Terry Walton looks forward to be er days on the allotment as he gets set for planting
The soil is warming up ready for planting but a li le patience is still needed
I’m so pleased the days are ge ing warmer and we’re able to gather around the cafe to drink our coffee and have a socially distanced chat. The cold winter has kept us all apart but the sun is appearing on the horizon and the ‘old days’ will soon return!
Lay the open palm of your hand on the bare soil. What do you feel? No longer should you experience a cold shudder up your arm – this is clear indication the soil is warming up. When I was a youngster on the allotment, the ‘old timers’ used to tell me that the best way to check if the soil was ready for planting was to put your bare backside onto it. In this day and age that would be an arrestable offence! However, some patience is still needed before the headlong rush into a planting frenzy. Look around you and you’ll notice that daffodil buds are only just bringing forth goldenyellow trumpets. These flowery indicators are much later than in previous years and are a sure sign that there’s been a harsh winter. This year the season seems to be properly aligned. The plants are coming on a treat in the warmth of the greenhouse, but space has become a premium. I had no option but to evict my broad beans to the lonely cold frame. They weren’t happy at leaving the warmth but they were being spoilt and ge ing too tall! Still, they had polystyrene cups to keep their roots from ge ing chilled and the sharp drop in temperature will stop their gallop. They’ll now be much stronger and acclimatised, ready for planting out at the end of the month.
Tomatoes have reached the true leaf stage and have been po ed into 12.5cm (5in) pots. These don’t like the cold nights but I’ve huddled them around the heater to protect them. It’s needed to give us some early pickings in July.
The onion plants are happy despite the drop in temperature and are growing on strongly. The onion bed is making good progress and prepared to receive
seedlings in early April. The one magic formula I still have to add, though, is a sprinkling of dried, weathered pigeon manure. This will boost the nitrogen level and gives them a good start on their way to produce super-size onions.