28th May 2018 - Planting Out

This week has been Chelsea Flower Show and for those of you who know me you'll know that for me that means planting out.  This week is a reminder for me that the frost risk has finally passed for Yorkshire and I'm safe to put out all of my seedlings.  This year I've been so tempted to put things out earlier because of the weather but I've resisted because even though the weather has been good you just never know.  What I have been doing though is keeping the less tender plants closer to the doors and kept both of the doors open.

I have done a mixed brassica bed with cauliflower, swede and savoy cabbage (6 of each).  I use enviromesh over this bed to keep them safe from the cabbage whites but it's important to remember that even with the protection you have to still regularly check them because somehow the little critters manage to get in sometimes.  I've actually seen butterflies laying eggs on netting and then when the caterpillars hatch they crawl through the holes so if you have netting that's bigger than enviromesh look out for little yellow eggs on your netting and make sure you squash it before it hatches.  

I also planted more peas and some more pumpkins out as well.  I have tried to do some succession planting of the peas and I might still put more in to continue that.  I'm not doing any beans this year because nobody except me likes them and I honestly can't grow enough peas for my husband!  I have also used some of the space in between the peas to put some of my dwarf sunspot sunflowers.  Littlest L planted lots of sunflowers when she came to visit the other day and they've all germinated so I actually have loads of sunflowers to find space for! 

I also planted out my potatoes this weekend.  I know that lots of people put them out sooner and again, I probably could have got away with it this year, but if the foliage comes through and then you have a late frost you can easily lose them.  For me, because I can't be up at the plot every day and for the last two weeks I've been working away it's just not worth the risk.  This year my potatoes are in one of the smaller beds (10' long instead of 13') and I decided to only do 1 row in the middle of the bed instead of the 2 rows that I normally do.  I had 6 seed potatoes left over and so I've put 3 each in bags that are filled with just manure so that will be interesting to see how they get on.

I didn't get around to planting the carrots and parsnips but I'll probably do that either during the week or next weekend.  I've bought some seed tapes for both so it will be interesting to try them out and hopefully make it a bit easier for weeding in between rows than I had last year.  They seed tapes also have some weed suppressant membrane as part of them so again it will be interesting to see how they work.

That was all on Sunday because Littlest L was playing in a tournament on Saturday with York City and so I didn't get a lot of time up there on Saturday.  

Today was all about 86a and getting the rest of it covered.  It does still look a mess because there's bits of wood and membrane and a shed waiting to be constructed laid on it but at least it looks like someone is doing something with it now instead of the overgrown mess it's been for a few years.  The area under the hedge was overgrown with nettles and I can't tell you how many times I managed to get stung getting them out and into the compost bin. The worst bit about nettle stings is definitely when you get into the shower later in the day!!  

As you can see in the top picture there were lots of pretty difficult weeds including teasels which I'm hoping the membrane will kill off although the membrane I bought isn't as good quality as I used to get (not on purpose) so I'm a bit bothered that they might push through.  I'll have to keep an eye on them and maybe put a thicker membrane on top if it becomes a problem.

My next job on this plot will be to measure and start to plan.  I think I'm going to put the shed against the fence closest to 85a but put it in the middle; my thought process is that it might create some shade, which I don't have any of in 85a so that I have somewhere to sit out of the sun occasionally.  I've also acquired, from my allotment neighbour, some big old tree roots that I've put against the opposite fence with the intention of creating a stumpery - watch this space for more information on that.

My final note for this week is that a few weeks ago I thought that the vine in my polytunnel had died over the winter.  The stem was completely brown and the leaves had all curled up.  I was considering pulling it up but my neighbour told me to wait and now it not only has leafed up but I actually have my first mini bunches of grapes on it.  I know that I'll need to thin them out and then when the bunches develop I'll need to get my little snips out and reduce the size of the bunch because apparently by doing that you get bigger grapes.  

Next week is the plant swap at our site so I have lots of seedlings to pot on ready to give to other growers on site.  It's always a popular event and if you don't have somethings similar I would suggest that you talk to everyone around you to see if they'd like to do the same.  It's such a good way to share the extra seedlings that most people inevitably end up with.

I hope you all have a lovely week and that the sun continues to shine.
Until next time - happy gardening x