Bright Lights

It didn’t look like a great day for spending on the allotment. However, I had a number of tasks that needed to be ticked off the list so I headed off early to beat the inevitable rain.

I took the plot on rather too late in the year to sow any winter crops, so early in the month I ordered a selection of plug plants from Delfland Nurseries. Royal Mail scuppered my horticultural hopes when they vaporised my plants somewhere in the midst of their industrial action. Thankfully the nursery had a few more plants left and kindly sent me out a replacement. I may be about 3 weeks too late but my lovely little organic plants had arrived and they needed to go in the ground pronto.

My organic plug plants comprised: 6 spring cabbages, 6 calabrese and 12 “Bright lights” Ruby Chard. In addition to these little head-starters I had 157 bulbs to plant around the pond. Bulbs always look so easy when they are packaged up and I get carried away with the bulk purchase value but planting 157 bulbs is no mean feet. My pond is not so big either and the planting may now be a little over dense. I suppose spring will tell.

My lunch for the day was almost entirely local, a very suitable dish for the plot. It was a potato salad, made with the pink fir apples donated by neighbours to the right, a cucumber from the neighbour to the left, tomatoes from Devon and a handful of my own 7 year old rocket.

As usual all the beds needed weeding and as most of the broad beans have popped above ground I could finally see well enough to have a dabble with the hoe. The garlic isn’t up yet though so I decided to leave the flush of green seedlings to another weeks colonisation.

Finished off by covering my brassicas in a new enviromesh contraption and wrapped up the plot as the rain started.