Peas and Tranquility Is Sweet

Matucana -
sown - biodynamic 9th January 2012
potted on - 21st February 2012
tops pinched out - end February

Cupani -
sown - synodic February 2012
Potted on - 1st March 2012

Changing Landscape

The weather is holding at the moment and it really feels as though Spring is almost here. With that in mind we knew we had to get our allotment shaping changed and fast. Before the sowing outdoors/planting season arrived. The story so far:-

Bed 1 - permanent fruit bed, weeded, needs mulch
Bed 2 - last one requiring reshape, weeding and mulch - overwintering brassicas UPDATE - completed 26/2/12
Bed 3 - mulched and ready for potatoes
Bed 4 - split, weeded and mulched ready for legumes
Bed 5 - split, weeded and mulched ready for leeks, trench celery
Bed 6 - weeded, to be mulched - overwintering alliums - UPDATE - completed 26/2/12
Bed 7 - permanent asparagus bed - weeded and mulched
Bed 8 - permanent raspberry bed - weeded and mulched

We bark chipped two of the six paths today. Two are already done. Two need redoing.

By next weekend we should be on top and ready to start thinking about putting in the slabbed area, so that we can sit during the summer months and admire our hard work.

Seventeen Degrees In February

WOW What a scorcher today! I saw my first bumble of the year...I had heard one the other day but did not catch sight of it. Here it is, dusted in pollen

Sow Much to Sow - Pardon My Pun

Leaf and flower week in February calls for Brussels Sprout, Lettuce, Celery, Gherkin and Cucumber...lots of flowers too! Pot Marigold, Nasturtium Empress of India...it's beginning to feel a lot like Spring is coming. The bees are buzzing, birds are flitting to and fro, the days are lengthening.

23rd February 2012
Hottest day of the year so far at 17 degrees centigrade...WOW!

I have sown tagetes Pot Marigold Nova, Celery Full White, Giant Red and Sold Pink, Lettuce Blonde a Couper, Cucumber Beth Alpha, Boothbys Blonde and King of the Ridge, Gherkin Piccolo Di Parigi and Cornichons de Paris.
The greenhouse benches are almost full already...gulp!

Update - photos added of Brussels Sprout Rubine and Seven Hills

A Week Of Rest

I have, by my own admission, been a little quiet of late. Not because I have been rushed off my feet, but because I have been on my synodic sow nothing week. This is the optimum time for weeding, creating a compost heap, digging, etc. Owing to illness I have managed to turn my compost heap, riddle it and do some mulching only. Tomorrow is another day, as they say...

It Is That Time Of Year Again

When Aldi start selling bareroot fruit trees! So today I had a tootle along and bought an Opal Plum, a Golden Gage and a Doyenne du Comice Pear. Oops! Now where to put them...

Honeypot Planter

What to do with skip treasure bricks?
Make a honeypot planter for when spring comes along!
Just need some more bricks...I'm a third of the way there!

Roots in February

With February comes the snow and icy temperatures so low, that retreating to the greenhouse becomes more of a chore than a pleasure. I have a week to sow roots, but with the weather so cold it looks as though my main root sowing will have to wait now till March!
This is what I had planned:-
-Leeks
-Spring Onions
-Beetroot
-Carrots
-Potatoes in tubs
-Horseradish
-Celeriac
-Hamburg Parsley
-Parsnips

This is what I have sown and don't hold out much hope for:-
-Carrots in a pot (fleece covered)
-Beetroot in modules

Updated - pictures of the beetroot in modules 5/3/12

Winter Wonderland

We went for a walk yesterday, some tobogganing too when presented with slopes. It was a chance to have a Sunday where we weren't on the allotment or home garden. The snow made everywhere seem clean and magical. I thought I would share our walk in pictures...we did harvest, six hazel poles!!!!!!

Last Of The Fruit

Today was the final day in the synodic fruit week of February. So, armed with seeds I braved a rather balmy 15 degrees in the greenhouse whilst outside was more like -15!
I dispensed with the idea of peas in gutters for this month. They will be "got going" in March, when it will be hopefully somewhat warmer. So eight pots of double seeded Douce Provence were sown, along with another eight, again double seeded Meteor peas.
Added to these fruits were my Broad Bean Aquadulce Claudia spares sown into modules. All are left to freeze in the greenhouse.
Now time for that winter walk...bring on the full moon and my February roots!

Updated with broad bean and pea pics taken 5/3/12
The peas and broad beans have been hardened off and will be transplanted in the allotment 6/3/12.