Bank holidays do upset routines, Monday night is when I write this post normally as it is the time when I have most free time. When I get out of step with routine it takes some time to pull things back together.

The warm weather of the last couple of weeks has given a massive boost to growth in all places, outside in the ground and inside the tunnel every thing has jumped in size. The potatoes which only came through some three weeks ago are now all through and earthed up. The strawberries are setting fruit on the old plants and the new plants are setting their second set of flowers.

In the tunnel the carrots are showing their necks and getting a good head of leaf, the peas and beans are setting pods and the beetroot are now the size of golf balls. The salad crops are nearly ready for picking and the grapes will very soon need thinning.

On top of all this the weeds!, as ever, are growing even faster and time must be spent keeping on top of them. The stepover apples and pears are setting fruit as is the plum tree.

I am slowly finishing digging in the manure on the plot and I have cleared the last of the purple sprouting broccoli and removed the frame, ready to reassemble for this years crops. The cold frames are full of pots hardening off ready to plant out and as soon as I take some out there are others to fill the frames up.

JOBS FOR THE WEEK

1. Dig over the brassica area
2. Plant out sweetcorn
3. Erect frame for brassicas
4. Plant out brassicas
5. Fill comfrey bin
6. Weed round compost bins

WORK DONE THIS WEEK

Sunday ( work today)

1. Water
2. Erect frame for old strawberries

Monday

1. Water
2. transplant seedlings into pots
3. Take down frame and repair

Tuesday

1. weed carrots and parsnips
2. plant out lettuce

Wednesday

1. Transplant into pots
2. water

Thursday

1. Water
2. Sow rest of carrots in frame
3. Clear weeds from old brassica area
4. Prepare borders in tunnel 1

Friday and Saturday

1. Away for two days, Watered for me

CROPS PICKED THIS WEEK

1. Asparagus
2. Spinach
3. Spring onions
4. Lettuce

How time flies when you are busy, it doesn’t take much to eat into time set aside for jobs when something unexpected comes up. For the last two weeks I have managed to keep up with the allotment but only just, a death in the family certainly makes a difference.

What have I done on the plot in this time? The warmer weather has made a lot of improvement in the growth of plants, and weeds, so all the seeds I had sown have all germinated and grown and have made for a lot of transplanting from trays into modules. Then form modules into small pots and many of the earlier plants are in large pots.

The improved weather has meant that the potatoes are nearly all through and earthed up. The old strawberry plants have grown and are full of flower, while the new plants have trebled in size and started to flower – all the flowers have been removed from the new plants to give them time to make stronger plants before fruiting.

The remaining leeks are all out now because they had started to send up seed heads, not bad I was still picking leeks into the second week of May. The two garlic beds are looking good and the comfrey is ready for it’s first cutting. We have been eating asparagus for the past two weeks and it is sending up new spears every day.

Tunnel 2 is filling up with trays of pots on one side while the middle is full of broad beans,peas, beetroot and spring onions. The other side bed is filling up with letttuce ,spinach and french beans and the end bed is full of carrots. Tunnel 1 is nearly ready for the tomatoes and cucumbers.

I have managed to dig the manure in on several beds and have planted out the onion sets from the trays. I have also erected a frame for sprouts on the same bed and yesterday I filled it with four varieties of sprouts.

JOBS FOR THE WEEK

1. Sow more seeds in trays and the ground – done
2. Erect second frame
3. Dig leek beds – done
4. Cut comfrey-done
5. Transplant seedlings – done

WORK DONE THIS WEEK

Sunday

1. water
2. plant out sprouts
3. weed garlic beds
4. weed tunnel 2
5. weed strawberry bed
6. cut comfrey

Monday

1. water
2. cultivate beds weeded

Tuesday

1. Water
2. Dig leek bed
3. Plant lettuce out

Wednesday

1. Water

Thursday

1. Water
2. transplant seedlings from small pots to large ones

Friday

1. Transplant from modules into small pots
2. Water
3. Sow Peas

Saturday

1. Water
2. Prepare bed for brassica frame
3. Transplant from modules into small pots
4. Sow beetroot

CROPS PICKED THIS WEEK

1. Rhubarb
2. Asparagus

What a change this week has made to the way things are growing, the hedge along side the site is now in full leaf and a beautiful shade of light green. Many things are now starting to start growing a lot faster but we are still well behind last year. The strawberries that I planted out last weekend have now stood up and are showing signs of beginning to grow.

The rest of the plot is still looking empty with much digging and raking still to do ready for planting. The seedlings in the tunnels have now got to the stage for transplanting into small pots or modules, this will be done this week. The soil outside is now beginning to warm up sufficiently to start sowing.

With the carrot frame up I have sown four rows of carrots this weekend I will carry on with regular sowing for a few weeks to fill the bed. I have also sown some peas and broad beans in the ground to see if it is time to get on with more sowing.

I had a massive sow in trays this weekend and hopefully have now put myself back on time.

JOBS FOR THE WEEK

1. Transplant seedlings into modules
2. Transplant seedlings into small pots
3. Dig over bed 2
4. Prepare bed 2 for planting

WORK DONE THIS WEEK

Sunday

1. Water tunnels
2. Sow carrots
3. Sow peas
4. Sow broad beans
5. Sow beetroot, spinach, radish, turnip and swede in root bed
6. Sow lettuce, brassicas, French beans in trays

Monday

1. Water tunnels
2. Transplant from modules into small pots letttuce, sprouts, cauliflower and calabrese

Tuesday

1. Water tunnels

Wednesday

1. Transplant seedlings from modules into small pots
2. Transplant seedlings from trays into modules
3. Water tunnels and cold frame

Thursday

1. Start digging bed 2
2. Put onion sets in cold frame
3. Water tunnels

Friday

1. Water tunnels and cold frames

CROPS PICKED THIS WEEK

1. Spring cabbage
2. Leeks
3. Radish
4. Broccoli
5. Asparsgus

I am still unsure how to go on this year with sowing. The seeds sown in the tunnels are germinating slowly and are taking along time get to a size big enough to transplant. I suppose it must be the low overnight temperatures because the day time temperatures in the tunnel are getting quite high and plants should be growing.

My new strawberry plants arrived this weekend and so I managed to get them in the newly prepared bed, lets hope they settle in quickly and we can get some fruit off them this year. I have also managed to plant the rest of my potatoes in the ground in bed4 this weekend, so I have at least got something growing in the plot.

I have managed to transplant all the seedlings that are ready into modules. The crops in tunnel 2 are coming on and I have weeded round them. I ate the first radish this week. The carrots will soon want thinning and the peas will need support soon.

JOBS FOR THE WEEK

1. Erect strawberry frame – Done
2. Erect carrot frame – Done
3. Start digging the next bed

WORK DONE THIS WEEK

Sunday

1. weed tunnel 2

water tunnels

1. Fill water buts
2. Plant strawberry plants

Monday

1. Repair and erect strawberry frame
2. transplant lettuce into small pots

Tuesday

1. Water tunnel, strawberries and garlic
2. Dig over part of leek bed to finish carrot bed

Wednesday

1. Erect carrot frame
2. Sow climbing peas
3. Water tunnels

Thursday

1. Short lunch, rain nothing done

Friday

Meeting

Saturday

Working – no work

CROPS PICKED THIS WEEK

1. Leeks
2. Spring cabbage
3. Broccoli

The wind and rain are still here but the temperature has risen to mild, still a number of degrees colder than this time last year. Last year there were a lot more plants and seeds in the ground than there are now, but don’t worry as the weather warms up the seeds will be sown and it will not take long for them to catch up.

The blossom on the shrubs and fruit trees is coming out and making a real show, however it should have some protection from the frost or else the blossom will wither away and reduce the volume of fruit. Every thing in the tunnels is growing well as the temperature of the soil is a lot higher than outside.

The seeds in trays are about ready for transplanting so that they can put on a spurt in growth, and I must get round to sowing some more and keep up with the successional sowing of all the salad crops.

This time last year about a third to half the plot was planted up but at the moment I have very little in the ground. I did notice yesterday that the first spear of Asparagus was showing it’s head above ground.

JOBS FOR THE WEEK

1. Erect strawberry frame
2. Erect carrot frame
3. Prepare parsnip bed and sow
4. Prepare root bed – Done

WORK DONE THIS WEEK

Sunday

1. Dig more of bed 4
2. Water tunnels
3. Tie in grape vine in tunnel 1

Monday

1. Water tunnels
2. Finish digging bed 4
3. Transplant lettuce (2) ,Cauliflower and calabrese into modules

Tuesday

1. Water tunnels
2. Transplant onion and sprouts

Wednesday

1. Short lunch and meeting – nothing done

Thursday

1. Water tunnel
2. Transplant seedlings into modules
3. Transplant seedlings into large pots
4. Dig part of root bed
5. Prepare parsnip bed

Friday

1. Sow parsnips
2. Sow seeds in trays lettuce(2), cabbage( 1 summer & 2 winter), Sprouting broccoli, borecole and cauliflower.

CROPS PICKED

1. Leeks
2. Spring cabbage
3. Rhubarb
4. Broccoli