Allotment Diary–Monday 30th May @allotment

I’d planned to have an easy morning today, chilling out in my favourite cafe’s, but it turned out that it was a bank holiday (I’m retired so who cares) so I was straight down to the allotment at 7am.  Since Debbie and I are away for a few days in Edinburgh I decided that the focus had to be on clearing space for new planting, especially salads, that are not going to be at their best by the time we get back, and weeding!  I cropped three big bags of salad, which should see the kids and the neighbours through to the end of the week, although Thom and Anna are also cropping a row that I left them for his extended family.

I spent close to 4 hours weeding everything that Debbie didn’t get to yesterday and I think we are close to a weed free plot today, I will be popping down tomorrow for an hour to do the last little bit, but weed free is a new experience for the plot!  Having cleared two rows of rocket and a row of spinach and scouted out a few other gaps that could be filled, it was on to planting.  I was keen to get everything that was in the greenhouse and the cold frame, potted on, or into the soil before we left.

1. three rows of leeks that I’ve grown in plugs, went in along the ends of the carrot beds, the rest of the leek plugs I potted on and put in the cold frame
2. two rows of Kohl Rabi seeds went in one of my outdoor beds, I’ve never grown that before
3. a new row of baby leaf spinach went in to replace the one that came out
4. I potted on the peppers and cleared space for them in the greenhouse, using an idea from Pete – they were stuck in a corner of the cold frame and looking quite sorry for themselves
5. Debbie planted the mini sunflowers in the big gaps in the runner bean frame, hopefully they outgrow the beans themselves
6. I planted plugs of beetroot along the middle of the asparagus bed as there seems to be plenty of room there at the moment
7. I popped in another half row of mange tout beans, I have space for another half row next week

Apart from successional sewing’s the plot is now full and inter-cropped and I now need to start to plan for my late autumn and winter crops! 

One things that I’m really pleased about is the amount of compost I’ve made over the last few days, I’ve been layering grass cuttings, a huge amount of leafy greens and their roots, damaged rhubarb leaves and a few weeds, with a layer of the freely available horse manure from the site and the pile is already 15 degrees warmer than the soil.  Hopefully this pile will be ready for autumn.  My other piles, created in early spring when I cleared the allotment are not so well layered, so I will probably be leaving them until spring.

Jennie brought Robin along for his first visit and successfully changed his nappie on site, she also got a watering lesson!  I got to chill out for a while rocking him to sleep.  I also managed to leave the plot before 2pm, which meant that I had time to give the kitchen garden at home a good weed, feed and water and I also cut the grass and water the house plants, so we are all set for a few days away.  The kids are in charge of watering!