Hanging with my hoe

A Tuesday night visit, I wanted to check how the seeds in the green house were and see what else might need watering with this wonderful weather. It turns out the seedlings are still plenty damp enough which is good news, the greenhouse had condensation on the inside which is also good as it proves how much warmer it must be in there.
Before I watered some of the things on the plot I decided to get out my hoe. I'd never actually used a hoe before and didn't really know how exactly to use one until I saw them using one on Gardeners World last week. It turns out of course that it's very simple, and also works really well. I'd soon gone over  a large area pushing up the weeds and I hope with this weather they will dry out and die, it's very satisfying as it leaves the earth looking clear and neat, the robin was loving it and Mrs blackbird popped by for dinner too.
Then I watered, there is a hand pump two plots away I noticed that someone had painted the number 21 on top of it, it turns out that this is exactly how many times you need to pump the handle to fill a two gallon watering can. Above you can see the radishes after being watered and below is a strawberry plant, they're all in flower so I hope I'll get a few strawberries later in the year.

It's a sign!

Plot 68 has two new signs, a birthday present from my Dad. He made them himself and painted them in several coats of bright green paint, the colour of the kitchen cabinets in about 1988. I saw one of the site inspectors as I was carrying them in, he said their ought to be a competition for the best plot sign.
The other thing you might spot in this picture down by the shed is my new mini-greenhouse. It cost £9.99 from Argos and is neither mini nor a green house as such, more like a plastic bag that goes over a few shelves. I had seen similar things for germinating seeds so looked online at Argos to see what they had, I didn't want anything too big as I planned to cycle home with it, the mini two-teir greenhouse was ideal so I reserved it and went to pick it up. I was rather surprised by the size of it, opening the box I found that it was the trays that made it so large as they were in one piece, there was no way to cycle with the box so in the end I took it to the plot on Thursday lunchtime by tube from Victoria to Putney Bridge and walked the rest of the way which took just over an hour in all.

Today I built the greenhouse and then went to the garden centre to get some compost and seed trays. I've planted up two types of courgettes, dwarf beans, french beans and some savoy cabbage all in trays which I've left to germinate. It was surprising how much warmer it felt in greenhouse, I do hope this works.
Out on the plot I could see that the weeds have been growing a pace, the seem to have done best in the area that I spread the horse manure on earlier this year, which begs the question were the seeds in the manure or has the manure enriched the soil to make the weeds grow? I don't know but it'll make me think twice before doing this again. When weeding I discovered that I have got some leeks after all, they are absolutely tiny like weedy bits of grass, I hadn't seen them before because they're so small and there are so many weeds. Also with closer inspection the parsnips have germinated as well which is good news as I was beginning to wonder if I'd done something wrong, the only vegetables that haven't come through are the carrots which I will give a bit longer and have some more to plant still anyway and the perpetual spinach. I'm giving up on the spinach I think, I'm not sure if I planted it too early or too deep but not a single thing has yet sprouted and they are in a very clear patch next to the radishes which are doing fine.
After all this weeding and sowing I then decided to start my herb garden along the top of the plot, I've planted seeds for lavender, thyme, rosemary, sage and flat leaf parsley. Much cheaper than buying plants, lets see if they grow.

The Shed

For my birthday I was given a shed! This week-end Paul and I built it. We took it down to the allotment on Saturday morning at 10.15am, a builders merchant was waiting for us with concrete floor tiles, but he didn't have the sand we had ordered. I found a wheelbarrow and took the flagstones around to the plot while Paul stayed with all the other equipment and waited for the sand to arrive. It was a beautiful sunny day and quite warm, it seemed eerily quiet with out the normal air traffic, I've noticed the lack of planes much more than they ever used to bother me. By the time we had carried the shed to the plot we were already exhausted. Our luck meant that it was a match day at Craven Cottage, this means you're only allowed to park for one hour, so Paul had to take the car back home and return on his bike. Meanwhile I began sorting the parts (all numbered) and building the shed, the frame was aluminium and bolted together, the instructions were chinese and didn't. Paul soon came back to help me, like a huge Meccano set but not quite as precise it was a bit of struggle to sort things out, the diagrams were so vague we couldn't tell which way around things went and some steps and important details seemed superfluous. Before we got to the wall panels Paul started to level the base that we would build it on, adding the walls was a two man job and took a very long time, quite a few of the holes didn't line up and being metal it was difficult to add new ones. At about four we had built all the walls and gables and put in the roof beam, we did think about just adding the doors and coming back the next day to do the roof, we had been outside all day without even a drink, I was glad I'd put sunscreen on but I could still feel myself burning. Once the doors were on we decided that we should get the roof on and it would all be done, I think the thought of having to spend a whole extra day on it spurred us on. We left the plot at about 6.30, I had to walk home which was a long two miles after all that work. So it took two of us just over eight hours to build the shed.
Today we went back down to the plot, Paul finished off the floor inside the shed, and then we moved the tool box to sit in front of the shed, I'll keep this to store other things in, it also makes a good seat! The plot itself has been somewhat ignored, I did go around and water some things this afternoon, I know 3pm isn't the best time but I guessed it was better than not at all. The potatoes are coming on well but there's no sign yet of the perpetual spinach, carrots or parsnips - I'd have thought they might have germinated by now. Lots of weeds have sprung up and the soil was so hard after a dry week that it was quite difficult to pull them out with their roots.

One foot extra

I didn't take a 'before' picture, but the daffodils were the top boundary to the plot and then it was rough grass, to align my plot with it's neighbours I had an extra foot of space to clear beside the path. In the warm afternoon sunshine I started to dig out the turf, it's very hard work and clearing that strip took almost two hours! I found lots of stones as I dug, I guess they had been thrown to the top of the plot by endless other growers on this site, I'm sure time team would have had a field day with all the crockery and bits of pot and so on, undoubtedly someone very high status must have once live here. I think I'll use this space to plant some herbs like rosemary, sage and lavender.
In other plot news the weeds are coming on fine, and so I had to pull quite a few out. As for the vegetables the broad beans continue growing, although a few have been nibbled. I can see the first growth of some of the potatoes, some of the onion sets are beginning to show and the radishes are still a tiny but perfect row of seedlings.

Noisy day

They're very small but you can see two helicopters in this picture, no they weren't getting aerial shots of my plot they were waiting for the start of the boat race. Loads of people are out and about by the river to watch the race, I heard a huge cheer which I thought was the start of the race but I'm watching it live now on iPlayer as I write this, Cambridge have just won after a close race.
Didn't do much work today just had a look at everything and thought about digging out that extra foot at the top of the plot. The raspberries are sprouting all over, I guess I'll have to put up some stakes and wires for them to grow against soon. Also look how much my beans have grown!

A little sun ...

Dark clouds threatening but I stayed dry for my visit to the plot this afternoon between the April showers. In my most exciting news despite the cold weather it seems the radishes I planted have begun to sprout, the seeds on a tape have produced a nice even row of tiny seedlings, too small to get a good picture of them on my phone so you'll have to wait until they're larger to see them.
I also finished off digging out the top path so my whole plot has now been dug over since I got it apart from the front are around the tool box which I won't sort out until my shed is in situ.
I also planted a row of carrots today, again I bought seeds on a tape, it makes them about £1 more than loose seeds but I think it's worth it. Planting the carrots I finished off my first ball of twine, but now I have things growing I might be able to move some of the earlier markers and re use them for other crops, the broad beans are coming on a treat at the moment, I do hope the pigeons don't get them.
The daffodils are looking lovely now, when I planted them they were marking the top of the plot, but looking at my neighbouring plots it seems i have perhaps a foot extra space beyond them that I could dig over, I think I might do this and put some hardy herbs like rosemary and lavender in to mark a new boundary.
My rhubarb is still very short, it has big leaves but is only just above ground level, some of my neighbours seem to have rhubarb that's ready to pick, I do hope it grows up soon.