Friday, April 04, 2008

Spring in the air for a few days

With a few warm days but the forecast is for snow at the weekend it made sense to get down to the allotment and get some work done. The first early potatoes are in, Maris Bard, and a lot of spring flowers are blooming like the spurge in the photo.

The plum tree is just flowering in time to get frosted off with the snow at the weekend so this year may not be as good a crop as last year. We still have plenty of plum chutney and plum jam from last year though. I have made some really good dishes using the plum chutney as a plum sauce. It goes really well with lamb.

The broccoli plants did really well last year and we are now cropping them. They are producing substantial florets with a rich purple head that turns almost black when you cook it.

Garlic and the overwintering onions got off to a good start last autumn and are looking substantial now after the few days of sunshine we have just had.

A Portakabin and composting toilet have been delivered to the site and the the Portakbin will be rewired and used for plot holder meetings.

Many of the new plots taken on by tenants last year have made good progress like this one of Sian and Marty's where some crops were grown last year whilst the other half of the plot was sheeted over to be got into use this coming year. The broccoli was some of my left over seedlings last year that were pushed into a patch that had been cleared and is ready for picking now.

On my own allotment the globe artichoke plants are next to the broccoli and have started to produce fresh foliage for this year. Unfortunately one plant looks as though it failed to get through the winter.

It has been a great day to be out working in the fresh air, even the bees have been active looking for nectar in the rocket that has flowered. All in all a grand day.

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