Seeding up time

  • By Alison
  • 23 March, 2010
  • Comments Off on Seeding up time

seed rows

Apart from my father-in-law having a dig in preference to going to Bluewater (crazy man!) the allotment hasn’t had any attention at all now in 3 months. But with the weather getting better (we’ve actually seen the sun on quite a few days this last week. Shame it poured with rain every afternoon) I’ve really got to get my stuff together and get down there.

Luckily there is also a fair amount of preparation that can also be done back here, and I’m almost on top of that.

My veg-table sitting out in the backyard has now come into its own. It failed to grow garlic over winter, although that’s hardly its fault. But now has taken on the role of “cold frame”, thanks to some plastic sheeting and 4 bricks.

As you can see from the labels, I’ve planted cabbages, brassicas and leeks. Those labels are not still stuck in the dirt, I placed them there and then took the photo so that I didn’t have to write on the little sticks. My pen had dried up.

plastic covered veg-table

This is the first time I’ve used an outside seed bed – the last two years I’ve had all the pots inside. After a while it becomes a bit insane in the back room with the rows and rows of seedlings straggling everywhere.

I am interested to see how well they grow in the veg-table outdoors.

Even more interesting will be the method in which I transport them down to the allotment when it’s time to transplant them!

Every year I also end up in the position where I have seedlings ready to be moved, but I’ve not dug over all the beds yet. This is something I really need to sort out right now too.

The main trouble is that the amount of rain that we’ve been having makes digging nearly impossible. When my father-in-law was digging a few weeks ago he ended up giving up, as it was too hard. The ground was so wet that every forkful was a full load. The clayey ground clung to the tines and made it more a game of weights, than digging.

With the Easter school holiday coming up, my kids are in for a wonderful treat – daily visits to the allotment for a whole week. 

Suck in that nature, kids! It’s good for you.

Categories: growing from seed

Comments are closed.