Last week was very mixed weather-wise so we just visited the allotment when we could.
We still have plenty of tidying up to do, including weeding. It never stops does it? Some empty beds needed clearing of weeds ready for tilling but I also weeded the bed of sweet Williams that are growing well.
We planted another two rows of potatoes.
In a previous post, I mentioned that we were trying pre-germinating some parsnip seeds on damp kitchen roll. These had developed tiny roots so it was time to get them into the ground. We sowed them in a drill of compost to try and get them off to a good start. Interestingly, later in the week, we were watching Beechgrove Gardens and one of the presenters was chitting parsnip seeds on damp kitchen roll which was very reassuring and also commenters to my blog had written that they had success with this method so we intend to start more parsnip seeds in the same way. We posted a video of our planting activities here.
Although it was very windy, some plants desperately needed to be planted out and so we planted our first lot of broad beans. Purest will say that they are planted too closely but we find that this way the beans plants are self supporting and we harvest plenty of beans so we will continue to do it our way. Two bean seeds are sown in each cell and more often than not both germinate. Again we break the rules and just plant both resulting young plants as one.
Some young cabbage and calabrese plants also needed planting. These were covered with enviromesh to protect the plants from wood pigeons which given half a chance would devour every bit of leaf growth. We use mesh rather than netting as it will also protect from butterflies later. Hopefully, it may also give some protection against the wind.
The apple blossom has chosen a bad time to start opening. I hope that the wind spares some of the flowers.
We managed a small harvest. We pulled the first stalks of rhubarb. The plant had sent up lots of flower spikes which I cut off. The variety – Poulson’s Pride is supposed to be a perpetual variety producing edible stems throughout the season – we will see.
We also lifted all the remaining leeks. They are now starting to produce flower spikes which create a hard core to the leeks so most will be frozen.
I used some of the leeks in a bean casserole.
We had a visit to a local garden centre as we needed to buy more dahlia tubers. We fear that most of the tubers that were being overwintered may not have survived. We are not alone as our plot neighbour has lost all of his. If some stored tubers actually defy the odds and grow, the worst that can happen is that we will have lots of dahlias.
We also were tempted to buy some agapanthus roots.
Last year we lost a rosemary plant that had survived many previous winters, so we replaced it.
Our pebble garden has also developed some large gaps and so we bought a couple of plants for there too.
At Nostell the greening up of the trees has turned up a notch. Although whilst some are sporting fresh green leaves, others are still bare.
The horse chestnut is one of the first trees to leaf up and it also has flower buds.
Bluebell flowers are continuing to increase in number but I have had to tweak the colours in my photos to get the flowers to show up. The photos were taken with my phone, maybe my ‘proper’ camera will do a better job. It’s so tempting to leave this behind as it is much heavier to carry on a long walk.
You may remember the mystery plant that I photographed a few weeks ago. It turns out that it is indeed a yellow archangel.
There are no signs of any cygnets yet. The swans are still sitting on the nest. The circle drawn on the bottom photo is intended to show the location of the nest.
That’s all from me for this week so, as always, until next time stay well and stay safe.
Once again, I am linking to Harvest Monday at Dave’s Our Happy Acres blog
Rules are made for breaking Sue – well some of them 😂 I always think that when it comes to gardening it’s what works for you – after all the plants haven’t read the books. Did you loose your rosemary in December? Mine has died and no sign yet of any dahlias emerging. An excuse to go shopping though.
I can always remembe, Annar an long time allotment gardener telling us as young gardeners – yes we were once – that we would never grow carrots on our site but we did and still do. I’m not sure exactly when the rosemary died but it had survived worse winters.
It’s been a mixed month weather wise so it’s no wonder those weeds are growing, sunshine and rain, just what they enjoy. Did you read about the swan nest at Roundhay Park? At the beginning of the month Mick dropped me at a yarn show at the grammar school and then took Archie to Roundhay Park while they waited for me. He told me he’d seen a swan sitting on a nest. The next thing we read that youths had destroyed the nest and broken the eggs. Isn’t that tragic. It makes you wonder what the world is coming to.
It’s really sickening isn’t it Jo. A pity the male swan didn’t have a go. The swans nest at Nostell is well into the lake so hopefully safe from thugs.
Everything is going green apart from our seed trays! I think the frosty mornings aren’t helping. Perhaps May will be more successful.
Nostell looking beautiful
I know, Belinda – where do the Met Office get their data from that convinces them that we have had a warm spring.
Nice to see your photos Sue. Spring is a beautiful time. The first harvest is delicious. I love when apple trees bloom!
So do I Nadezda – spring is a lovely time of year – full of promise
Your rhubarb looks nice. My favorite way is to mix with apples making an apple-rhubarb sauce. Adding a little orange zest and orange juice steps it up to perfection in my view.
That sounds lovely Sue. It goes well with strawberries too.
I have much weeding to do, and your beds would put mine to shame! And I am thinking lots of dahlias would not be a bad thing indeed.
Not a bad thins at all Dave. The problem with tidy beds is that they attract weeds!
I plant my broad beans closer than you Sue, but only one plant, it’s windy here though s we still need to support them, otherwise they are always knocked over in the stormy weather we often have in June. Since broad beans send up multiple stems I guess planting two plants makes little difference to them, they just compete and the stronger plan/stems thrive. I do this with a lot of my early plantings, over plant and let them compete, my early Brussels (the ones we harvest in May – August) for example are 12/m2 and 18/m2 when you grow early you never know how many plants will make it, but plenty do and seem stronger for it.
That’s very true Steve. Planting close together can be a bonus as you often get smaller plants e.g cabbages rather than huge ones that you can’t use all of. while still fresh.