Organic Allotment

It's All Go

Everything's starting to take shape on the plot with new plants in the ground for the first time since autumn. The broad beans are now out and holding their own, there's a row of peas, onion and garlic and a couple of rows of Boltardy beetroots. The only problem I've got is that there's so much work needs doing that I've got to spend every spare minute down there keeping up with it. It's ironic really because there are loads of interesting things happening that would be perfect for the blog but I'm not indoors enough to sit at the computer and write them up.Could this be the compromise of the modern garden blogger?

I'm also really jealous when I look round at other people's blogs to see how weed free their plots appear to be! I try and have a dandelion sweep everytime I'm there and pull out mare's tails as soon as they appear but apart from that it's a strictly as and when approach. It is the one time when I feel slightly envious of the non-organic plot holders who just turn up with a bottle of weedkiller and get rid of the lot in one go, and there's me spending hours on my hands and knees weeding at every opportunity. But then nobody ever said that being organic was the easy option and I do think to a certain extent you have to learn to live with the weeds - or does that just show how lazy I am?

Bring the Garden Home

I planted these beautiful tulips on the allotment with the full intention of using them as a cut flower to brighten up my house. However, when it came to the crunch, they looked so good on the plot that I couldn't bring myself to pick them, especially because I knew they'd last twice as long in the ground as in a vase of water. So the tulips were saved!

Despite this I do like growing flowers for cutting but have tended to grow ones where taking the flowers will stimulate new growth. With plants like dahlias, calendula, sweetpeas and nigella the more you pick the more the flowers keep coming! In fact, with something like sweetpeas, if you go away for a weekend and they don't get picked you'll come home to find they've all gone to seed. So, as a rule anything grown from a seed gets to come home and anything from a bulb stays put at the allotment.

To Plant or Not To Plant?

I've been away from my computer for a couple of weeks so it's been very quiet here on the blog but that has meant that I've had loads of time to put in at the allotment and it's all looking good. The weather has been absolutely glorious so all the seeds that I've planted have been sprinting ahead and are fast outgrowing their current home.

These broad beans and beetroots are out of the greenhouse and in the cold frame now but I'm wary about putting them out because the nights are still cool and one frosty night would probably finish them off. I lost my broad beans last year because I was too eager planting them and want to try not to do the same this time but, having said that it's, false economy to let them get pot bound - that could cause them as much damage as the cold.

I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and let them out into the big wide world one evening this week. I've got another batch of both coming on anyway in an attempt to improve my succession planting this year so it wouldn't be the end of the world if I did suffer some casualties. I suppose the real question of this post should be asking if every allotment gardener gets as attached to their plants as I do...?