Welcome to our plot!

I'm Hazel, and in Nov 2006 my friend Jane and I took on a half plot at Hill Allotments, Sutton Coldfield - we want the satisfaction of growing and eating our own fruit and veg, and to improve our diet (and fitness!).

This is the story of what happened next...........

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Not to be thwarted

It was the first Saturday since starting at the Hill that I haven’t been able to do anything because of the weather – the SNOW from Thursday still hanging around. However, it was also the first Saturday that I was otherwise engaged – travelling to the south coast for a family ‘do’.

Could have taken the seed potatoes with me, as it happens, because I was talking to a very nice lady who has an allotment & I’m sure that I could have passed them on. Possibly not appropriate in the middle of the champagne-and-cake-cutting though.

I did find time on Saturday morning to pop over to show mum how we are getting on – she made a load of ‘I’m very impressed’ noises, even though you couldn’t actually see anything at all under the blanket of snow – and she even pushed the car when I got it stuck in the snow!

I had to liberate the polycarb & my poor cold frame from a layer of snow which has boshed in all the bubblewrap, so it’s a repair job next weekend with the duck tape.

Not to be deterred by the weather, & spurred on by the happy band at the Grow Your Own magazine forum, Grapevine, I did sow a little trough with turnip, radish, beetroot, beet leaf and lettuce in the expectation of eating my own salad in no time at all – & 5 days later I have seedlings! Hurrah!

I also bought a packet of pea seeds & sowed some in a big pot on the kitchen windowsill in the hope of cutting the seedlings when about 6” high for salads. I’ve covered the pot with a plastic bag which I’m hoping will act as both a mini greenhouse to aid seed germination, and as an anti-cat device to aid seed survival.

I’ve been musing on what to sow in the jiffy peat plugs (bought some more at the weekend, well they were cheap!) – I thought that parsnips would be a good move, as they are tricky to get going, & then I could stick the plugs directly in the ground, but the Grapevine suggests sowing these on damp kitchen roll squares to germinate, then sowing on from there. Sounds a fiddle, but I’m happy to try it.

Perhaps broccoli or Brussels sprouts would be good in the jiffy’s – both of which you only want a few plants of, so seems daft to sow a whole row in a seedbed.

The list of things to do for the end of Feb and into March is growing by the day – & the priorities for the weekend seem to be:
  • Planting the 5 Jerusalem Artichokes which I’ve saved and are going quietly soft in the fridge
  • Put in a row (or two?) of the Rocket first early potatoes
  • Mend cold frame
  • If broad beans still not showing (it’ll be 4 weeks since they went in) give up and put another lot in.

All we need is the weather – it’s forecast for heavy rain on Saturday, but I have every faith that the Good Weather Fairy will wave her magic wand again!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...