MARCH 2013

Spring Just Around The Corner

Every allotment set up will have their characters and we are no exception, Farmer John has a broad Devon burr which is difficult to understand and results in me having to nod sagely and inject our conversation with 'really', 'of course' and 'that's great' in what I hope to be the right places. Farmer John however, has the ultimate green thumb.  Droopy cabbage plants which, if they were mine, would not survive the night perk their little leaves up and within the twinkling of an eye are luscious green plump cushions which for some peculiar reason the pigeons seem to ignore and turn their attentions to everybody else's brassicas.  Then there is Mrs A who cannot bear to part with any plant that happens to alight on her plot, if they were all edible this would be fine but unfortunately this includes a variety of rampant weeds and invasive garden plants that have been introduced from her garden.  As a consequence she has to carve small squares out of the plot in which to plant her vegetables and the rest of us mutter as the daisies, poppies, forget-me-nots etc. liberally spread their seeds over everyone else. 

 

Then there are 'the sheds', a wonderful melange of shed built sheds, expensively purchased examples, one fabulous corrugated offering painted in camouflage colours. The chaps on the plot take the whole shed thing very seriously indeed, springtime is accompanied by much hammering and sawing as sheds are constructed, extended and beautified.  The ladies on the other hand are just as happy tidying their sheds, and yes I do have a brush to give it a sweep out from time to time.  My own shed is painted in a fetching shade of green in the hope it will blend into the background, and at the beginning of the season it has a major tidy and starts the season looking like this:

 

 

 

 

March started well, planting of early crops got under way, I only grow a few broad bean plants as they are not the favourite family veg, some early lettuces and cabbages went in the greenhouse to speed their development.  My first sowing of Twinkle peas had also gone into the greenhouse as an experiment to see if I could get an even earlier crop.  Rhubarb picking was well underway, I inherited a number of crowns some of which are exceptionally early and if the weather is kind the earliest pickings of non forced rhubarb can be at the beginning of February.  The strawberry bed was now three years old and underwent a radical sort out and given a good feed of potash.

 

 

 

 

  New strawberries also arrived in the post and were popped in the new bed prepared for them.  This was created from the area previously given over to raspberries which had never done particularly well and were dug out in the previous autumn and the ground deep dug and composted.  The strawberry crop from the previous year had been spectacular and the plants remained vigorous and survived to produce another year.

 

So all was going well then came the rains, torrents, sheets, deluges over many days.  The allotment site is surrounded by fields on three sides.  The field to the North (top of the site) had been ploughed with the ridges running North to South all heading towards the site.  A reservoir formed at the bottom of the field until the hedge and bank could no longer hold it back and it broke through.  The resulting river of water carved its way through large swathes of the top plots swamping large areas of ground and causing the top soil to be washed down the hill and deposited on the lower plots.  Eventually the rains eased and we plodded along to stand and look at the devastation, the newly laid rubble path had disappeared and my carefully spread manure was now on my neighbours plot.

 

 There was one saving grace the rains came before I had planted my potatoes, hurrah!

However, time was running out for the potatoes as the chits were beginning to look decidedly straggly. A central path divides the plot into two matching halves, the Sarpo potatoes were planted on one side and main crop non Sarpos on the other.  Each row was carefully labelled, I must confess I am not always very good a remembering to label things but as I was keen to see which variety did the best I was, on this occasion, most precise.  Sometimes there is an immense sense of satisfaction that all the tasks on the plot are up to date, sadly this doesn't happen very often as there is always something to do.  Even greater then the pleasure to be gained from leaning on your spade and enoying the moment.