Allotments 4 All

Nowt...... ;D

The first earlies are on the windowsill chitting, will put the maincrop out to chit over the weekend. *Might * think about sowing something in the next couple of days.

Even down here in Weymouth it's been snowy, frosty and now wet and windy so the lottie has been neglected for a while. There is a layer of manure spread over the whole plot which I'll rake off or dig in as necessary. Will hopefully get up there in the next week or two to prepare the bed for the onion sets to go in.

Really not in any hurry though - still way too chilly.

Louisa xx

I'm twiddling my thumbs. Have lots of digging that needs to be done but it is too wet.  >:(

Sowing seeds in modules and waiting for the rain to stop.

Nothing. I might put my onions in over the weekend, depending on the weather, but when it's the way it has been the last few weeks I don't do anything except maintenance tasks and digging, and as it's been so cold and I've been a bit under the weather, I haven't even done that much.

Been busy with my granddaughter. We finally got the broad beans sown in toilet rolls as well as outdoor tomatoes (Rose de Berne) and greenhouse ones (Shirley). We've got 20 Amsterdam Forcing in modules too. They won't need "transplanted". The whole thing will go into the soil when they're ready. I'm intending to plant them among my winter onions and cover the lot with fleece, but it might be better to wait until the "spring" onions go in. (Any advice welcome  ;))

Orla and Kestrel potatoes are itching to be planted so I'll see what the weather's like over the weekend (snow forecast  :( :(). Still haven't got shallots in due to frozen ground. Need to get a bed cleared for Sturon and Red Baron onions.

If all else fails I'll sow some lettuce seeds in my (cold) greenhouse. They should be up and away before the toms go in.

Like someone else on here we got out allotment in October. Weekends have been busy since getting it and have done some digging but all of it.

Onions and garlic went in November also some broad beans they are doing well.

I tried to sow some strawberries, tomatoes and aubergine in my rush as I needed and wanted to get things going and they come to nothing.

Need to get some compost today to start sowing some cabbages and cauliflower I got. Do people do a few seeds each weeks so that they don't all come at once?

That's wwhat I'm doing - a few at a time.

Arghh, forgot ... allotment AGM today, that will throw my day out ...

Never mind, no ferrying of my daughter to the stables today, so I can grab an extra hour on the plot.

Hi rosyred, I don't like veg coming at once unless it will sit patiently and wait for me to get around to it (root veg, most winter veg). I always sow e.g. beans and peas successionally and - wait for it - will try courgettes sown May and June this year :o ;)

BUT you can cheat and get successional crops without successional sowing!

Grow in a block, rather than a row; outer plants will mature faster than inner plants

Rather than rake your bed flat, deliberately 'mound' it (so you have a 'south side' and a 'north side'). There is a marked difference between south (earlier) and north (later) plants grown on my 'curvy' beds, even when planted or sown at the same time.

Mainly feeling guilty & lazy reading these posts, having done very little this year, not even digging! Put some garlic & onions in before Christmas & still got some leeks left, but have only sown tomatoes & aubergines on the kitchen windowsill so far!
Last year was our first year & we "only" started chitting potatoes on March 10th. This year they've taken so long to come from T&M that I'm starting them today- even later! AND they've substituted varieties- won't be ordering from them next year (or maybe my fault for ordering late).

Right now?  Exposing my complete ignorance to SS on the subject of cauliflowers  ;D ;D

Putting another 20 bags of muck on my manure stack and working on the greenhouse bed.

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

I planted a bed of onions today; hopefully I'll manage another tomorrow. It's still cold but they won't come to any harm.

I'm not worried about the onions: it's the harm I might come to that concerns me - out in the freezing cold. Snow on the hills and all.

I used to be very much into Scottish ice climbing; I'm not worried about the current weather!

I'm a new guy same as mat, only got my allotment in September.  I prepared some of the beds before the rain started last weekend and have stayed indoors since!  The soil will be too cold, wet and muddy to do anything constructive.  So I've started off my Globe Artichokes, Leeks, Salad Onions, Cabbages for Spring Greens and Celeriac indoors as seedlings, and I've just today sowed some tomato seeds I got free with a magazine.  Then I'll move them into a patio greenhouse I bought from Wilko's to harden off.  Outdoors, I planted my fruit bushes last weekend as they needed to go in asap. 

I second what everyone else has said and wouldn't  recommend  trying to start anything else out on the Allotment just yet.  If anything managed to survive out there, it wouldn't be very strong and you'd probably get a poor crop.  It's better to wait a few weeks as as I've read elsewhere on the site, the veg always seems to catch up from a late start.  My precious spuds are probably better off staying in the shed at the moment!

Though I well understand the feeling of itchy fingers wanting to start on the allotment / veg garden...  I've got a new toy, oops, sorry tool, ;) I want to use, a weed wand I bought from Lidls ;D  But's it too darn windy! :'(  ;D ;D ;D

Looking out the window at the snow drifts and the blizzard and wondering how I'll get to work tomorrow.. :'( :'(

cheer up graw, if you get snowed in you can manufacture '000s of seed tapes ;D

True! ;D ;D