It’s been another beautiful sunny day here in London.
More manure
This morning, I went to fetch some fresh manure from the local stables and filled up the third compost bay I emptied yesterday. You can’t have too much manure or compost on an allotment, I don’t reckon, so I like to keep all 3 compost bins full and active for as much of the time as possible.
I covered the bin with tarpaulin to keep it warm and keep the rain out – it should get nice and hot over the next couple of weeks and will eventually turn into beautiful black gold to nourish my soil. I love using someone else’s waste product in this way; it really makes my heart sing.
Seeds
This afternoon, spurred on by the sight of self-sown annual seedlings on the allotment telling me it’s already warm and light enough for hardier seedlings to germinate, I sowed some more seeds.
First up, I sowed some seeds into my VegTrug, to use up all the available space:
- Coriander ‘Leisure’ – I’ve never had any success growing coriander, but am having another go…
- Kohl Rabi Azur Blue – I love the taste and crunchy texture of this sliced up in a salad
- Sicily Giant Radish – a traditional red skin/ white flesh radish
- Red Beard Bunching Onion – spring onions
- Beetroot Sanguina – a lovely deep red variety
- Beetroot Golden Detroit – a tasty yellow beetroot that’s a bit less messy than its red siblings
- Garlic chives – for cutting and adding to salads
The plan is that most of these will have been harvested by the time the tomato and pepper plants are ready to plant into the VegTrug. I’d really like to keep it productive all the year round – we’ll see how that goes.
Next, some more seeds in trays in the growhouse:
- Spinach Red Veined F1 – I’m growing this for baby leaves to add to salads – I like the slightly bitter taste of spinach leaves with sweeter leaves like lettuce
- Pak Choi Joi Choi F1 – just a few of these, to grow alongside other brassicas – I really like growing a small number of a wide variety of things so there is always something interesting to pick and eat during the summer
- Chard: Organic Golden and Bright Lights – I love the bright colours of chard growing on the plot, and I absolutely love chard as a cheesy gratin – lightly steamed then baked in the oven with cream and parmesan
- Leeks: Pandora (linked, but no longer available via the Organic Gardening Catalogue website, for some reason) for harvest between September and December, and hardier Bandit and Bleu de Solaise for late winter harvests
- A few annual flowers for pollinators, and for cutting: Cornflower, Calendula Flashback Mix, and Cerinthe Major Purpurascens (aka Honeywort)
I love sowing seeds, especially at this time of year. I find great peace and solace in spending an hour with a few seed trays, seed packets and some compost. It keeps my feet on the ground and my mind from whirring with worry about the precarious and worrying state our world is in just now.
Lovely hellebores and tree blossom
We took a walk to our local park in the sunshine this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine a bit. I’ve been so grateful to have a lovely open space a short walk from our home during the pandemic, especially during the various lockdowns and while working at home.
There’s a tiny patch of ancient woodland that somehow survived being chopped down when the rest was cleared to make way for housing in the first half of the 20th century, some open space and a wonderful walled garden tended by volunteers.
Most of the herbaceous border plants are still invisible underground; this is the time of the hellebores, which as it happens are some of my absolute favourite flowers. I love it that they flower so early, and I find their flowers beautifully simple, humble and delicate.
Meanwhile, the spring blossom is starting to come out – a gorgeous sight in the low afternoon sunshine.
I’m really grateful to have had some time outside with the sun on my face this weekend. I was feeling quite frazzled and anxious on Friday but the sunshine, fresh air and connection to seeds, plants and soil have all given a much-needed boost to my spirits. I’ll be starting next week feeling just a little bit calmer and more centred, and a bit more resilient to whatever the week has in store.
Keeping the Plot 