What I did at the allotment today……..

Ok,  if I said that I was busy today that would really be an understatement!  Weeding, planting, digging, carrying, lifting…..many active words that my body paid the price for later!!!

Firstly, I had a few beds that needed weeding as they hadn’t been done in a few weeks.  I must admit though, they looked so much better afterwards.

I read somewhere that if you weed using the hoe every 7-10 days, this will dramatically reduce the growth of weeds.  Using a sharp hoe also makes the job so much easier.

I realised that when I planted my spring bulbs around the pond a few weeks ago, I hadn’t planted any Tulip bulbs.  Since then, I purchased some tall, multi coloured variety called Rembrandt Mix.  I planted these 15cm deep, 12cm apart around the pond where there were no other bulbs planted.  I can’t wait until spring to see their display.

Now is also the time to plant the overwintering onions.  I will do a Spot Light On post about these soon, so I’m not going to go into too much detail about them here.  I planted them 6inches apart in rows 12inches wide.  I placed a piece of net over them until they are a little more established to prevent the birds from picking them out of the ground.

I used the Japanese variety bought from the local Wilko’s for the very reasonable price of £2.  I managed to plant 5 rows of 10 that should see me through until June.

I had a little space left in the onion bed so I also planted soome Golden Gourmet shallots.  These too were purchased from Wilko’s at the same price of £2.  There were 25 in the pack and these were distributed into 3 rows 8inches apart.

By planting these in the Autumn, it gives them a head start for harvest in June, whereas Spring planted sets are generally harvested around August time.

I also planned ahead and dug out my trench for where I intend to grow my beans and peas next year.  I dug the trench a spade width and depth for approximately 10-12 feet.  This is what pushed my back over the edge!  I lined the base of the trench with newspaper and over the next few weeks/months I will add the kitchen vegetable waste that I would have ortherwise put in the compost bin at home.

Beans and peas like a lot of nutrients and moisture in the soil and this is a really easy way to achieve the growing conditions that they love.  This bed will eventually become a ‘Three Sister’s’ bed.  More details on this to follow.

Happy Diggin’

Debb

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