Allotment Diary April 2007

Monday 30th April
Mum and dad weeded on bottom plot. Harvested cabbage and rhubarb. Watered parsnip and carrot rows.

Sunday 29th April
Me and dad went down in the afternoon to water the parsnips (that haven't germinated yet.)
In the evening me, mum and dad went down to take the compost. Me and mum planted a row of carrots (Early Nantes 5) next to the parsnips while dad did some weeding. I did more pricking out including potting on courgettes.

Saturday 28th April
I started to prick out seedlings for the first time today. I hope that they all survive the move to bigger pots and don't just shrivel up and die. There are more to pot on, but it was getting a little bit too warm in the greenhouse by lunch time! I could tell that the seed for the ATYR Lettuce was older as few had germinated. After lunch me and dad took some long lengths of wood that were salvaged from a garage that was being demolished nearby to the allotment.

Friday 27th April
Mum and dad weeded on top and bottom plots.

Thursday 26th April
Mum and dad took old fenceposts, lengths of tree trunk to the plot. Planted Romano potatoes (30). Mowed grassy areas, weed killer to some perennials at the edges. Weeded on bottom and top plots. Harvested rhubarb, cabbage and purple sprouting broccoli. Dug up and composted all purple sprouting plants.

Monday 22nd April
Mum and dad took lengths of dexion and some timber lengths to the plot. Did a second trip and took the 4 plastic compost bins down. Harvested cabbage.

Saturday 20th April
I went down in the morning and planted the King Edward potatoes, I went just shy of a foot for spacing and got 46 into the row (the row was slightly longer than the previous ones as well.)

Friday 19th April
Me, mum and dad went down in the morning from about half 9 until midday. I planted two rows of parsnips (Tender and True and F1 Albion), we should get about 50 from each! I put the seeds in groups of 3 about 9" apart so that we can thin to the strongest of the three at each station. The rows are the full width of the top plot. Dad weeded out fat hen and other weeds that had come up on the top plot, mum helped with the parsnips and weeded a lot too. I sprayed some weeds with weed killer along the top path so that we don't have to break up the firm soil to deal with them. Mum decided that we could use a cabbage so we harvested one of the bigger ones to use at tea today with lasagne.

Wednesday 18th April
Me and dad went into town and bought a new greenhouse heater from wilkinsons for £20. It is a parasene superwarm 4 and with two of these on the go we should keep a 6x8ft greenhouse fairly warm.

Tuesday 17th April
got a barrow of the cow manure to go into the trench and mum put paper into the bottom). In all we used paper and 2 barrows of manure in this trench, the potatoes were Desiree and there were 35 of them. I am leaving more room between rows for the main crop potato. Mum and dad weeded ready for the next rows of potatoes and I weeded a little between some of the fruit bushes. Mum harvested Purple sprouting broccoli. Cucumber seeds are through all 8 of them.

Monday 16th April
Me, mum and dad walked down the back in the evening to the allotment. We couldn't go under the motorway because it is really flooded (this has only been a problem since they resurfaced! Once we got there after going the long way around I cut out the flowering heads from the rhubarb, the manure pile was steaming well and dad used some weed killer locally to see how it affects the couch grass on the middle plot. Harvested rhubarb. I bought 2 bottles of paraffin.

Saturday 14th April
Lots of the seeds we planted in the greenhouse are showing themselves. Still waiting for some to come up though, but the conditions appear to be right and the heater is keeping it warm on a night.

Friday 13th April
I got home to find a missed call on the answer phone from Sowood Farm in Ossett. I rang them back and they were ready to deliver a trailer load of manure for £15. This is cow manure and doesn't need the same time to rot down as horse manure so it can go straight in for the potatoes and squash etc.

Wednesday 11th April
Me, mum and dad went to the allotment after tea. Me and mum started making a seed bed for the parsnips and carrots to go in on the top plot. This was full width of the plot and about 6-8ft wide. Dad worked on the bottom plot removing more grass, the ground had gone like concrete and this task was hard.

Tuesday 10th April
Bought mini greenhouse shelving, gutter ends, wicks for paraffin heaters, and trays for pots. Me, mum and dad went to plot, cleaned out paraffin heaters, harvested purple sprouting and brought paraffin heaters home, together with small plant pots and trays. Dad made wire mesh bird protector for new greenhouse.

Monday 9th April
Me, mum and dad went down for a couple of hours before lunch. We planted the a row of Wilja (late second early) potatoes, but I forgot to add the pelleted chicken manure. Dad cut the grass, watered the strawberries, onions and beech hedging. Mum cleaned pots, trays and fleece.
After lunch we decided to do some seed planting at home in the new greenhouse. I decided to use seed trays and then prick out seedlings because there was so much to plant. We planted:
Tomato – Ailsa Craig cherry and Gardeners Delight – 2 rows each
Sweetcorn – Swift x38 and Sundance x42
Leek – Musselburgh x105 and Autumn Giant x105
Leaf Salad – 2 rows
Lettuce – All the year round x1row and Balmoral x1 row
Rocket – Rocket x15
Spinach – Bordeaux x15
Beetroot – Chioggia Pink x20
Cabbage – Capri x27 and F1 Kilaxy x20
Brussel Sprouts – Trafalgar F1 x10
Broccoli – Purple Sprouting x10 and Calabrese x10
Cauliflower – Andes x10
Kohl Rabi – F1 Lanro x30
Chilli Pepper – mixed x5

(A row is across a seed tray the short way)

Sunday 8th April
Dad finished modifying opener and fitted it, then sealed around the bottom edges and various other possible water ingress places. I fitted weed matting to floor and mum covered paste table with strong polythene (held in place with staples) and put this in the greenhouse too.

Saturday 7th April
I made a start on washing the glass and glazing the greenhouse, dad came out to help after a while and then me, mum and dad were at it. We found that we needed some W clips and Z clips so that we didn't have to re-use the really rusty ones, also bought 4 panes of glass 24” square, some weed matting and paraffin. We started to look at fitting the automatic opener, but found that we needed a block to space off one of the fittings so that it didn't hit the glass when it closes.

Friday 6th April
Dad made it so that we can unscrew the fence panels in the garden where the greenhouse is going. Me, mum and dad sorted out the plot for the greenhouse in the garden and put edging stones laid flat to stand it on. We then lifted the frame onto the stones. There is room for a water butt (that dad rescued from a skip) between the greenhouse and the shed.

Thursday 5th April
Me, mum and dad went down before lunch and stayed until about 3. Me and mum worked on planting the second early potatoes (Nadine) these took two full rows! Used the newspaper, compost and chicken manure pellets to line the bottom of the trench. Dad weeded on the top plot and hoed a bit too and it is looking really good. Nice warm sunny day, one of the greenhouses was about 36C.

Monday 2nd April
Me, mum and dad went down before lunch. I weeded on the top plot (where we had already weeded) and got quite a bit done. Dad worked up here too clearing more of the same weeds. Mum planted the remaining onion sets (Stuttgarter Giant) and covered them with wire cloches. Mum weeded between the spring cabbage and I refreshed the slug pellets in the jam jars.

Sunday 1st April
Mum and dad were ferrying the compost from at home to the allotment so that we can clear the greenhouse base area. I went down and stayed at the plot so that I could plant out the strawberries. There are now 1 row at the shed end that are from Karen and the rest are our own transplants (6 or 7 of each).
Dad and mum prepared the ground for the onions (raking and breaking it up) and then mum put them in 6" apart in the row and 10" between rows (100 Stuttgarter Giant and 100 Red Baron - there were some Stuttgarter Giant left over to plant another time.) Dad did lots of weeding and tidying up around the fruit bushes and watered in the strawberries.