May is the month

Well this month it feels like everything is taking off, a little bit of sunshine and the sap is rising in everything (including the weeds!). Bertha (the poly tunnel in case you had forgot her name) is doing her job nicely at nurturing seeds that are now seedlings, along with keeping my tomato plants and mange tout in grow bags nice and toasty. 

May the fourth has more recently been thought of as Star Wars day (may the force - I know you know but somebody who has just got out of bed might be reading this), but I will now also remember it for some advice I was given by Tom our eighty something resident long term allotmenteer. My runner beans are doing so well in Bertha that I may need to put them out a little early, although I would be unlucky to get a late frost there is still the chance. Tom has advised me next year to sow them direct into the ground on 4th May every year - they take 3 weeks to come up by which time we are nearly at the beginning of June they have missed any chance of frost. I will have to pop mine out this weekend, keep an eye on the weather forecast and hope for the best, I might even pop a seed in next to each plant to try and prolong my crop. My runner bean glut was quite prolific last year and my Mum and neighbours are banking on me keeping them stocked this year so I can't fail. We have put the canes up in anticipation, a long frame for the runners and a couple of wigwam style structures for the french beans, beetroot will be planted in the middle of the frames so no space is wasted. 

The potatoes are doing well, we have earthed them up once and they are coming through again. The rhubarb is growing nicely, the strawberries have started to flower and the raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants look well on their way. There will be leeks and courgettes to be sown out soon and cucumbers for another spare grow bag in Bertha. 

I love the fact I can finally see some progress, the sun has been shining, but the weeds are fairly prolific and probably take up more time than anything else. Never the less standing back and looking at what you have achieved is good for the soul. 

Hope you are all having a lovely time in your plots and gardens,

Much love and happy digging 

Trace xx 

A pretty wet start...

Well it hasn't been the best start to allotment season, we are at the beginning of May and during April we had all seasons in one day. Sunshine to thunder, hail to snow, wind, so much rain, warm dry spells but not enough to get young plants out, plus the frosts keep coming...

Luckily for my birthday my boyfriend, Rhys, bought me a poly-tunnel - I have called her Bertha and I am hoping she will become the heart of my plot. Bertha has enabled me to start growing even though the weather is still unpredictable, I'm hoping she will also mean I have red tomatoes this year (they are only ever green with our lack of sun - fine for my Green Tomato Chutney but a few red would be nice), hopefully cucumbers will do well with the extra heat and I may be able to grow more than one solitary pepper!

Presently there are sweetcorn, runner beans, french beans and courgette seeds starting to pop up and tomatoes, peppers, chillis, aubergine, sprouts, radishes, leeks and mange tout growing nicely. With the rest of the plot we are thinning out the strawberries and raspberries and generally tidying as much as we can.

Some of the cabbages were planted out today and covered with a miniature poly-tunnel to help protect them from frost. Last year all my brassicas got clubroot so I have moved their position and I am hoping we may be luckier this year.


So far the potatoes are not even showing! However the rhubarb is making up for it and last years crown is going from strength to strength!

All in all I am still enjoying the plot, but I would be enjoying it even more if the sun would make more of an appearance, everything needs some heat and will no doubt grow like billio once things warm up.

I hope you are all having a good time :)

Happy digging and much love

Tracey xx