BST begins

Well the clocks went forward last night and the new dawn heralded a relatively warm and sunny early spring day for the arrival of British Summer Time. Having got most of the household chores out of the way on Saturday, I had a few spare hours to maintain progress at the plot.

I've managed spend quality time at the plot over the past couple of weeks. On Tuesday the van was in for its service and MOT so, with a day off work, I made light of some bindweed and couch grass and managed to plant the first early spuds - Pentland Javelin. I also began to turn the soil in preparation for future crops, with a robin in close attendance picking off the odd worm that I brought to the surface.

Today was another settled day and the soil is now dry at the surface and easy to break into a fine tilth. Having turned another few feet of soil and prepared the ground I planted a couple of rows of my second earlies - Charlottes. They are in nice and deep and earthed up with a good mound of soil so I'm hoping that any major late frosts will be finished by the time they poke their tender shoots above ground. If not I'll nip down with some fleece or simply earth them up some more.

Looking at last year's diary I planted all my potatoes on 13th April. I think it was more lack of preparation and time than cold weather that resulted in the later planting but this year I'm hoping for an earlier crop. The maincrop - King Edward - can wait a couple of weeks yet and they'll probably go in around the Easter weekend.

In the greenhouse I've been pollinating the blossom of my apricot tree to help set some fruit. The doors and vents have been closed and no insects have been sighted so I'm hoping this manual intervention will prove fruitful later in the year.

Apricot Blossom

The outdoor trees dotted around my plot - plum, greengage, various apples and pears - are still some way from blossoming but the buds have swollen and will soon be breaking given some more mild weather, so it won't be long before I'll be able to assess the potential crop.

On a final note, it was the allotment AGM on Friday and I was voted in as the new Chairman! It will certainly be an interesting year as I get to grips with my new role.

Late winter/ early spring..?

I'm never sure whether early March heralds the start of spring or winter's last stand. After a few weeks of relatively benign, dull and mild weather it appears to be turning colder again for the change of the month. What is noticeable now is the ever increasing amount of daylight we receive. This all bodes well for my seedlings as they will benefit from the extra and more intense light.

I managed to get to the plot a couple of weeks ago and plant the fruit trees. It was pretty hard work tying them all to their supporting wires but the end result is really good. I couldn't take a picture because of the drizzle but next time I'm with camera on a decent day I'll grab a couple of photos.

This Sunday, the first day of March, was lovely here in Nottingham and so I spent a few hours digging the earth and relocating my raspberry canes. With a bit of effort I have reclaimed about 2m of ground from the couch grass and bindweed so have been able to accommodate the fruit trees and my raspberries without losing any further growing space. I also managed to clear the asparagus bed of weeds and gave it a good mulch of well rotted manure so here's hoping for a fine crop in May.

It's nice to see all the buds fattening on the fruit trees and bushes and the apricot, in the shelter of the greenhouse, looks ready to break any day now. I'll keep it in the greenhouse for another month or so yet to protect any blossom, assuming there is some, from late frosts. It will require me to pollinate the blossom by hand with a fine brush, but I can think of worse jobs! The only downside of seeing all this activity is the reminder that I'll have to get a move on if I wish to move any more plants - the Morello cherry struggled in its pot last year so I might have to plant it out in the open and quickly.

At home I'm busy chitting my seed potatoes and have sown the first batch of tender crops. This year I'm growing Pentland Javelin (first early), Charlotte (2nd early) and Kind Edward (maincrop) - old favourites that have produced well for me in the past. They have good strong chits now and I might risk the first earlies pretty soon, under the cover of a plastic cloche, to see how quickly I can be digging and eating new potatoes. The seeds that went in yesterday are my chillies, tomatoes, tomatillos and some morning glory. They are in windowsill propagators and I hope to see some action within about a week.

I hope to be back at the plot this weekend to find a space for my strawberry runners and to start preparing the main beds for seeds. That is if I can shift this miserable head cold that currently sees me sat at the computer sipping lemsip and wearing a snood, courtesy of my mother-in-law, to keep my neck warm! It looks as ridiculous as it sounds!!!

Until the next time...