JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2013



 

 

Christmas lunch is just a lingering memory of wonky carrots, crunchy sprouts and peppery swede - time for a well earned rest.

 

 

The desolation of the plot in winter mistiness and sagging - will Spring ever arrive?



But wait - there are signs of winter life, leeks for the pot, over wintering onions nestling under the netting and the first ruby shoots of early rhubarb.

Planning the plot continues, every year each crop is moved down one bed so nothing is grown on the same spot two years running, the plot allows a rotation of four years.  The soil is light and free draining, but can dry out quickly without some coarse humous dug in during the winter.  The plot is at the top of the field which is a gentle South facing slope containing about 25 plots of varying sizes.  It is a comforting thought that the land has been given over to allotments for over 100 years, turning the soil over regularly reveals shards of willow pattern plate, discarded long ago, broken stems of clay pipes, fragile and chalky, small heaps of cockle shells thrown on a long forgotten rubbish heap and taken to the village dump on which the allotments were formed. 

 

January allows the Allotment Committee, of which I am the sole lady representative, to put our heads together and take stock.  The waiting list has been sorted out and people contacted to see if they still wish to have a plot, a collection of circumstances has released several plots this winter and my sense of fair play insists that we allocate them to the people on the list in strict date order.  This causes a few ruffles, but the deed is soon done and there are a number of brand new plot owners straining at the leash to get started.  Those of us who have been working our plots for a number of years view this enthusiasm with a wry smile and lay mental bets on just how long they will last.  I am happy to tell anyone who asks that working an allotment is nothing like gardening, it is VERY HARD WORK!

 

The first preparations make a tentative start in February, not on the plot but back at home in the greenhouse, the first sowings of peas in drain pipes.  Over several years I have discovered that the variety 'Twinkle' works well on my soil and give an early crop, grown in the pipes and transferred to the plot when about two inches high, reduces the risk of naughty mice stealing the peas and wet conditions rotting them away before they shoot. 

 

     

 

Sarpo Kifli (2nd early), Mira (Main), Orla (1st early)

 

Excitement stirs as the seed potatoes arrive in the post to be chitted in the greenhouse, this year I am going to trial the Sarpo varieties which are said to be blight resistant.  If so this will be excellent as each year the potatoes have been disappointing as we are very prone to blight on the potatoes and tomatoes.  Along with the seed potatoes there is a packet of blight resistant tomatoes, hopes are high as these coupled with my new greenhouse on the plot acquired at the end of 2012 and now clean and waiting for its first plants could mean a crop of tomatoes for the very first time in eight years.  We shall see!!!!

 

Things are going well, most of the plot is covered with carpet and plastic sheets to protect the soil from the wet weather the West country suffers from at all times, but particularly in the winter months.  However, after a few dry days in a row digging and uncovering continues, anticipation mounts.