Last saturday, we woke up to a white landscape and freezing temperatures.
This morning however, I was woken up by a bright ray of sunlight filtering through the curtains and this has not happened in a very long time I can tell you! Today felt like spring had come early ... Of course we all know it won't last but it was a much welcome break in the misery of a long Scottish winter!
The allotments were buzzing with activity, people repairing fences and greenhouses, clearing up abandoned plots, digging up new beds or rebuilding burnt sheds.
Jobs at number 52 today included:
- turning over the big bed at the bottom of the plot. It was covered with a thick layer of manure back in October and I want to use the bottom half as a brassicae bad. Seeing as it's been covered in manure for over 4 months and it is under a big pine tree which is constantly shedding a lot of needles, the soil is too acidic for brassicaes and I will have to incorporate lime before long. As I can't add lime over manure, it had to be dug over and I'll lime it in a couple of weeks. Luckily I wasn't on my own today and my assistant gardener did all the hard work!
Before - back in October - and after - today
Leeks in the forefront, you can see quite a few have now been harvested.
- removing the rotten fence at the back of the plot, one of the victims of the winter storms. Again, my assistant gardener was on hand to handle the removal and even managed to find a couple of pallets on his travels (well, at work actually) which we'll use for the repairs.
- digging up and replanting horseradish roots. We planted them at the shady end of the plot last year and they didn't seem to like it much there. They have now been replanted in a big wooden planter and moved to a sunny place. Hopefully that'll do the trick!
Horseradish - not looking like much just now
- weeding and tidying up the herb border. This was actually quite enjoyable, being surrounded by all the wonderfully strong smells of thyme, rosemary, marjoram and lemon balm. Everything seems to have survived the winter, apart from the tarragon but I still have a hope it might spring back to life as it did last year. The lemon balm, marjoram and fennel got a good haircut too and it won't be long before they start growing back again.
Clockwise from top left: sage, marjoram, thyme and fennel
- planted out some of the broad beans (Aquadulce) I sowed in October; they have spent the winter in the cold frame, quite a few got eaten by mice and the survivors looked really white and weak. I am not going to get excited about an early broad beans harvest just yet.
- sowed some radishes in a "recycled" grow bag from last year tomatoes. I know that's very optimistic of me but it's only a few seeds and who knows ...?
- thoroughly weeded the flower border at the bottom of the plot and relocated the iris bulbs and potentialla that used to live here - more of that in another post coming soon ...
In other news, there is still plenty of overwintering vegetables to harvest. Apart from the usual suspects (jerusalem artichokes, leeks and sprouts), the "3S" bed with Spinach, Swiss Chard and Sorrel is still going strong as well as a small patch of rocket. We made pizza tonight with some of the spinach, rocket and marjoram - they beat Domino Pizzas everyday!
From left to right: Spinach, Swisss Chard and Sorrel
Overwintered rocket
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