MY WEEKS 11 & 12 ( W/E 25TH MARCH )

Hello all, I'm back with my update from the last two weeks. Sorry that I was not able to update last week as usual but I'm now fighting fit again and back to my usual self.
It has been a busy couple of weeks with plenty of work being done both at my allotments and the kitchen garden, the weather has on the whole been very good and Spring has definitely arrived.



I would like to thank all of you who sent me get well messages and also I would like to let those of you who are awaiting for replies to your emails know that I am working through them all and I will be in touch with you soon, thanks once again.





My fruit cage at my allotments had been damaged beyond repair during the Winter gales so I decided to dismantle it and I will either rebuild a new one, use my remaining polytunnel frame or protect the soft fruit with low level netting during the coming season. At least I now know I need to improve my woodworking skills as I should have fitted braces on all of the uprights and cross beams, the photographs show the before and after stages of my work carried out.




After removing my fruit cage the plot seems so much bigger than before as the first photograph shows, the next job done was to start with the weeding of the plots as the warmer than usual Winter has resulted in our little pains starting their season early as well, Daniel and Sarah helped me with this task obviously starting with the no1 area Daniels raised beds as you can see in the above photograph they are now ready for planting up.
With the weather set to be good this weekend coming the plan is to go and plant the Shallots and Onion sets up at the plots and also to carry on with any tidying that needs to be done ahead of this season, and also sowing of Broad Bean Aquadulce.

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THE KITCHEN GARDEN

Work at the Kitchen Garden has continued in earnest over the last two weeks with plenty of jobs being done and things really starting to take shape around both the walled garden and the hall. On the area shown in this photograph we will be growing the flowers for the hall to use in reception and on the restaurant tables, we will be growing Sweet Peas, Gladioli, Chrysanthemums, Cornflowers, Dwarf Asters and probably others. The soil was infested with Bindweed and Couch grass so although we tried to remove as much as possible I'm sure that we will have an ongoing battle with these weeds during the seasons ahead.





The Early Pea Misty has been sown in drills that were 6" wide and 2" deep made with a draw hoe with 18" between the rows which is the expected height of the variety, the seeds are sown in a domino fashion with approximately 3" between each seed as you can see in the top-left photograph. The Early Carrots that were sown under the cloches have started to germinate although they took nearly three weeks to do so, this is probably because of the soil temperatures only just getting up to the required level, you may just be able to see them in the top-right photograph which if you left click with your mouse will bring the photographs up to a larger size.




The crop of Garlic that I had planted earlier on developed yellowing of the outer leaves which at the time I was not sure whether was a result of the colder temperatures or a lack of Nitrogen, now that they have grown on and produced new leaves which are a lovely green colour this has shown me that it was as a result of the cold and not a lack of Nitrogen. The perennials that we dug up and transplanted in January have started to shoot well which shows that they transplanted successfully as you can see in the top-right photograph.






The two sets of cold frames that are in the kitchen garden were full of plants that had been left in their pots for several years whose roots had grown through the pots and rooted into the gravel and soil in the bottom of the cold frames, I have now cleared them out and weeded them in readiness for our flowers and vegetable plants to go into, they will also be used to grow some of the crops such as Butternut Squashes, Salads, Courgettes and Melons during this coming season.



Elsewhere the Gooseberry bushes have started to shoot already which will hopefully provide us with our first fruit crop from the garden, when they have fruited the bushes can then be pruned to a more manageable size, the prunings will be used as cuttings to provide us with more bushes for the future. As you come through the gate into the kitchen garden there is a large climbing Hydrangea which has been pruned and is now starting to shoot vigorously, this is the plant in the top-right photograph and I'm sure that this will look spectacular when it blooms.




The Apple trees that were pruned recently have burst into blossom which is a bit too early as if we get a hard frost now it will destroy it unfortunately so fingers crossed, the Orange tree has gone from strength to strength since I fed it with Nitrogen and Iron with plenty of new leaves and fruit forming as the top-right photograph shows the fruits are starting to ripen as well.

During the last few days the local farmer has been and ploughed and rotorvated the area in the field that we will be using for growing crops in this season they include all the Potatoes, Brassicas and Root crops. The area is approximately 60ft wide by 150ft long so this alone is the size of 3 full size allotment plots and may need to be extended next year when we will have a better idea of how much veg needs to be produced for the hotel restaurant. We will be working to install a fence around this area over the next week or two as there are plenty of Rabbits and no doubt Foxes and maybe Badgers in the locality who would love to get in and have a feast.


Well that is it for now, I have included another slideshow below showing you some of the other images from around the kitchen garden in the last two weeks for you to enjoy, I will be back next week with my next update, thankyou all once again for following my progress, regards Steve.