Plenty of crops still to harvest
We’ve had a lot of rain so I haven’t been able to do much on the allotment. On a dry day I did manage to dig the trenches for runner beans and sweet peas. Apart from this I’ve just gone there when we needed some
veg. We still have plenty of sprouts, cabbages, turnips and swedes to harvest. On one of my allotment visits I transferred the contents of one of my compost bays into the next one, which aerates it and helps with the rotting process. I’ve three compost bays and always keep one empty for this purpose. I’m going to order some manure, which will be forked into the allotment beds. Before it arrives I’m going to test the pH of all the beds in case any need lime. If any beds do, I leave them for a month after adding the lime before the manure is added.
I need a new shed at home, and my main job has been to empty and dismantle the old one and lay some flags for the base of my new one, which I’ve ordered. I’ve had to find temporary room for the contents of my old shed in my other shed and one of my greenhouses. I’ve also given the lawns their annual treatment; I scarify and fork them and brush sand all over them which goes into the holes to assist drainage.
Dahlia tubers have been boxed up and put on to my propagators and warming benches to start them into growth, and I’ve taken the first 150 chrysanth cuttings! I’ve sown the first seeds – the exhibition onions and aubergines. The onions are already beginning to grow. By the time you read this I will, hopefully, have sown some flower seeds. There are some that benefit from an early start, such as salvias, lobelia and petunias. Also some perennials, which flower in the first year if sown early, such as dwarf delphiniums, penstemons and achillea.
Another job I’ve been doing on wet days is wash my hundreds of plant pots and other small containers, which I use for seed sowing and taking cuttings. While washing these pots at the kitchen sink I like watching birds on the feeders. Apart from birds that we get all year, at this time of year we also get long-tailed tits, nuthatches, goldfinches and a woodpecker.