Thanks to the miserable weather, very little groundwork was carried out in preparation for the spring. Even during the drier spell at the beginning of February the lack of sunshine coupled with low temperatures meant there was little drying out of the soil – and just as it became workable on the 19th we had more rain, putting us back to square one again.
We had a good harvest though, so we’ve still been cropping parsnips, carrots, leeks, sprouts, broccoli, forced chicons, winter radish and salad leaves.
From our store we’re still eating oour own potatoes, onions and winter squash, and in the freezer we have peas, broad beans, French beans and the last of the sweetcorn.
The work we did manage to achieve this month:
Broad beans: We’ve put six trays of young plants outside to harden.
Fruit: Pruned the gooseberry and currant bushes, and the pear trees. We also cut down the old autumn raspberry canes to ground level. Mulched everything with manure, and weeded the strawberry patch.
Greenhouse: We washed the glass.
Plot work: On the 19th we spread manure on all the empty areas vacated by harvested vegetables, and all around the brassicas.
Potatoes: We planted two Jazzy potatoes in a tub for some early new potatoes. Preserved – We had a chutney-making session.
Seeds: We sowed lettuce and red cabbage in plug trays. We also sowed trays of mixed spicy leaves and an agricultural pea (to eat in salads as young sprouts).
Sweet peppers: We pricked these out into individual pots.Six trays of broad beans have been moved outside to harden off. All images: Barry Cuff
Talking of seed
We grow more than 30 different vegetables on the plot and in the greenhouse, and all are raised from seed. It is admittedly becoming expensive, but it is still good value. Stored correctly, most vegetable seeds will still germinate well after two or three years, some even longer (this year we are using cabbage seed bought in 2021!)
We test most carried-over seed to ensure it is still viable, and any with a germination rate below 50 per cent is discarded.
We have found that French beans do not perform well after the first year, but contrary to advice given parsnip will perform well providing it was above 90% germination rate when packeted.
Our Allotment Association is able to buy seed from Kings Seeds at a 40 per cent discount. Because we have a large plot and grow a wide range of vegetables, our seed bill is around £60 this year. The majority of packets are bought from Kings, with a few from Fothergills and Thompson & Morgan. There are some good value packets to be had from Wilko and CountryValue.co.uk. We always look at their displays and end up buying a few!
The majority of our veg are started in plug trays, seed trays or small pots, using a good quality multi-purpose compost. Carrots, peas, parsnips, beetroot, spring onion and winter salads are all sown direct into the ground.
We now need some decent March weather so that work on the plot can start in earnest!
