...coiled spring has sprung!

[allotment_chick]

AT LAST!! .... after all the frustrations of the wind, snow and rain, I managed to get to the allotment today - despite the access lane being full of JCBs, green vans and men in hi-vis vests ....something to do with gas, I think!

Soil draining well (thanks to the south facing slope), loads of flowers on the autumn sown broad beans (but are there any bees?) and shallots now in (thank goodness!).   A 'nice to see you' from neighbouring plotholders just made my morning.

Providing weather co-operates, it'll be the turn of the Feb sown broadies tomorrow....

Fan-dabi-dozi!

[allotment_chick]

[Mrs Ava]

Groovy AC.  I managed to get down for a couple of hours this morning and got carrots in under fleece, along with a half row of radishes and spring onions.  Dug my asparagus trench, hope to get them in tomorrow, and planted another row of spuds.  Lifted my cloches, and what do you know, peas are up!  ;D  Nothing quite like it is the AC.  I have flowers on my broadies also, and a few huge bumblers were buzzing around but that was all.  Are your feb sown beans outside already?  I have some and I was thinking of getting them in tomorrow and sticking pop bottles over the tops of them for a couple of weeks.  What do you reakon?
I am keeping everything crossed that the weather is good tomorrow for all of us who wanna get outside.   ;D ;D

[aquilegia]

fabulous! :D

it better be good weather this weekend. We have so much to do. I now plan for us to have finished digging the pond and dug over the island bed it's in by the end of April. and then there's all the pruning and sowing. Busy weekend ahead (I hope).

[allotment_chick]

Hi ya both!
EJ - I'm just off to pot up some asparagus as I don't have the space cleared yet.   I did the pop bottle thing with my autumn broads and it worked a treat !  Good idea to do the same with the Feb ones just 'til they get their roots out.

Aqui - better get the Shredded Wheat out, girl!  Sounds like a busy one for you!

Ceri - was it you whose husband kept being let off the hook because of the weather .... could be this weekend is the one to illicit another promise!   :o

AC x

[legless]

hopefully should get down there tomorrow, my broad beans aren't in flower yet, suspiciously i can' see any other plots with broad beans on, i wonder if there is a reason.....?

[aquilegia]

I haven't even sowed my broad beans yet. Far too disorganised.

AC - not much hard work for me really. We only have one fork at the mo and hubby is a lot stronger than me... When we have the second fork (gran's giving me my late grandad's old fork for hubby to use) I will dig as well, I promise!

[Garden Manager]

In the course of quite a hectic week i have managed to prepare a couple of my veg beds for the first crops,  which will be potatoes, peas and cabbages. I have also had a mammoth potting on session, potting up some of last years seed sown perennials.

I hope to get my seed potatoes in next week

[legless]

looks like a good gardening day today (i'm too busy to do any sadly but you lot enjoy it!)

[Ceri]

yes ac, it was me - good weekend and where is he -driving down to London to pick university child up.  I'll have him bang to rights Sunday afternoon though!  At least I can play in the back garden today - planted a few lettuce/radish/ beetroot in a small raised bed I've got under some fleece yesterday.  I'm digging a deep deep trench along the bottom of my bog, sorry, lawn, in slight  hope of improving draining with grit.  I'm making a new slightly curvy ribbon bed in the back garden where the top of the lawn was, taking out loads of solid clay and replacing with half-rotted compost (cos I havent got any fully rotted!)  Hoping this will help draining as well and create a bit of top soil for next year.  And its not raining - hoorah!

[allotment_chick]

There is talk of getting the Wilko greenhouse out of its box this weekend as there is a better than average chance it won't take off!  I'm just off to put the first batch of Toms in to pre-germinate and I might do some cucumbers as well

Ceri - a least you'll have an extra hour of daylight on Sunday afternnon!!  Why are you fighting the lawn, girl!?  Get a bog garden in there!  ;)  

Happy gardening folks!  :D

[john_miller]

  Hopefully this will inspire further. New England has seen a significant warming trend this week, 17C here yesterday, didn't freeze overnight. Remembering Tim's ten day adage, perhaps the U.K. will see this next weekend?
 Going to be a poor maple syrup season though (Vermont is the premier producer). It is the only crop I can think of that is aided by snow and cold nights.

[allotment_chick]

Hi John.....well it wasn't quite the spring day I was hoping for - cold, cloudy and drizzly so I stayed home and started on the back garden instead!  We're about to go onto British Summer Time tonight/tomorrow so maybe the weather will take the hint?    8)
AC  

PS - Vermont produces exquisite maple syrup (and don't forget Ben & Jerry's ... although I'm having trouble forgiving them for discontinuing rainforest crunch!)

[Ceri]

ac - I wish - but until small child is big enough not to bury himself in a bog garden I'm fighting on!  Husband arrived back from London and collapsed into bed about 2 hours ago so am hoping he'll be in fine fettle for tomorrow afternoon!  Lovely and sunny so my day in the garden went a bit like this - potter around, dig a bit, potter around, sit in sunshine with coffee, wash a few plant pots, dig a bit more, coffee - lovely and not back-breaking as I'm recovering from a chest infection and feeling a bit pathetic.

[allotment_chick]

Sounds like a perfick day to me, Ceri....  I hope you used one on those sitting in the sunshine and sipping coffee moments to make a list for tomorrow.....after all, you're recovering and should be taking a supervisory role only!

If it warms up a bit here tomorrow I'll try direct-sowing some carrots and I'll have to go and buy a new gro-house as well.  We decided that the Wilko greenie is too big for the garden, really (drat!), so back to Plan A and up the lottie it goes!  
AC x

[john_miller]

  Blame the Brits, ac! Or is the Dutch? Where are Unilever based? I've forgotten.
 Tell all your friends how good Vt. syrup is too. Farming here needs all the help it can get. This is the quintessential state for good syrup (climate and topography- does anyone know the French word that describes that?) and really high standards for production. It produces more than any other single state even though in area it is the 7th smallest state. Not much industrial grade either- unlike a certain country North of here.
 If you are having trouble with the weather, a point to dwell on. In the infamous summer of 1816 (no, I wasn't there), Vermont, and most of the rest of New England, had killing frosts every single month of the year. The summer that never was.  

[allotment_chick]

Hey John - might be an idea to get some ideas for using Vt. Maple Syrup on recipes4all !  
AC

[legless]

well made it down today and it was great - NGOH even ame with me and dug some trenches almost effectively for the potatoes. he also sowed some seeds which made him happy!

potatoes are in under fleece, a row of carrots also under fleece, salad leaves under cloches and beetroot, radish and turnip fending for themselves (just 1/2 a row of each to see how they do)

my broad beans are indeed flowering - isn't it a bit early for all that? and we harvested the forced rhubarb so torn between crumble and rhubarb and muscat jelly for pudding!

hopefully it can all look after itself nicely for a month and when i come back i'll expect not to be able to see it for the weeds!!

[cleo]

At last!!-the grass cut(to call it a `lawn` would be wrong),the veg garden rotovated and the first spuds in. Actually got some muck spread as well which frees up some more space,and the tomato plants are growing steadily-it`s going to be a close run thing to have some ready for sale at Easter but they are getting there.

Not a bad morning.

Stephan.

[allotment_chick]

Another cold grey day here so stayed indoors and sorted out some cupboards - b-o-ring!  Glad some folks across the country managed to get stuff done! Off for a rummage in the freezer now to see if I can find any blackcurrants for blackcurrant cake - that'll make me feel better!  Typically, I notice that the weather forecast for when I go back to work later next week is for warm sunny days ..... ah me!
AC x  

[Mrs Ava]

AC - blackcurrant cake!  Now, black currants are the king of all currants, so I insist you give me this recipe immediately!   ;D  fanks like.....  :D