Spring 2012

I managed to dig over a fair bit of the allotment and put in garlic (white & pink), shallots (Yellow moon & French 'banana') and onions (Red baron & Sturon) at the beginning of March. By the end of March I had planted raspberries (Autumn Bliss - some shop bought and others donated), rhubarb (Victoria & Champagne), more garlic (Cristo), more onions (red - Karmen) and spring onions (White Lisbon).

During April I planted hundreds of seeds - every year I get over-excited and sow far more than I'll need. Fortunately since I work with schools growing veg I can normally find a home for most plants. I started most things off in modules at home, again due to the fact that I have no running water on site it's just easier to look after things.

I planted my chitted potatoes in mid May. I've never planted potatoes before so planted a selection; Rocket, Maris Peer, King Edwards, Desiree and Pink Fir Apples. The Pink Fir Apples were the last to go in and due to shortage of time I only dug very small holes and shoved them in the ground. I planted out sweetcorn seedlings (despite a suggestion that it might be a bit early) and sowed seeds to fill in the gaps.  By this point the onions I had planted looked good, as did the shallots. Most of the garlic was ok but for some reason the pink garlic seemed to have totally disappeared - if anyone has any suggestions as to why this would happen please leave a comment!

At the end of May I made a couple of compost bays using pallets and bailer twine...very rustic but it does the trick. I have also got a dalek compost bin.