Allotment gardeners could hardly have asked for a better spring. Dry, warm weather in April to get seeds in the ground and let me knock out weeds. While
rain in May gets the seedlings off to a flying start and makes life
easy for transplants in their first few weeks in the ground. Now is the time to take advantage of these conditions for the best crops later.
Potatoes were dressed with growmore spread over the whole potato plot at 100g per square metre. The
soil between the rows was then drawn in low flat ridges around the
rapidly growing potatoes mixing both fertiliser and weeds into the soil. The growing spuds will root into this fertile damp soil and initiate many tubers in the next few weeks.
Fortunately
weeds are not too numerous due to rigorous control measures in April.
But a number of sowings did have quite a lot of weeds within the rows. The
seed beds were prepared by the sterile seedbed method where weed seeds
were encouraged to grow and then killed by very shallow hoeing during
the dry spell. Once drawn out few weeds will then germinate. However the drawing of seed drills disturbed the soil and weeds have germinated in the rows. Slow, careful hand weeding is the only way to get them out, but at least I can thin over-thick crops as I go. Modern lightweight gloves such as Showa Plant Master really ease this task and I also find my onion hoe invaluable.
Dwarf runner bean ‘Hestia' was sown for early runner beans. Pole beans will follow later, but runner beans are tricky on my dry soil, so I tend to go for French beans.
Earlier
sowings of peas and broad beans are so far ahead, and accelerating,
with this mild, wet weather that I sowed my reserve seeds Pea
‘Cascadia' and dwarf broad beans ‘The Sutton' for a late bite.
When I make my annual trip to Guildford to replace my wardrobe, I take my traumatised partner and wallet to Wagamama where amongst other things we feast on delicious steamed and salted soya bean pods called ‘edamame'. To try and grow some of my own I sowed soya bean ‘Ustie' but fear that a special cultivar might be necessary for edamame.
It is typical that at the very moment the allotment is full of tasty salad ingredients the weather turns damp and cool. Fortunately I am fond of green soups based on lettuce, sorrel, spinach and peas.