Parsnips & Carrots

The start of April and time to get some seeds sown at the allotment. First I sowed 2 rows of Carrots (Heracles), adding a fine row of Chive seeds next to them which apparently should help to deter Carrot-Fly. I left enough space for a 3rd successional row of Carrots to be sown at a later date, and then moved on to sow 3 rows of Parsnips (Archer). I've sown the Parsnips a couple of weeks later than last year since the germination was very poor last year. Another attempt to improve germination this year is to keep the Parsnip seeds covered with a mini polytunnel for a few weeks. So after the seeds were sown in their rows (see above) I then covered them with two tunnels (see below).


Back home I also sowed Tomatoes (Gardeners Delight, Golden Sunrise, Sungold), Celery (Granada) and Sweet Peppers (Carnival) into pots/seed tray inserts. They are being kept inside the house until the weather warms up. Should have sown them several weeks earlier, but didn't get around to it till Friday.

Having recently started a new Strawberry bed on the new plot I have been building a fruit cage to put over the plants to protect them from the birds. I did this with my original Strawberry bed last year and it seemed to work well. So with some cheap timber from B&Q and some netting from Wilko's, I built a new Strawberry cage and assembled it at the allotment (see below). The lid hinges in the middle so that one side opens on to the other side, allowing easy access for picking.


The Rhubarb that I planted last year disappeared completely over the winter and I was starting to worry that it had died. But it is just start to re-emerge now (see below), so hopefully it will establish itself this year and we might even be able to pick a bit.