First Earlies

Our first-early potatoes were planted today.

We have put in two rows of the very-early variety 'Swift' which could be providing us with some nice salad potatoes in 10 weeks time.

The Patch in February

We took advantage of the few days of dry weather to get down to the patch for some tidying-up.

The crops sown/planted in the Autumn have survived the Winter really well, considering how low the temperatures fell.
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The peas at the far-ends of the two cloches were badly affected by frost and we have sown additional seeds which should compensate for the losses. The remainder look healthy and are likely to produce a good crop in May.
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Our broad beans have been very successful with the young plants now reaching the top of the cloche. We will have to remove the cloche and cover the plants with fleece to prevent them being frost damaged between now and May.
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The picture above shows the garlic and two varieties of onions that we planted in September. There have been some losses, but there will be enough to provide some onions for the kitchen and the showbench in June.

Raspberries

We received twelve bare-root raspberry canes from D.T. Browns yesterday. The variety is 'Tulameen', which fruits in late-Summer.

Nine of the canes were planted in the bed which had been prepared a few months back with a trench full of compost and each cane was planted 18" apart in a hole in which a few handfuls of Growmore had been added.

The remaining three canes were heeled-in alongside as back-up's should any of the others fail.

Sunny November

It was a beautiful day down at the patch. We arrived around 09:30 and worked through to 16:40... so we put in a full day-shift !

To start off, I made a bonfire of all the old wood stakes and, once it was red hot, added the cut down cosmos, the roots from the raspberries we cleared and all the dried weeds as we could gather.

I transferred barrow-loads of horse manure to the plot where we will be growing brassicas next year and spread a thick layer across it.  We will cover this with cardboard to keep the weeds down and encourage the worms to take it down into the soil below.

Heather had finished painting the outside of the cold frame and I then added some brackets which will keep the lids tied-down.

The last job of the day was to fit the gravel boards along one side of the central path, and this was accomplished successfully.  I will fit the boards on the opposite side over the weekend.

We were accompanied most of the afternoon by the young vixen. Apparently the fox sleeps with the pigs in their wooden huts, none of them bothered by the others presence.  She even made a few attempts to get into our shed until I shooed her away,  but she simply trotted off a few paces and stared back at me in defiance! During the rest of the afternoon she was watching us while we were working, often  just a few feet away.

Cold Frame

We bought a large quantity of 6' gravel boards from Scats and had them delivered to The Patch.

Most of these will be used to border the central path running between our two plots, some will be used to create a couple of raised beds and some have been used to construct our new cold frame.

The cold frame will have two internal compartments. The inside has been painted white, the ground will first be covered with black plastic, then with some insulation and will be finally topped with a layer of large gauge gravel, which should ensure maximum heat retention in the colder months.

The lids have been made of builder grade polythene stretched over a wooden frame and connected to the structure with hinges. The exterior will be give a couple of coats of green wood preservative and we will soon be adding some of our overwintering plants.

Getting ready for Spring

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday morning down at The Patch.

Mr.Fox has been investigating the garlic I planted last week and has pulled some of the bulbs up.  I planted another half-dozen bulbs between the rows to replace any that fail to germinate.  I also planted two rows of shallots Eschalot Grise from my stock of small bulbs harvested earlier in the year.

Heather planted a row of narcissi Saint Keverne for cutting in the Spring.

Hello foxy !

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday and we spent most of it down at the patch. Heather cleared away all of the remaining tomato plants, tidied-up the brassica beds and picked a nice trug full of vegetables.

I prepared the beds for garlic and onions and planted 4 rows each of Garlic Solent Wight, Onion Radar and Onion Electric. I also sowed a row of Peas Meteor with a cloche then placed over to protect from marauding pests.

As we were clearing up to go home, a young fox came strolling through the allotment as bold as brass !