Category Archives: Planning the plot

Blue Beds, Blue Hands

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It’s amazing the difference one weekend of hard work can make in the garden. Last week, I was beginning to panic at the lack of progress on the plot this year, I’m at least three weeks behind with my planting and the place was looking very bare and brown and boring. Something needed to be done.

My new herb garden

My new herb garden

The sun was mostly shining this weekend, with the exception of some lovely rain showers and the temperatures are finally up after what was the coldest March on record. Last week I dug up the terrible wasted area outside the shed, this weekend, I used the space to create a small herb garden. I planted rosemary, sage, lemon thyme, French tarragon (avoid planting Russian tarragon if you can, it has very little flavour), chives, lavender plus some echinacea, chamomile and bergamot. I also have some mint and lemon balm (bee balm) from last year and after saying I was not going to plant borage this year, I found a borage plant growing under my artichokes, it obviously wants to grow so I might as well let it. I’m also going to add some parsley, basil, coriander and caraway later in the year. It looks a bit bare at the moment but should be a lovely addition to the plot once it’s established.

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The shed area, big difference from the mound of weeds and rubble that was here two weeks ago. I love that you can see a neighbouring plot in the background with its lovely neat drills. 

I had been meaning to treat the wood on my raised beds for a while but kept putting it off. I decided this weekend that I should get around to doing it as the beds were looking a bit worse for wear after the winter. I toyed with the idea of getting a natural colour wood stain but I eventually chose a bright blue, I wanted to give the plot a bit of personality and thought blue would be nice and bright during the lean months when there’s little colour in the garden. It took me hours to do but it was well worth the effort, I’m hoping to add some more blue later, maybe a blue gate. Though maybe next time I’ll wear gloves, my hands were an almighty blue mess when I was done.

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Blue Beds

 

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Blue Hands

Having painted the beds, I spread a mountain of bark mulch along the paths, these had just been muck and weeds before so I was very eager to do something with them. It really makes a difference to the plot.

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I’m planning on using the empty bed in the left foreground as a hotbed.

 

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The entrance to the plot, definitely an improvement

I planted very little at the weekend, just some beetroot and radishes. Next week I need to get my peas and beans planted before it gets too late. Despite all my hard work, there’s still a huge mess to deal with next weekend, one whole end of the plot needs to be dug as it’s where the legumes are to be planted. It has been started but it’s a big job. It’s the embarrassing messy end of the plot and it must be conquered, especially now; no point in having pretty raised beds and a big pile wasted ground beside them.

Also, there’s not much point in having pretty beds with no veggies so this week I’m going to do some serios planting, excited!!

Spring Clean

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This morning, I went out to the plot with the intentions to plant and dig and weed and do those things which we as gardeners are meant to do, but I took one look at the plot and decided before I could reasonably do any of that, I needed to clean up my act. Amongst all my weeds and muck, raised beds and shed, there’s an awful lot of dirt, and I don’t mean muck (we all know there’s plenty of muck) I mean rubbish. Flyaway netting, torn remnants of weed control fabric, shards of bamboo, even old cloches, just rubbish. The allotment was never going to start looking nice if I didn’t deal with all that rubbish first, so I got into cleaning mode and began to tackle the messy parts of the garden.

Underneath it's nice exterior, plot p26 had a dirty underbelly, like the gotham city of allotments.

Underneath it’s nice exterior, plot p26 had a dirty, seedy underbelly, it was like the Gotham City of allotments. Only the work of a superhero like Batman could weed out the grime and corruption.

You may remember I made a new years resolution to clean my shed. Well, I did it! Three months later but I finally did it, and boy was there a lot of mess in there. I threw out empty compost bags, plenty of torn netting, old bits of fleece, broken pots, empty water bottles, I found a pair of socks in there (seriously, no idea where they came from). My shed has been returned to it’s former glory, though it is in dire need of some prettying up. New mission: pretty up the shed.

I also decided to tackle the terribly wasted area outside the shed. Last year, most of my effort went in to my raised beds, installing fencing, getting the shed and of course getting to grips with growing my own food. Quite a lot of space on the plot went unused, particularly the area outside the shed, which is fairly big and has a lot of potential. I’d guess it’s about ten square metres of my plot which was just grass, rubble and weeds. So, I got out my shovel, and started to dig. It took me the best part of two hours but I turned over all the soil and raked it out to make it even, there had been a slope down toward the shed which was driving me mad. I sectioned off half of this area and began to work the soil and marked a layout for a small herb garden. The rest I covered with weed control fabric, I’m hoping to get either gravel or some paving stones to make a patio but I can’t decide which.

My future herb garden

My future herb garden, a work in progress.

I decided I needed a break from manual labour and so, I sat on the edge of one of the beds and planted my parsnip seeds. I had manured the soil pretty well last year and covered it for winter and what a difference it made. The soil in the bed was soft and fine, a far cry from what it had been last year. I planted three short rows of “Gladiator” parsnips, a variety I had to grow after tasting some last year and falling in love.

The weather took a bad turn after a few hours so I decided to call it a day, not before I had a little look around the plot. There’s life beginning to creep in again, the cold days are getting very slightly warmer and there’s more light in the sky during the daytime hours. My artichokes are growing back after the winter as are my raspberry canes, which last August, I thought had died. There are buds on my blueberry and gooseberry canes, the garlic seems to have finally started growing and my onions are beginning to sprout.

Garlic

Garlic

Right now, the king of the plot is my rhubarb. I finally picked some today. It was defenitely the highlight of my gardening year so far.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb

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This should make a nice crumble

Imbolc

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Yesterday was the first day of February, also known as St Brigid’s Day or “Imbolc” here in Ireland. St Brigid is one of the patron saints of Ireland, her feast day marks the beginning of lambing season. In fact, the word Imbolc derives from “i mbolg” the Irish phrase for “in the belly”, which referred to sheep bearing young. Saint Brigid’s day in school was great fun because we used to spend the day making St Brigid’s crosses, a traditional cross woven from rushes or straw.

Most importantly, however, St Bridgids day marks the beginning of spring. I am rejoicing.

It’s been a long winter, dark and wet. It seemed to do nothing but rain for the past three months. The past week has seen howling winds and driving rain, some hail, thunder and sleet. I have been absent from my allotment for some time, mostly because when I do get the chance to go, mother nature laughs at me and send some sort of horrible weather upon us. I’ve been feeling at a loss, like I might never garden again.

Yesterday, however, on the first day of spring, I found myself excited again. I woke up cheerful, I began to think about the gardening year. I began to imagine lovely spring days on the plot, buying my seeds, planning the plot for the year ahead. I’m currently trying to draw up a planting plan for the year. Last year, I tried my hand at a lot of crops and this year I hope to do the same, with the difference that this year I want to concentrate on a few key crops. I hope to grow lots of lovely legumes, plenty of peas, some garden peas and sugar snaps, and I’m going to try beans, broad beans, french beans, runner beans, you name it, I want to try it. I’m also going to grow the favourites from last year again, onions, carrots and beetroot. I have decided, though, not to grow potatoes. Yes, you read that right. I’m not growing spuds in 2013. This is for many reasons, they caused me so much trouble last year for a crop I don’t really love as much as others. They take up a huge amount of space on the plot and last year they were destroyed by blight. So this year, I’m giving them a break.

The plot's looking pretty bare right now

The plot’s looking pretty bare right now

This time of year is almost the best time for the gardener. We get to spend hours reading about seed varieties, picking our crops for the year and imagining how amazing our plots will be in the coming year. It all looks so wonderful and productive in our heads, more often than not, the outcome is far less amazing.

The best thing about the first day of spring though, is that it’s a fresh start; all of last years failures can be left where they belong and it’s time to look ahead to all the year has to bring.

Hopefully it’ll bring lots of rhubarb, I’m dying for some rhubarb!

Rhubarb won't be long now!

Rhubarb won’t be long now!

New Year’s Resolutions

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Its coming to the end of 2012 and my first year as a novice gardener. Inevitably, I’ve been thinking about the year past and the one to come, the mistakes I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned and I am looking forward to another year of being schooled by mother nature.

I’ve also been thinking of my new years resolutions for 2013. New Years resolutions can be very hit or miss, some years I’ve had great successes, like the year I decided to quit smoking (four years on, I still haven’t touched a cigarette) or the year I decided to learn how to drive. Most years, I make one or two resolutions, just for the sake of it and I know that they are destined to fail; like eat less chocolate (laughable) or get fit (hilarious).

This time last year, I had no idea I would be growing my own fruit and veg, that I would spend hours cultivating a small piece of land, that I would grow perfectly straight carrots and imperfectly round peas. So, this year, instead of a list of ill thought out resolutions pertaining to me looking fabulous in a bikini; I have drawn up a few lists of tangible, achievable goals and tasks that should be easy to achieve (I hope). This is my list of New Years Gardening Resolutions for 2013.

1. Tidy the shed! Properly, and keep it tidy for at least a week.
2. Move the poorly located raised bed to a new location so the plot has a better layout.
3. Grow beans, the one crop I really want to try in 2013.
4. Grow garlic.
5. Don’t kill my courgettes by planting them out too early.
6. Plan the plot properly, use up all growing space where possible, instead of leaving ground unused.
7. Make some jam.
8. Build a small herb garden
9. Make time every week to visit the plot, rain or shine.
10. Install a water butt.
11. Learn to prune fruit bushes, I haven’t got the foggiest about it.
12. Hang a proper gate.
13. Keep on top of the weeds instead of saying “I’ll do it next time”, only to find they have        taken over.
14. Grow parsnips.
15. Finish putting bark mulch on the paths, I started in September and never quite got around to finishing it.

Everything else would be a bonus. I’m going to make it my mission to tick off this checklist in early 2013, lets see how it goes, I’ll probably still be cleaning the shed this time next year.

Happy new year to you all, wishing you the best for the new growing season.

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Here’s hoping we see more of this chap in the new year too

Bird Watching and Trouser Dropping.

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Last week I wrote a blog post about a hare we spotted on the plot, well, today we found a pheasant!

It was a gloriously bright day for October so we decided to dop into the plot, just to have a little look around and maybe pick some veggies. We were just about to walk onto the plot when we heard a rustling and saw a huge male pheasant running away from us into a neighbouring plot. We tried to snap a few photos but it was running around like crazy, and boy could it move! I was amazed at how fast it could run. I mentioned how pretty it was, Dave mentioned how tasty it would be. I of course shot him a “don’t even think about it” look. You know the look; the one we reserve for our boyfriends when they’re being particularly outrageous (since I met Dave it seems to be permanently plastered to my face). The pheasant hid behind the shed of a neighbours plot for a minute before taking flight. I managed to get a blurry shot of it.

It seems that the plot is teeming with life, and I don’t just mean plant life. There are bugs and spiders everywhere, the daddy long legs seem to love the green mesh netting around the plot and every time I bend down to do something I spot a ladybird, a beetle or a caterpillar. I know I should be trying to eliminate them but they’re just so cute. It also looks like the hare was back, we found telltale signs in the carrot bed again.

Dave with a caterpillar, how could I kill it? Look at it’s little legs!

Last Friday, I took a half day from work and it was another bright day so I made my way to the plot for a while. I realised I forgot the keys to my my shed so had to unscrew the bolt off with a secateurs. See, us gardeners are a resourceful bunch. I just hope nobody thought I was a burglar. I changed into my old jeans in the shed as I had a dinner date later and didn’t want to go in mucky jeans. I realised while trouser-less I had forgotten to cover up the window or secure the door and I turned around to realise the door of the shed was wide open. So to any fellow gardeners who caught a glimpse of my knickers while I was changing in the shed, you’re very welcome.

Wanted: For burglary and indecent exposure (clearly those years I spent as a graphic designer are finally paying off)

I was feeling rather productive in my dirty jeans and wellies, spurred on by my Catwoman-like burglary skills and wanton disregard for my dignity; I decided it was high time I used my skills to make some sort of compost heap. I felt like the plot looked empty without it. I’ve been admonishing myself for not having one up until this point. I made a very simple compost bin using three wooden pallets.

It could be worse.

My efforts, however noble, were not exactly laudable. I struggled to lift the heavy pallets and I managed to (I’ve no idea how) drop one on my foot, which is still quite painful a week later. I also managed to hammer my hand, because, lets face it, a woman with a hammer is like a man with a mascara wand.

I also managed to build the bin where the entrance to the plot was, as I decided to move the entrance to the other side of the plot for ease of access. I didn’t think, though, to make the new entrance first so essentially boxed myself into the plot. It was like that dreaded moment when you realise you’ve mopped yourself into the corner of the kitchen and you either have to stand there to wait for it to dry or walk all over the clean floor. I chose the latter option and moved one pallet to the side to get out so it’ll need to be secured into place again. It’s very rough and ready but it’ll do the job for now and Dave promises he’ll fix it for me next week. I don’t think he’s too impressed with my DIY skills. My mam summed it up today with this little gem “My compost pit, looks like sh*t”.

Well, at least I tried.

I hope this nice bright weather keeps up for a while, the evenings are getting shorter and the mornings are darker every day. The leaves on the trees are gold and red and today I saw quite a few on the ground. Dry leaves are great compost material, so get out there and fill up a bag for your garden. I’ll leave you for now with my new sexy gardening photo. Thirty seconds after it was taken, myself and Dave did a tango around the plot.

No not really.

It’s the only photo I could find with the broken compost bin in it, I swear!

iCarrot

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This is what it’s all about, biting into your very first ever homegrown carrot and realising, you’ll never feel the same way about carrots again. It’s the most delicious carrot I’ve ever eaten. In fact, I may just grow carrots on my plot next year and nothing else. I’m considering starting a carrot related advertising campaign to entice people to garden but I think a certain famous company which shares it’s name with another healthy food (I’ll give you a hint, it’s not an orange) might take issue with my slogan.

If you don’t see me for a while, I’m probably busy being sued

Seriously though, grow carrots. Grow them seriously, or for fun, just grow them. I planted my carrots late. In fact, I forgot to plant carrots until the second week in June and wasn’t quite sure they’d even germinate. I had very palpable fears about the carrot root fly, I’ve heard and read some scary stories. Horrible creatures that burrow into your carrots and eat them from the inside out. I’ve had Night of the Living Dead Root Fly nightmares. Plus, we haven’t had the best summer for carrots, so my hopes weren’t very high. Imagine my delight when today I decided to pick some to see how they were progressing and what I ended up with were delicious, crunchy carrots. I of course, ate one straight out of the ground, muck and all. Cue many happy and appreciative noises which I’m sure raised a few eyebrows among my neighbouring allotmenteers. Oh, and another thing, my carrots are straight, very straight, and long. Obviously the 6 hours myself and Dave spent sieving a tonne of soil (literally, a tonne) for the carrot bed paid off.  All that hard work, that hot March day, breaking our backs wheelbarrowing soil to the plot, cursing ourselves, sieveing for hours, raking, raking, more raking, it was totally worth it.

Of course, the carrots aren’t the only crop we’ve harvested this September but they are definitely my favourite. We’ve also had, borlotti beans, celery, red cabbage, spinach chard, peas and of course my onions, which have been drying away in the back garden for three weeks and are nearly ready to eat. I did have to rip up my ridiculous perpetual spinach and swiss chard today as they were taller than me and had bolted, and were quite frankly, a disgrace. I might plant some more for over the winter months.

Spoils

Me with one of my red cabbages

Pretty Artichoke

September isn’t just harvest season though, there’s plenty of jobs to keep me busy in the garden. Of course there’s weeding, because, well, there’s always weeding. There’s plenty of tidying and maintenance to be done but there’s also plenty of planting. It’s time to get the garden ready for overwintering crops, winter onions, garlic, winter lettuces, spinach and of course spring cabbage. Today, I planted two blueberry plants, which are one of the things I’ve known from the start I wanted to grow. These are best planted in autumn, in acidic soil, the lower the pH the better, but around 5 is perfect. I did measure my soil pH in March and the reading was 5.5, so hopefully the bluberries will do well. It does help to aid them though, a good mulch, bark, grass cuttings, leaves, whatever you can get your hands on, and the pine needles from my christmas tree will definitely find their way to my blueberry bed.

Blueberries

September also sees the arrival of the brand new community room on site, it’s a lovely big room, with a fridge, microwave, tea and coffee and snacks, and of course, tables, inside and out, to take a well earned tea break when the work gets too tough. It’s a great way to meet fellow gardeners too, I have hopes of making a few friends here.

Community room

I did attempt to make the plot look a bit nicer today, I spread some bark mulch around the path near my fruit section of my plot but it took about 400 litres to cover a tiny area so it looks like it’ll be a while before I can do the whole plot. I also attempted a makeshift patio area. It’s not great. I had visions of a lovely decking area with potted plants and a table and chairs. In reality, I placed some planks of wood on the ground, thats about it, but it’s a start, I would put up a photo but I can’t bring myself to do it, it’s that bad.

Bark is better than weeds

September is also planning time. Get planning. It’s amazing how much a planting plan will help in the early spring.

As for carrots, if you’re not growing them, do it next year, you’ll thank me.

Bloomin’ Beautiful

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We’ve had a beautiful stretch of weather here in Dublin the past 12 days. It’s been warm, dry and sunny, and it feels like summer is finally here. I’ve even been able to get out in my shorts and terrify the world with my so-white-they’re-reflective legs. I’ve been trying to visit the plot in the evenings to water it, the clay soil seems to totally dry out in the sun and becomes cracked very quickly.

The good weather has caused a wonderful growth spurt on the plot and everytime I visit, something new is growing of something has doubled in size. Everything is beginning to bloom. My main crop potatoes are coming up very quickly and I planted peas last Monday and they had germinated by Thursday!

Potatoes

Pumpkins

I had to thin out my beetroot, chard and perpetual spinach the other day. I felt like a murderer but it had to be done. I’m just pleased they’re growing, they were looking like they’d never come up. I also planted out my courgette and pumpkin plants, they were just too big to keep on the windowsill anymore, thankfully they seem to be adjusting well to being outdoors.

My strawberry plants have come back to life, having been battered by the wind a few weeks ago, and they are thriving. They have lots of beautiful white flowers and I can see some of the flowers starting to develop into fruit. I covered the bed they are in with weed control fabric, this is so the fruit won’t be sitting on wet soil when it grows as this causes the fruit to rot. Straw is also good for this purpose, just spread it under each plant for the strawberries to rest on. I also made a cage of sorts to protect them from birds, I simply used bamboo and wire to make it and draped netting over it to protect my strawberries .

Strawberries in bloom

Strawberry cage

When I first got the allotment, I knew I wanted to grow Borage. I had read about this wonderful plant in a few different books and loved how it looked. Borage is an annual herb, with beautiful blue star shaped flowers and a mild cucumber flavour. I planted two borage plants in early spring and in the past week they have literally tripled in size and burst open with gorgeous blue flowers, I’ve already seen a few bees buzzing around them.

Borage flower

Another one I planted to attract bees is lavender. It was very (very) slow to start and I didn’t think I’d see any life on it this year but lo and behold, the sunshine has done it wonders and there’s lovely stalks of lavender beginning to form

Lavender

My rhubarb has come back to life too, it’s amazing what a few days of heat and sunshine can do for the garden. It’s great to be able to sit out on the plot on a sunny day and just enjoy my surroundings. This weekend, there is an open day at the allotment site, there’s to be a barbeque, music, entertainment etc, I’m really looking forward to it.

This weekend also sees the return of the Bloom in the Park festival in phoenix park, an annual gardening and food festival held in Dublin. If you have the time, it’s worth a visit, especially if this weather keeps up.

We have big plans for the plot in the coming weeks, we’re going to finally rebuild our gate, install a patio area, compst bin, water butt and we’re working on a little project to attract some unusual wildlife in, watch this space.

The plot in the sunshine

Shelter

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Dave’s reading chair

Myself and Dave were chuffed the other day when we visited the plot and discovered our shed had been put up. It’s a 6ft by 4ft shed which is small but it’s big enough for our needs and we didn’t want the shed to take up too much space on the plot. Finally we have somewhere to store the tools, the car was destroyed with all the muck etc, it also means we can cycle out to the plot now as we don’t have to carry all the tools with us.

Dave already put the shed to good use the other day. I spent a couple of hours  pottering around, watering, weeding etc and he sat in the shed reading a book avoiding getting his hands dirty and hiding from the rain showers.

I planted another crop of peas the other day. Succession sowing means I should (hopefully) have peas throughout the summer. I tidied up the plot the other day, there’s a lot of weeds to deal with and I’m trying to keep them in check.

I put some collars on my cabbages to protect them from the dreaded cabbage root fly. I wrote a blog post about how to make them yourself, you can find it here if you want to try it yourself, it’s very easy. I also put netting around the bed to protect the cabbages from the birds. Dave hammered a small length of wood to each corner of the bed and we just draped the netting over using twine to hold it up. You’ll notice I also have some CD’s in the bed, this is to try scare the birds away, I’ve heard it helps so fingers crossed.

Other than that I haven’t done much on the plot this week, again the weather hasn’t been great. You can tell by my photos it’s been very grey and dull. Things are looking up though, the weather forecast tells me we should have a dramatic improvement in weather this week, we might even get some decent sunshine and a raise in temperatures. I’m just hoping for at least one day when I can get out on the plot in my shorts, is that too much to ask?

I’ll leave you for now with some shots of the plot from the other day.

Rain pooled in lupin leaves

View from the shed window

Spuds

Borage

Grey skies

Batten Down the Patches!

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Get your wellies ready and your raincoats out, we’re in for a rough ride, or so the weather forecast tells me. We’ve had some pretty heavy rain showers the past two days and it’s very blustery out there. We’re due some very strong winds tonight and tomorrow and there’s a gale warning in effect.

I’m quickly learning that a lot of my time gardening is spent putting preventative measures in place to protect my plants from extreme weather, slugs, pests and birds. The wind seems to be my greatest foe at the moment. My rhubarb has been all but destroyed by the strong gusts and my artichokes have some snapped stems too. I was trying to figure out a way to protect them from the strong northerly winds. I toyed with cloches, netting, fleece, with no joy, until Dave had the brilliant idea of making a barrier around that section of the plot by extending some windbreak netting out from the fence. We drove a stake into the ground as with the perimeter fencing and used wire and staples to attach the netting. Not only does it protect my fragile plants, it breaks the plot up and gives it a bit more structure. I extended the flower bed around it too. It looks much better than before and my rhubarb, artichokes and fruit bushes are now well protected.

Simple but effective wind barrier

Much improved, hopefully my rhubarb will be safer now

I also covered my strawberry plants up with some of the windbreak netting today to protect them from the wind tonight as they’re doing so well so far, I’m not sure if it will be of any use but it can’t do any harm and I’d be disappointed if the wind was to snap them. I have my peas and asparagus covered with some fleece too, just in case the temperatures drop again. It’s been all systems go in order to protect my plants from the gales.

If you’re reading this and you have one of those plastic greenhouses, on your plot or in your garden, I strongly suggest you tie it down, weigh it down or do whatever you can to secure it to the ground, I spotted one about to take flight this afternoon!

Strawberry

There’s been a growth spurt on my plot the past week. My early potatoes are growing very strong and very fast! My strawberries have a few white flowers in bloom. I noticed quite a few pea shoots the other day too, I had been concerned about these as there was quite a bit of frost last week and I feared it might have killed them, thankfully, covering them with horticultural  fleece seemed to have been a good idea and most of them have germinated. I also noticed a tiny asparagus spear poking it’s head above ground the other day, I nearly jumped for joy, I wasn’t entirely convinced these would grow so too see one was a nice surprise.

Pea shoot

It’s not all good news though, my poor little tomato plants are suffering, from what I do not know. They are getting plenty of sunlight, I’ve been watering them regularly (but not too much of course) but somehow, the leaves are simply turning limp and dying. This has happened to three of my six plants now so I’m starting to think I’ve done something horribly wrong to them. I was concerned they had been overwatered but it doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s not much I can do really, I just hope they perk up a bit. At least the other three seem to be healthy.

It’s hard to believe how much the plot has changed since I first laid eyes on it a few weeks ago. It seems there’s always new plans afoot and I’m never short of something to do. I’ve set my sights on getting a shed sometime in the next few weeks. We began digging and leveling the area where it will go as I’d been neglecting that section of the plot. I also hope to put in a compost bin, water butt and a small seating area too. There’s a good bit of planting to do soon and It’s looking like it will be another busy few weeks on plot P26; once the bad weather passes, that is. Until then, I’ll be snuggling up with cups of tea and watching the rain from the comfort of the sofa.

Calm before the storm

The Grand Stretch

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Spring has officially landed! The sun has been beaming for the past few days and it is set to stay that way into the middle of next week. Today was a warm 14 degrees and tomorrow is predicted to get up to 17, almost tropical for March. There’s already a grand stretch in the evenings, as we say here in Ireland, and the clocks go forward in the morning, giving us an extra hour of sunshine in the evenings.

Garden Riddle

Myself and Dave took advantage of the weather the past few days, spending quite a few hours on the allotment. Yesterday, we filled up the car, made a packed lunch and readied ourselves for an afternoon of digging. We dug out the onion bed and the bed for peas and beans. The soil on my plot is a clay soil so can get quite clumpy and requires quite a lot of digging to break it up. We took all of the soil out of the two beds, Dave is really good at this and had them dug out in no time. We turned the soil over for the onion bed and spent a good hour or two just raking it and taking out big rocks and stones. I used a sieve, also known as a garden riddle (I’m learning something new every day) to remove any of the big stones left over after all the digging.

Action Shot

Planted asparagus trench

After some well earned tea and sandwiches, I planted my asparagus. We dug a trench about 20cm deep and 40cm wide, I added in some compost and made a ridge down the centre, I spread the roots of my six crowns out on either side of the ridge and covered them with soil. As they grow, I will continue to add soil and the trench should be level by autumn. I covered them with some horticultural fleece for now to protect them from ground frost. Asparagus is a herbaceous, perennial plant and needs to be planted somewhere it won’t be disturbed. It likes well drained soil and full sun. It has a lovely ferny foliage in the summer months. It should not be harvested for the first two years of growth, which is why many people don’t grow it, however, if you have an allotment, you should try it. It will crop for over twenty years and it one of the nicest fresh vegetables available.

Planting the red onion sets

I planted my onions and shallots today. I planted some Red Baron and Stuttgarter Giant sets. Onions are a great crop, easy to manage and give a great yield for a small space. Space onions about 10 cm apart in rows about 20-30cm apart. If you plant onions closer together they will be smaller and if you plant them further apart, they will grow larger, If you want large onions, all you have to do is give them more space. I planted about 40 red and 40 white onions. I also planted 8 shallots. One shallot set will give you a yield of about 6 shallots. Dave swears by them and often uses them in cooking. I still have about a square metre left in the bed so I might plant a few leeks.There was some glorious sunshine when I was planting the onions and the birds were singing away, it was the first time on my allotment that I’ve forgotten about the digging and felt totally relaxed, it was lovely. I covered my onions with netting to protect them from birds as they will happily steal onion sets from the ground. After about three weeks, the onions will have rooted and the netting can be removed.

Stuttgarter Giant, ready for planting, golden in the sunlight

My....em...extremely "neat" netting for my onion bed

Next week, we’ll be starting construction on the raised beds for my brassicas and carrots. I’m hoping that by next year, I’ll have mostly raised beds in the plot. I’m going to use scaffolding planks to build them as they’re untreated and relatively cheap to buy.

The plot is slowly starting to take shape, it’s still a mess at the moment and it will be at least another few weeks before it looks well. Everything is looking very brown, I can’t wait until the summer when I have some greenery.

I read an interesting fact yesterday, last year in Ireland, gardeners in allotments and at home grew over €9 million worth of fruit and vegetables. Nine million! That’s a staggering amount of produce. That’s 9 million euro not being spent on mass produced, chemically treated food from the supermarket. It’s a very promising figure. I am finding myself more and more interested in growing my own food and buying organic produce, a little effort goes a long way and if we each only grow one successful crop this year, we are still making a difference. I’ll leave you for now with a few photos of the plot the past few days.

Dave made a wigwam out of wood for no apparent reason

Potato Bed

My lovely flask