A Gardener's Weather Diary: Lots of Preparing But Not Much Planted

Monday 25 March 2019

Lots of Preparing But Not Much Planted - Yet!

The first couple of weeks of March were pretty poor with some rain most days which meant visits to the plot were limited. The last few days have been much better and plotting has resumed. We’re continuing to get more beds ready for sowing and planting but as yet only some of our onion sets have been planted.

Onion Sets - Sturon, Rumba, Red Karmen, Centurian & Hercules

We've got another three beds on this plot ready for planting up with our early potatoes Casablanca, a first sowing of peas and our early brassicas which are now in the cold frame at home hardening off.

Early Brassicas - Regency cabbage, Helsinki cauliflowers & Aquiles calabrese

Checking back over the last few years our early potatoes are normally planted in either the last week of March or very early in April. The weather for the next week looks settled so we should be able to plant our early potatoes next week. We're in no rush to plant our other potatoes as we've had good results from planting as late as the middle of May providing they're not affected by the dreaded blight.

We have already got some beds prepared for most of our potato crop. These were prepared during that lovely spell of weather in February. However, we haven't managed to prepare a second bed for our remaining onions sets and shallots. I removed the weed control fabric, which had been covering the bed all winter, and the soil beneath was too wet to dig over. It's a reminder that the first half of March was very wet with the best part of two months rainfall in the first couple of weeks.

I did have an exploratory dig with both fork and cultivator and came to the conclusion that I would do more harm than good attempting to dig over the ground in its current state. I'm hoping a few days of dry weather will soon dry it out.

Meanwhile, we still have a few vegetables to harvest on the plot.

Our purple sprouting broccoli is cropping well now and we've still got a few leeks to harvest although they'll start to grow and become unusable in the kitchen any time now. All last year's beetroot has now been harvested. I composted some of the roots which had become homes to slugs and woodlice. Sadly our carrots and parsnips have come to the end of their cropping period too and the remaining roots will be dug up and composted. We've been harvesting these since last September so we are not complaining. Our early rhubarb, which we think is Timperley Early, is providing us with a steady supply of succulent stalks to pull.

If the weather remains favourable the next few weeks will be busy sowing and planting both at home and down at the allotment.