APRIL 2013

Twinkle in the Greenhouse

 

The very best times on the allotment are those when nobody else is working and it is totally quiet apart from the song of the birds and can even be so quiet that the munching of a rat is the only accompaniment.  It provides perfect peace at times away from all the trials and tribulations of daily life and allows valuable thinking time and space.  On the other hand an important part of working the plot are the chats with your neighbours and exchanging ideas and recounting successes and failures. 

 

 

The experiment with planting the first sewing of Twinkle peas in the greenhouse was a great success and the first picking came at the end of April far earlier than anything I had ever had before.  It worked well also because the pickings were over before the tomato plants were ready to go in.  Early sewings of beetroot in the greenhouse were also quite successful, the cabbages however were slow to grow and a poor colour.

 

 

Back at the greenhouse at home it was time to plant the runner and French beans. I always start the runner beans in large yoghurt pots as they give a long root run to give them a good start.  This I went back to Enorma as they have proved to the best for my plot.  By the end of the month they were ready for planting out.  The weather was improving but was still unseasonably cool, the annual task of putting up the runner bean canes was accompanied by the usual conundrum of do we put them North/South or East/West.  The problem with putting them East/West is they are prone to the strong South Westerly winds which can strike at any time in the West country, they went up North/South with a good deep trench filled with the contents of the compost bin, should be a good crop.

 

 We were all waiting for the weather to warm up, each day there were long debates about whether to take a chance and plant the runner beans or to hold off.  I took the plunge after a couple of sunny days and put them in well protected with scaffold netting.  However, just a few hours after planting the weather turned cold and windy and during the night the temperature plumetted resulting in a few hours of frost.  The  next day the runner beans were gone, the lovely green healthy leaves of the day before all shrivelled and brown.  Oh dear!  It was just a case of starting again. I planted a new crop and hoped for the best. 

Everything was beginning to demand attention, but still the temperatures remained low and the soil cold to the touch.  I did hear a tale that if the soil felt cold to a bare behind then it was too cold ,to sew seed, I was not about to test out that theory, but it certainly did not feel right for the time of the year!

Last year was disastrous for beetroot and other root vegetables the wet cold summer decimated the crops and I started sowing beetroot earlier than usual, this year I chose both good old Boltardy and a golden variety for a change. Fingers crossed for more success this year.

Signs of spring are everywhere, birds are nesting including great tits who have found a home under the waterbutt on next doors allotment!