Spring catch up

Welcome back and thanks for still looking! Its been a long time since the last update and so many things have been progressing. I passed the year mark in late April but not before I’d got a whole load of potatoes and onions in. I actually started the onions in cells and they were 6” long by the time they were planted out. As for the spuds I think I went a little over the top… oops. Without really considering I bought four bags or seed potatoes – early (Arran Pilot), maincrop (Desiree) and second/salad (Charlotte). This all amounted to quite a lot of potatoes and despite giving them away I’ve still filled one and half beds! I recon I planted over 100 seed potatoes. Progress report: all coming along nicely!





In the next bed came the beans and peas. Each of the beds had been dug over by hand to remove the weed roots from last year. Its taken ages but so far appears worth it. Time will tell if it stays so. I put a couple of trenches of compost down for these as well as the standard canes. I’m growing scarlet emporer runner beans and Blue Lake French beans. They both suffered badly with a three night frost less than a week after planting but have survived and started re-growing. I think I’ll have to keep up with the watering as they don’t appear to like dry conditions.

After that came root plants. I’d already got parsnips on the go in huge tubes. These had been washed away in the mid Jan floods - or so I thought because now small plants are starting to form. I planted more seed direct including parsnip, carrot and turnip. So far its not looking good but maybe I’m expecting too much too soon. I’ve a few radishes in the same area which I’m hoping to catch crop.

The next bed is brassicas. I didn’t try these last year but thought I’d have a go at ome summer varietes. I’ve started everything in cells then transplanted the seedlings. A bit like the roots so far the jury is out but this is more my doing than anything else. In all the literature it says you must net these plants from the birds and butterflies. Unfortuantly the netting I got was rubbish and didn’t really cover the area it should have. What with the delay in me getting new stuff and fitting it the plants have taken a beating, or at the very least a good nibbling. The nets are half done so a big priority right now is finishing the job. I’ve got sprouts (Maximus) and Broccoli (Belstar?) in and Cauliflower (Clapton) waiting to be transplanted.

The last bed so far is for sweetcorn and tomatoes. I haven’t tried outdoor tomatoes before and this year I’m growing Tamina which is a standard sized one. I’ve also got a few cherry type (Gardeners Delight) which are the same as in my greenhouse. Sadly these got planted at the same time as the beans so suffered the frost. They were quite big when transplanted which might just be their saving Grace. We’ll see how they go. Also I think my sweetcorn is too tightly packed. Each is spaced 8” which is very close. I’m tempted to try and move on every other plant but as I also read they don’t like being disturbed I’m somewhat undecided. So that’s it for Plot62. I’ll try and get some better pictures of everything very soon. And I’ll keep blogging the year as we go.Cheers!