock and do a little tour around our creativity.
In the first picture, the plot has come a long way since the 8th February, that’s only 2.5 months but quite a lot has now been finished off that we couldn’t squeeze into last year. We have been very fortunate with the weather on this.
In the second picture we are looking across and down the plot. It makes a huge difference to both the growing, and we are imagining, the maintenance, having all of the plots level and contained on all sides by wood. The rescued winter / spring green salad / leaves are doing well. Now giving them some love and attention has really brought them on.
Looking through the gap between the compost bins and the polytunnel, you can see bamboo canes sticking up. We are using a tall round bucket (another rescue) to keep them all tidy and in one place until we use them later in the growing season. The broad beans are now in flower having made a good recovery from the bashing they got in late February with the gales that did such devastation.
Looking from the road in the next picture you can see that the horseradish has begun to grow. This has been left in situ in order to provide a natural hedge facing the road. It has been thinned out a lot when putting together the fence, plinths and borders here… let's see how well that was done!
Moving to the other side of the cold frame and looking back towards the compost bins we have found a few primroses to give a little bit of colour in the spring, we are on the hunt for some other early flowers like snowdrops… when they arrive it is always a sign that spring is on its way.
Looking down the plot from the other road on the other corner, seems like we still have lots of wood cluttering up the bottom growing area… time to shift that elsewhere or use it at least! The Passiflora is still looking a bit sorry for itself. We are looking forward to seeing how that does in the coming year too.
In the next picture - a close up of the recently completed plot. A nice growing area now all levelled up. These salad crops and chard are doing ok. I think we may need to replace them at the end of this year if we want chard. We had so much the year before I think we might give it a rest after this year and grow other things.
Looking up from the lower plot towards the road, things seem very brown at the moment, but full of potential as we await our seedlings (to grow) and the spring to advance a little further.
In the last picture, the final part of the construction, the Jerusalem Artichokes are relocated now, and everything is ready to go… it will be interesting to see what grows best in all these different nooks and crannies we have created. The green containers on the plinths around the compost bins now have the sweet peas planted, they are quite hardy so can stand a mild frost, hopefully we are seeing the tail end of those now.
