ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
It has at least been mainly dry this week and my feelings of guilt at having spent most of December indoors finally got the better of me. I have been excusing my lack of engagement on my allotment on the grounds of it being too wet but this week I have dug out and spread…
One) I know it's only an optical illusion, but plants are set off better by moist dark soil than pale dry stuff. After last night's deluge, which combined the most sustained lightning I have seen in my life with rain akin to the tropical downpours I've seen in Australia, moist and dark wasn't a problem.…
Sowed Onion 'Liria' in seed tray, on prop bench at 25C. Pricked off Leeks 'Musselburgh' sown 5/2 into 4L pot. Will plant out when bigger. This was an early sowing, will do another soonish. Pricked off Tomato 'Sungold' into 9cm pots. In Sylvamix peat free with 2.5g/L CRF added. Back on window ledge. Up…
It being neither freezing nor raining I just spent a few hours weeding on my allotment. My plot is very weedy and I was reflecting on that unpalatable fact while I worked. Apart from brassicas and roots, I don't have much on the plot at this time of year, so there is a lot of…
It feels like about the midpoint of the season. I have now pretty much filled all the space I have, but looking forward a month or so I shall have a lot of free space where peas and potatoes have been harvested. Today I sowed perpetual spinach, beetroot, chard and cabbage in the hope that…
No dig veg growing throws up the odd dilemma, like do I or do I not earth up my spuds. I chose to do so, but not to the extent that everyone else has done theirs. Having made and carried out the decision, it seems a bit late to turn to Charles Dowding's book and…
Another year, another back ache. But I'm warming to the no-dig theme and apart from endless shredding and humping compost about, not digging is easier. Before the winter last year I had covered most of my plot with vegetable matter of some description. I am very pleased to say that most of it has rotted away…
This year was my third season on my allotment, time that has passed with unseemly haste. I inherited a plot that had been pasture and had been badly ploughed before the first tenant took it on. A year later, when I started, they had done almost nothing and the grass and weeds had grown back…
garden ruminations 