Well, although the weather wasn't quite as good as yesterday (more cloud around), we still managed a full day at the plot, and seemed to get plenty done again!
Lee started off with planting out another batch of onions from seed, another 108 in total went in today, after which the onion and garlic beds were topdressed with potash and chicken poo pellets! Overall the onions are looking good, some of the overwintered sets are looking really good! The overwintering garlic (the bed nearest the camera) is looking great, we've hopes for another bumper garlic harvest this year! The beds nearest the greenhouse to the right are the broad bean beds, another 54 were planted out today, mainly here, but 18 of them went into an overflow bed near the peas and runner beans the other side of the greenhouse!
A piccy of plot 2, showing the brassica beds that we planted and netted yesterday, along with the 2 beds of courgettes (under the plastic cloches at the front) which have been edged with lots of flower seedlings! (Yes, I know you cant eat flowers, but they'll be good for the bees, encourage pollination of the crops and look pretty too!)
Planting Onions, Dobby Style!!
Does his bum look big in this? Lol!
In addition to planting the onions and garlic, we also noticed that the 'May' at the front of the allotment site is 'Out', (explanation, 'Cast Ne'er a Clout Till May Be Out!' is an old rhyme that warns the impatient gardener not to plant too early, locally tis believed that once the Hawthorn flowers then there wont be another frost and you should be ok to plant out the less hardy seedlings), so we decided to plant up the unheated greenhouses on both the plots! The soil was bone dry, so after digging it was then enriched with some well rotted pony poo, then watered and finally we planted 19 toms, 1 cucumber, 6 aubergines, 8 chillies, 14 peppers and a lot of french marigolds into the greenhouses!
We also managed to make a nice rustic (heath robinson more like) warning sign for the apiary, and I also managed to get a pic of how the hives look inside the apiary! Hope you like them!
Ok, so thats all for today (and my aching back says definitely enough!), we're not at the plot tomorrow, but going to visit some close friends and to meet their new daughter for the first time! Can't wait to see them all! Mind you, with the forecast being for rain tomorrow (typical Bank Holiday weather), its probably fortuitous that we arent down there tomorrow!
Only 4 1/2 more beds to plant up on plot 2 ( 3 are cleared, 1 1/2 need clearing, 4 of them are for pumpkin/squash and sweetcorns, the half bed will take the brassica overflows) and 3 beds on plot 1 (2 should be easy to clear, 1 needs some serious digging, 1 bed is for borlotti beans and toms, 1 for turnips and swedes and 1 large one for carrots and parsnips), plus the walk in plastic greenhouse to put back up for more peppers anc chillies, so with any luck we should be almost fully planted by the end of the week (depending on weather and also whether we choose to risk the pumpkins / squash and sweetcorn outside as yet, tis a tad early yet methinks!)
As to this years balance sheet, well, here we go!
Total costs 2009
Debris netting (2mx50m + 4mx50m from ebay) £70
Seeds £20
Seed Spuds £20
Seed Compost £5
Rent £84
Subs £10
Total costs £209
(Apiary not included, but amounts to approx £200 including 2 hives)
Harvests
Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £24
Total Harvests £24
A long way to go to break even, but plenty of growing season in which to do so!
Hope your growing year has got of to a good start!
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