Some progress

The weather has continued to tease. Some days have been positively spring-like but dark water-laden clouds suddenly appear in the sky threatening and often delivering more rain.

We made the most of the rain-free periods to work on the plot and in the garden as well as fitting in Ruby's walks.

One job was to plant more potatoes. One of our favourite potatoes is Elfe. For the last couple of years, we haven't been able to source any seed potatoes so last year we planted some of the ones we had stored over winter. We did wonder whether they would produce a harvest and it turned out that we had a better harvest from them than most of the other varieties planted. As a result, we will be planting our stored Elfe again. Last week we planted a couple of short rows.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

A start to planting

We did have some glimpses of spring last week. Unfortunately, the rain hasn't completely given up the assault. Just when we feel as if there may be a chance for the soil to dry out a little, another downpour takes us back to square one. On part of the allotment, the paths are even more squelchy, so much so that we are trying to avoid walking on them. The rain doesn't even come as short showers, some days it lasts most of the night. As if that wasn't bad enough we have been battered by strong winds. Looking on the bright side at least the winds should help dry the soil a little, hopefully at least to the point where any weeding that we attempt isn't accompanied by a slurping soundtrack.

Despite the weather, we really did need to start planting. Onion sets were in danger of spoiling, one variety had, in fact, started to grow. The ones grown from seed were outgrowing the cells that they were sown in.

As usual, we plant onion sets and seedlings in shallow trenches filled with multipurpose compost. Fortunately, the bed planned for the onions was prepared last autumn and had been covered with weed-control fabric. It was also relatively workable.

 

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

March in Pictures

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett