Asparagus and More Sowing

Today the first Asparagus of the year was ready for picking. There was 7 stalks to be picked today, but it's still an exciting moment. Within an hour and a half of picking them we were eating them. Fabulous.


I sowed another 3 rows of Autumn King carrots today. They were then covered with a tunnel of Enviromesh to help prevent carrot root fly.


I also managed to lay the final slabs for the patio, which provides an area where we can sit and a convenient walk way in front of the shed.


Next to the patio you can see the peas are really coming through well.


The strawberry plants are all just starting to flower now too.


The Cherry Tree is covered in lovely white blossom and looking very healthy.

Rhubarb and Sowing Time

On Saturday I picked Rhubarb for the first time ever! Just a few stalks so far, but it should be enough for a crumble. The colour of them is fantastic.


Over the past week I have sown all of the seeds that I always start off in pots at home in mini greenhouses on the patio. This year I'm using home made newspaper pots even more than last. In newspaper pots I have French Beans, Broad Beans, Sweetcorn and all of my brassicas: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, White Cabbage, Red Cabbage. I've only sown half the amount of brassicas that I intend to grow so far, I'll wait a few weeks before sowing the rest to stagger them a bit.

Also in pots I have Cucumbers, Runner Beans, Courgettes (green and yellow), Pumpkins and five different types of Squash (Turks Turban, Futsu, Uchiki Kuri, Festival and Butternut).

The Tomatoes I sowed about 3 weeks ago are also coming along nicely at home.

Planting Potatoes

The potatoes have been 'chitting' at home since early January and as you can see above, they have sprouted quite a lot and were definitely ready for planting.


My method of planting potatoes this year was to first dig three trenches and put grass clippings into the bottom of each trench (see above). I then place a layer of newspaper over the grass and put the potatoes on top (see below). This method is supposed to help retain moisture in the trenches and provided added nutrients for the potatoes.


I then filled the trenches in and made low mounds of soil to give added depth to the potatoes (see below).


The first few rows of peas are now all starting to come up, and germination looks good so far.


Also the first few spears of Asparagus are starting to come through. It will be a few more weeks yet before they'll be ready for picking, but it's exciting to see them start to appear.


The Rhubarb is very nearly ready for picking now, it's growing so quickly at the moment.

Parsnips, Carrots, Leeks

I have now sown the Parsnips, Carrots and Leeks. Three rows of Parsnips are sown in the polytunnel on the right. Then the first three rows of Carrots (Autumn King) are sown in the Enviromesh tunnel on the left, with further rows to be sown in a few weeks time. Just to the left of the tunnels I have sown two rows of Leeks.

Sowing Peas

The end of March and time to start sowing Peas (Kelvedon Wonder). The area in front of the shed has been covered in black plastic over the winter. So the first job was to remove the covers (see above) and then lightly dig and rake the soil (see below).


Having prepared the soil I put up 3 rows of chicken wire, using short bamboo canes to hold them in place (see below). The canes are topped with old bottles to act as cane toppers - the clanking keeps the birds off and it also stops anyone loosing their eye on the end of a cane.


I then made a shallow trench each side of the fences and sowed some peas in them (see below). The fences provide excellent support for the peas to grow up.


In a couple of weeks time I'll also add another row or two of peas (Hurst Green Shaft).


Between the shed and the peas I've just sown I have left an area that I intend to use as a small bed and a patio area. First I levelled the area where the patio will be (see above).


Next I put a wooden border at the foot of the shed to form a small bed that I will use to grow Cucumbers in later in the year. The plan is to grow them up the shed, using the shed wall and some garden wire as support. Then I started to lay some paving slabs in front of the bed to form a small area where the kids can sit and play when they visit the allotment. I still need to get some more slabs to finish the patio, the idea is to have two rows of slabs to form a big enough patio area.

End of March

Just a quick look around the allotment at the end of March to show how things are growing. The Broad Beans sown in the Autumn are looking good, even a few flowers appearing. There's not as many plants as I would have liked so I'm thinking of trying a Spring sowing as well to increase the numbers.


The Purple Sprouting Broccoli continues to grow well. A few of the shoots are starting to go to seed, but mainly it's in good shape and producing plenty of shoots to pick and eat.


The Autumn fruiting Raspberries planted late last year are definitely showing signs of life. Several of the canes have some small leaves appearing now.


The well establised Summer fruiting Raspberries are also starting to send up new canes and leaves are appearing on last years canes which will fruit this year.


The Rhubarb is growing really fast now. A week ago it was just appearing through the soil, now it has plenty of leaves.


I've also just sown 4 types of Tomatoes into modules. There are red, orange, yellow and red tumbling varieties. I've also sown Celery into a small seed tray. Both are sat on a windowsill at home.

Painting The Shed

In order to protect the shed from the rain, I have now given it two coats of brown paint. I was also relieved to discover that it had escaped unharmed from some very strong winds recently.


The Rhubarb has just started to come through. I don't know if this is a late variety or just not fully established yet, but other people at the allotment have already started picking their Rhubarb. Not to worry though. This will be the first year I can pick the Rhubarb, so I'm looking forward to that. Last weekend I also weeded the summer Raspberrys and at last the Autumn Raspberrys are showing signs of life.