Gone are the days I would go down the plot and dig glass out of the ground in the rain. Gone are the days of numb fingers trying to prise nettle roots out of frozen soil. I’ve turned into a fairweather gardener.

Today was sunny so I decided to go to the plot and put in my potatoes and onions. I have no idea when they should go in, but it was sunny today, and it felt right.

I’ve also put some spinach and spring onion seeds in. I put cloches over them to encourage them to grow. I’ve also set some broad bean and mangetout seeds germinating.

I guess the time is right for the fairweather gardener to get gardening.

Shield Bug

I planted out some pea seedlings yesterday.

Now, I had planned to germinate the seeds in a bag of compost so that I would pot on only the ones that germinated. This is a technique I got from Terry Walton’s Podcast, and it worked well enough for the broad beans. The idea being that you don’t waste your time or compost on seeds that don’t germinate.

Unfortunately I forgot to check the peas in the bag. By the time I peeked inside they had already put on an inch or two of growth. I tried to separate them but the roots were intertwined. I’d left them far too long.

Oh well! I decided to plant out the young peas, trying not to damage the roots too much as I prised them apart. I planted them in clumps of three (or four or five!) so that I disturbed the roots as little as possible, but also so that if some of them die off there should be another one standing by. I’ve also heard that peas like to grow in groups, their roots intertwining. Well, I had so many seeds that germinated that I thought I might as well put them all in.

Hopefully there is safety in numbers.

I planted some spinach plants last weekend. It’s a bit foolish really as I’m sure its too cold for them. I bought them on a whim when I was at the local DIY store. I’ve had them sitting in my backyard greenhouse for a couple of weeks, but they looked like they were wanting to be moved on.

I don’t expect they’ll survive, but it’s worth the gamble now that I’ve got them. I’ve put milk carton cloches over them to give them some protection. We’ll see…

I planted the broad beans in the allotment today. Look!

I hope the little guys grow big and strong. I’m a bit worried about the pigeons eating them, although I am hopeful. Last year the broad beans were one of the only plants not eaten by either the pigeons or rabbits, so hopefully they’ll be alright this time too.

They were getting too big for the pots so I thought it was time to put them out. As they don’t mind the cold they should be fine, but I’m worried about them anyway. They are the first plants that I’ve planted out this year (other than the potatoes and onions – but they don’t count because they were sets) and so I want to get off to a good start. So much of our hard work last year was ruined by the pigeons and rabbits. We’ve worked hard to put in a rabbit-proof fence and I hope the pigeons give us an easier time this season.

So the origami pots were a success and didn’t completley fall to pieces as I had feared. I think I’ll be using them again.

The canes and string will hopefully help the beans to grow upright, although I suppose I’ll have to show them the way. I feel very protective about these first plants of the year. I’m sure I would appreciate the beans more than those pesky birds.

I’ve been flicking through quite a few allotment blogs recently due to my inability to get to my own plot of late. Once you scratch the surface, it turns out there are loads of people spouting on about their sprouts and banging on about their beans.

The last two blogs I’ve been on have something in common. Both Nomegrown and Our Patch of Earth have photos of new seedlings planted in toilet roll tubes. I thought I would match them.

It got me thinking about why using toilets roll tubes as plant pots is so universal. The reason I do it is because it’s something my Dad has always done. Something to do with not disturbing the roots when you plant them out because you plant tube in the soil as well – the tube biodegrades and the roots grow through them. It makes sense. That’s also the thinking with peat pots. They naturally disappear in the soil so they are better for the plant.

This is, of course, all true, but I think there are other reasons as well. First, thrift. I’ve never met anyone who calls themself a vegetable grower who wouldn’t also consider themself to be thrifty. Most of us pride ourselves on it; I certainly do! Using toilet roll tubes is simple a way of getting a second life out of a product. Secondly, I think there is a conscious/ unconscious “green” mentality with veg growers. The biodegradable tube does no harm to the soil at all. And we all know that reusing is better than recycling.

Now I really don’t like it when people bang on about being “green”, so I’ll be careful of what I say. More often than not when people boast about their green credentials it’s one-upmanship trying to be greener than you (I also hate the fact big business has got in on the action – you know something’s up when they get on board). It’s not about being green. It’s about being a vegetable grower. Used toilet roll tubes are in our blood! People who wouldn’t consider using them simply wouldn’t consider growing veg. There is a certain way of working with the soil than makes sense, and once you know about the tubes you’ll never throw another one in the bin again.

So, onto the second photo. One day during the long winter months I was looking for some simple origami, for reasons I won’t bore you with. I stumbled across this page that showed how to make plant pots out of newspapers. At the time I bookmarked the page for future reference. Then, last month, halfway through potting up some sprouting broad bean seeds I ran out of pots. Frustrated with myself I was just about to head out to the DIY shop to buy some more pots when I remembered the website. I gave it ago and these are the results.

I’m pretty happy with them, as are the broad beans. I haven’t tried to shift them from the tray – I don’t think the paper is strong enough. But they’ve kept the beans growing happily for about three weeks now and the only time I will need to move them is when I plant them out. Motivation? Thrift. Green? Yes – but primarily as a by-product. Being green is part of growing veg – it doesn’t have to be, but when it’s done right, it seems to come naturally.

So it was a rather damp weekend after all. I’m not too fussed as there were plenty of other things to be getting on with. I only popped along to the allotment for a few minutes on Saturday to check that it hadn’t been re-let to someone else!

Our new committee is going about its job with real …. vigor. Any allotment left standing for too long is being re-let. This means there are swaths of new people around at the moment. It’s great really because new people are usually really enthusiastic and happy to chat to you. It furthers my belief that the principle reason to have an allotment is for socialising. The plot next to me has been taken by a bloke with two kids. Hopefully they’ll stick at it and sort the plot out. Without any exaggeration the site was the busiest I had seen it since I joined. I really hope all of the new people will stick with it.

So with all the positive happenings at the allotment it was good to see that Miss M had planted some blackcurrant cuttings. These were from a Newcastle allotmenteer – another plant for free (hooray!). Three were put in in a row, about three feet apart. We weren’t sure how far apart to plant them and I hadn’t brought my book down. We asked Alan, who though three feet sounded about right. We’ll see.

Finally, we dug up the chives that we planted last year. This was the first plant we put in the allotment when we started. It grew really well but we’ve never used it. It’s too far to come to pick when you’re half way through cooking, so I’ve replanted it in a pot in my backyard. It had grown quite big so we split the plant and gave half to our new neighbour. The chives are now his first plant. As they were a gift to us from a friendly allotmenteer when we started it felt like the right thing to do.

I’ve had these potatoes for about six weeks and they are happily spouting away ready for putting into trenches. I had hoped to plant them this Friday, but looking at the weather forecast I think I might wait for another week.

I don’t eat many eggs so I don’t have egg boxes to put the potatoes in for chitting, as ‘they’ suggest. So instead I have put them into a box with rolled up newspaper for support. It seems to have worked quite well.

Last year we had a decent crop of potatoes, but the wet summer ruined most of the crop. We are going to put the potatoes in a dry part of the allotment this year to try to prevent the same happening again. I just hope it gets warmer soon so that I can get them in the ground – as you can see, they’re as eager as I am!

I’ve had my eye on a patch of raspberry canes at the bottom of the allotment for a while. They’re half on my allotment and half on my neighbours (which is vacant at the moment). They’re also in the way of the new fence which is soon to be put up (pallets being stockpiles as we speak!).  I’ve no idea who rightfully owns the raspberries, but clearly they have to be dug up for the fence. Today was the day I finally got around to doing it.

Now I really like raspberries. The problem is that I have no idea about transplanting them from one area to another. I think they like fairly dry soil, and I know you are meant to transplant woody plants before they come into leaf, so I think I have done the right thing. I’ve moved them into a prime position next to the strawberries, which is both dry and sunny. As you can see they are just coming into bud, so I hope I’ve not left it too late. Only time will tell.

If it fails then so be it; they would have been dug up anyway. Here’s to hope, the allotmenteers best friend!