OUR ALLOTMENT - Life on the Weald, April 2018

Life on the Weald - April 2018

The Easter weekend and bank holiday Monday are usually a time for gardening activity, but this year we went away for a family celebration to Sheffield.  Having lost valuable days, it was my intention to spend some days on the plot on returning - but when we looked out of the window in Sheffield on Easter Monday, this is what we saw

Sheffield, Easter Monday 2 April

Hove escaped the snow but had days of heavy rain and when we returned the allotment was waterlogged so it was a few more days before it became workable.

There was a brief dry day on 5th April. The broad beans (Aquadulce) sown in November had survived and were looking healthy.

Broad beans, Aquadulce 5 April

 I was able to plant a couple of rows of Peas (Kelvedon Wonder) in one of the vacant raised beds...

Kelvedon Wonder Peas sown 5 April

.... and despite the heavy going, I did a bit of tidying up and the rhubarb appears to have made a recovery.

The soil was very heavy but I managed to plant another row of second early Nicola potatoes

2nd Early Nicola potatoes

Vivaldi and Charlotte early potatoes

Vivaldi, Charlotte and Nicola early potatoes

It was not until 25 April that I managed to get to the plot again - but thankfully there had been some progress.

November sown Aquadulce broad beans

The broad beans sown in November were looking healthy and in flower. We can expect the first crop towards the end of May

1st Early potatoes

The first early potatoes were just showing through, so i earthed them up a little more and weeded between the rows.  I had cut the lawn at home so laid the cuttings between the rows to act as a moisture retainer and weed suppressant.

garlic

The garlic planted last year was looking very healthy

January/February sown broad beans

The second sowing of broad beans - sown in January/March were looking good

red currants

red currants

The red currant bushes transferred from Mile Oak had survived the winter and were now in flower so we should get a crop this year,

blueberries

blueberries

And the blueberries are also in flower.  They are in pots in ericaceous compost as they are acid-loving plants and I gave them a liquid ericaceous feed.  Once the fruit has set I will need to provide some cover to protect them from the birds which consumed the entire crop last year. 

The weather appears to be improving and there is a lot of work to be done next month  as we still need to clear some space for our runner beans, leeks courgettes, kale and broccoli which we will be planting out in May/June.

John Austin

Hove, April 2018