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Monday 15 April 2013

Proper Allotmenting

The much milder weather continued on Monday with plenty of sunshine again. To be a little picky though it was very windy.

We couldn’t let they day go without making a start catching up on the plot. The first job was to get our early potatoes Swift and Vales Emerald planted. A bed for our maincrop potatoes and a bed for carrots and parsnips were tilled. Last year’s weed control fabric used on the carrot bed is in good condition and can be reused this year.

 

 

Tuesday 16 April 2013

Finding Volunteers

Tuesday turned out to be our sunniest day so far with my weather station recording 9.4 hours of sunshine. However, to accompany the sunshine we had gale force winds which rather spoilt the benefit of the wonderful sunshine. It was mild again reaching 16.5°C in the afternoon.

We decided on a visit to the plot despite the gale force wind and spent another afternoon tidying up fruit beds and preparing other beds ready for sowing and planting. It definitely wasn’t a day for sowing parsnips as the seeds would have blown all around the site.

Interestingly digging over one of last year’s bed I found some would be volunteer potatoes. These were in good enough condition to save and bring home to use in the kitchen.

Worthy of note as well is, although we’re now past the middle of April there isn’t any signs of these potatoes forming any shoots at all. I’m hoping the last few mild days will have the soil warming up and creating better conditions for sowing and planting.

Trigger Update

In a couple of days Trigger will be a week old and ready to make his first batch of bread. I’m hoping for good results after all this preparation. I’m going to have to find him a new home as he’s now filled his jar and there’s no space left for any more feeding.

Wednesday 17 April 2013

East to West

It was blowing a gale again for most of Wednesday but this time without any hint of sunshine. Although the temperature again remained on the mild side, it didn’t feel that mild in the gale force wind. April is turning out to be a month of two halves with the first dominated by bitterly cold easterly winds and the second by gale force westerlies.

The gale force winds persisted Wednesday night into Thursday morning with the highest gust speed of the year so far 32mph being recorded at 07:20. It’s the highest since 04 January 2012 with 33mph. The most severe gust speed I’ve recorded was 36mph on 04 February 2011.

Thursday 18 April 2013

Greenhouse Highs and Lows

The low is a consequence of the gale force winds which have been blowing for several days now. During a particularly fierce spell this morning a polycarbonate sheet was blown out from the greenhouse roof.

Fortunately the panel had become stuck among the apple trees on the path at the back of the greenhouse. On the downside it was in three pieces and not one. With some careful positioning of the pieces I’ve managed to make a temporary repair. Hopefully the wind will abate overnight as forecast.  

Inside the greenhouse things were much more positive. The cabbage, lettuce and Brussels sprouts sown last week have all germinated. Maybe something will grow on the allotment after all this year. It’s seemed such a slow start.

Our new apple tree - Baya Marissa - from Spalding Bulbs which was potted up and left in the greenhouse over winter and was just showing signs of life last week now has some leaves forming.

Our Brown Turkey fig also has started into a growth spurt as if its trying to make up for lost time and this has some new tiny figlets starting to appear. Some figs this year would be an absolute treat.

As well as all this our sweet peas and broad beans sown in modules in the greenhouse are also starting to germinate. Under our indoor growlight tomatoes and aubergines are germinating. The gardening season is now getting under way.

The details of all our sowing and germination times for the month can be found here.

Friday 19 April 2013

Hardening Off

The wind abated on Friday and, after some drizzly rain through the morning, the afternoon cleared up with plenty of sunshine.

I made the most of the sunshine to get some more sowing done in the greenhouse.

Surprisingly as far as sowing goes in the greenhouse I’ve now caught up with last year’s sowings. Although most have been made a week or so later than last year I’m hopeful they’ll catch up. Most of the seeds sown have plenty of growing season left to produce a good crop they’ll just be a little later doing so.

With much more space needed in the greenhouse for today’s sowings it was time for our onions and shallots to move into the cold frame to harden off or become accustomed to cooler outdoor temperatures. After a week or so in the cold frame they will be planted out in the plot. The overnight low for their first night out was 0.4°C probably not the best of starts for them but greenhouse temperatures at the beginning of April were below 0°C so I’m sure they will be okay.

These onions sets and shallots have come on in leaps and bounds since the temperatures began to pick up a week or so ago. It’s now a question of keeping our ever hungry slugs and snails from munching their way through them. The top of the cold frame is netted for protection from birds who seem to enjoy emptying the cells  of their compost and seedlings.

Saturday 20 April 2013

Main Crop Potatoes Planted

After a very chilly start to Saturday it turned out to be a lovely sunny day and a mild afternoon. We made the most of the fine weather to plant our second early potatoes, carrots and parsnips.

I think that as far as planting and sowing goes on the plot we have now caught up to a more normal spring, however, that’s being at the expense of leaving lots of tidying up of last year’s bed so we’ve still got plenty to do. One the plot, We are still waiting for the first fruit blossom. I did notice a bumble bee buzzing around the gooseberry bushes yesterday so there are some pollinating insects around which is a good sign.

Sunday 21 April 2013

Rainfall or Dare I Say Lack of It!

Not a bad day again on Sunday. A reasonable amount of sunshine and around average temperatures and certainly not as chilly over night.

As I sowed our carrots and parsnips I did notice that the first few inches of soil are now quite dry. Our potatoes planted a little deeper where there is moisture will be fine but if it doesn’t rain then the carrot and parsnip seeds sown on Saturday will certainly need watering to help them germinate.

As you can see the last month has been dry. Even the tallest blue lines don’t amount to much rain with values of around 5 mm. That amount soon disappears in the gale force winds. So after seeming to wait for weeks for the plot to dry out some watering might be required in April.

Of course this wasn’t a problem last year in April as we had far too much rainfall with record amounts falling in various locations around the UK.

At the moment the rather dry month of this April is replacing the record breaking month last year, and it makes a real difference to the rolling 12 monthly rainfall, falling from the highest I’ve recorded of 142% back to 125% provided we have no more rainfall this month.

I wonder how long it will be before some authority suggests a hose pipe ban in their area.

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