It's all coming together

After the raspberries, apples and beans, I planted the quince bought as a wedding present. It's in the herb bed because I've run out of room in the fruit section.

I had to improvise the tie a little bit as I don't have proper tree ties. It'll do for the moment until I get something better.

So, it's almost done, at least the growing area is.

Irises from Burton Agnes

On our trip to Yorkshire a couple of weeks ago, we visited Burton Agnes and its snowdrop walk. We got some snowdrops, which I've planted under the hedge (only possible with hawthorn; see it all makes sense), and some Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin'.

I put them in the flower bed and they are looking excellent. The photos don't do them justice.

A new shed window

I was going to add lots more bits of pallet to the front of the shed where there was a broken pane of glass, but someone pointed out that there was plenty of glass available down at the main hall. I added it on and patched the remaining holes with pallet slats.

You can see the slant on the shed. The new window is pretty much level, which makes the slant all the more obvious.

All that's left is the guttering and a bit of patching under the roof. I sowed some spring onions and radishes in the shed in celebration. No sign of germination yet.

Brassicas and dahlias for the coming season

As well as working down at the allotments, I've been preparing a few things for later in the year. The shed/greenhouse isn't quite ready for use as a propagation area (full of wood and some junk still), so I'm still using the house, which isn't ideal. I sowed some brassica seeds on the 16th ('Darkmar 'sprouts and 'Summer Purple' broccoli).

You can see the etiolation from too long in a north-facing room. I moved them to the south-facing kitchen, which has helped a bit. Some seeds are still germinating, so I should be able to show the difference.

I started off some Dahlia tubers as well, by soaking their compost. One is almost ready for cutting.

I'll take three or four cuttings, then put the tuber into the ground.

Supports and apples

Today was an excellent day and I planted everything that I've had sitting about for a while. I started with my broad beans ('Super Aquadulce') and cleaned up the soil again. I dug a trench 22cm wide and did a double row of beans, alternating the seeds (thanks to John Seymour for instilling that piece of common sense). I then placed hazel poles around the trench and stretched some string at two levels to act as a support.

I've got a lot of beans left to plant, so I'll do another one of these, a metre apart. I'll then fill the gap with catch crops, such as lettuce, spring onions and radishes.

Laura and I bashed in the supports for the apple cordons a few days ago (there were photos but they've vanished off the camera). I finished the wires yesterday and added the apples today. As I am training them into a cordon, I started by attaching three canes to the wires at an angle. I then cut back all the side laterals to three buds before planting each tree (a one-year-old maiden) 75cm from its neighbour.

Cutting back the laterals encourages fruiting spurs to form in clumps on each lateral.

I chose 'Egremont Russet' (2x) and 'Rev. W. Wilkes'. The former is an eating apple while the latter is a cooking apple.

Crocus and pond

Many of the crocuses on the plot look to be Crocus tommasinianus. My neighbour has a whole patch that he didn't dig up and I've got a few.

I cut a few blooms, which are officially the first produce from the allotment.

I also uncovered the pond, which is a bit sad looking. It's taking up room, so I'm going to get rid of it. I just can't do it justice on my half plot I'm afraid and so will sow an edge of wild flowers instead.

A bit of bashing

The final push on the digging is to clear space for raspberries and apples (which I'm going to put on a cordon). While Laura was doing the path edging (see below) I cleared the section for the raspberries in record time. Company seems to make me focus a bit better, there' no doubt about it. With my neighbour there too, I had double the incentive.

So, everything was ready for putting in the posts for the raspberry supports. I borrowed a set of step ladders and while Laura held the posts level I bashed them in.

The sudden extra height in the plot makes it much more interesting. It feels slightly different now that something so noticeable has been added. We didn't have time to add the wires on and it's been too frosty to get onto the border since, so that's for next week.

There was just time to put the raspberries into a trench filled with compost. This was from the back of the shed and is excellent stuff. It'll be sad to see it go. The raspberries are 'Glen Prosen' given to us by Uncle Andrew.

Bark paths

I got a load of bark chippings at last and put them down in the canyon I'd dug between the first two beds.

As you can see, it was a sunny day, which gave me plenty of opportunities to ruin the photos with shadows.

However, the path looks excellent and much easier to use when planting than gravel or paving. The main problem will be finding more bark every year. Just in case you'd not seen enough of my shadow, here's the latest bit of path edging, finished by Laura. A great hidden skill.