Easter weekend update

Well the weather finally decided to play ball today after three days of grey dampness. The rain was needed but it's a shame it had to fall over a bank holiday weekend which offered plenty of opportunities to get down to the plot. Still, after a grey start the sun began to shine late this morning so it was off to the allotment with my remaining seed potatoes, onion seedlings and fledgling broad beans.

Although there is still plenty of bare earth around the site is starting to green up now and on a suuny spring day it's a wonderful place to be. I therefore spent a pleasant hour of digging and turning soil before getting down to the real job at hand - planting!

The King Edward potatoes had been chitting in my attic for a long time now and had developed nice stubby chits just waiting to burst forth. There is some debate as to whether it's actually worth chitting maincrop spuds but I always have done and there doesn't seem to be any harm in continuing in this way. I managed two rows spaced about 60 cms apart and they went in with a handful of chicken manure pellets to give the new shoots a boost when they get going. In all I've managed six rows of potatoes so I anticipate a good crop and a steady supply from late June onwards.

The onion seedlings went in the bed next to my over wintering onions. That way I can keep an eye on them as they develop and compare the size of bulbs to those I planted in late September. The idea is to start harvesting the over wintered crop from about June, which should be finished when the Kelsae onions are ready in late August. There was space at the end of the bed so this is where the broad beans (The Sutton) now reside. I started them off in root trainers about a month ago and they have grown into sturdy little plants with strong roots. Having never before used root trainers but having read the blurb, they do seem to produce a healthy root system so I'll be using them for my other beans and sweetcorn later in the year.

The final job for today was to get the first of my 'direct sown' crops into the ground - Parsnip 'Cobham Improved Marrow'. The seed packets always say sow from February but I usually like to hang fire to make sure the soil has warmed sufficiently to speed up germination, which can be notoriously slow with parnsips. A double row 30cms apart should be sufficient for our needs this coming autumn and winter. During my next visit I also hope to get some Autumn King carrots and my beetroot (Boltardy and Burpee's Golden) in, again sown direct, followed in a couple of weeks by my first attempt at swedes.

I'm starting to get itchy fingers now in terms of sowing the tender crops, such as courgettes, squashes and runner beans, but I know it's still too early so will hang fire until at least the end of the month. I like my plants to be established before they are left to fend for themselves on the plot, so they'll have a month, or thereabouts, to germinate and grow in the relative comfort of my house or greenhouse, before being hardened off and planted out at some time after the late May bank holiday. Still plenty to do between now and then!