Allotment Update No. 13

Follow the allotment series here.

It’s been a while since the last update, with the improving weather a lot’s been going on at the allotment. On the 18th February we started chitting the potatoes. Four weeks later, there had been some progress:

The ‘before’ image is here: 18th Feb.

Of our five variates, Foremost (1st Early), Roseval (2nd Early), Sarpo Shona (Early Maincrop) and Kerrs Pink (Late Maincrop) have chitted nicely, ready to plant. Pink Fir Apple (Late Maincrop), however, hasn’t done much. There are some shoots but not ready for planting yet. We’ll give it another couple of weeks.

Here they are going in; the earlies are spaced 30 cm apart in rows around 40 cm apart and the rest spaced 40 cm apart.

We’ve also been improving the rabbit proofing, adding chicken wire to the gate, fixing a bit of fence, blocking up holes… it’s not obvious where they can get in now.

This weekend (26th March) we’ve been busy planting, and weeding. The thistles have the potential to be a problem. The meadow before we started digging was full of thistles and their remaining roots are spawning babies everywhere!

We added some more parsnips and cabbage, a few weeks after the first sowing. Sown the first time this year are: carrots, turnips, beetroot, bunching onions and leeks. We also dug a new bed along the fence and sowed a mixed pack of wild flower seeds.

From top to bottom in the photo: carrots, beetroot, parsnips, potatoes and cabbage with more potatoes in the top left.