22 April 2020
Tuesday
The tomatling’s and salad greet me merrily from their raised bed (they really did) and I’m pleased that they are happy and I’m not presented with a bed of wilt. The leeks have been looking at me expectantly for a while, but my book says not to plant out till June. I also want to transfer them to a deep gutter pipe thing, so have put feelers out for some of that. Once they’re in there I can dig a channel and then slide them straight in, I would think that late May will be ok. I crack on with the bed prep for the broad beans and drew a really good drawing.
Wednesday
Hannah delivers the much-needed compost and seeds from the marvelous Toni and the AP’s Rachel and Delia bring up a blackcurrant and gooseberry bush, which I plant on either side of the poly. We’ve also been offered some raspberry canes and comfrey, which I am keen to take on. The comfrey I’ll use to make fertilizer in a few months time (for more information on comfrey fertilizer please check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybjrD5Fxk1E)
Cracking on with rake hammering I encounter a slight issue in that I ‘ve annihilated the rake, but further shed investigation reveals a half moon on a stick tool and this turns out to be the winner I’ve been searching for (barring a tonne of compost being plonked on the plot).
Friday
Patchy rain and greyness leave me feeling a bit despondent. I re-jig the poly, checking for new seedlings and making sure everyone has the right lighting conditions. Got lots coming through but seemingly, a lot of duds as well. I discover that carrots like coffee grounds and wonder if I got enough of them would that compensate for no grit sand?
Saturday
Raining. Hard. Stay indoors. Fair-weather gardener? Moi?
Sunday
After checking that everyone has survived a day on their own (they did) I crack on with bed prep … the soil is DREAMY. Half moon and busted rake are smashing it, I feel like I could definitely do an advert for this soil, prancing around, flinging it willy-nilly over my shoulders. Luckily, Rachel comes over before I do actually do this, with 10 raspberry canes which I plant along the right-hand side of the poly-tunnel, they’ll get full sun till late afternoon there and the tunnel acts as a bit of a wind break. R&D also give us 5 comfrey, which I plant next to the purple shed path. All of the fruit bushes look fine, but the comfrey does not look happy at its transplantation.
My friend Flick and her son Jack cycle some cornflowers down as well as some much needed apple cake, which by the way, was totally lush. The cornflowers are in their own pot so I can plan where to put them in the next few days.
Following that bounty, Hannah comes from Toni with another impressive haul. We now have borlotti; pea and climbing beans as well as much needed plant markers and potting on pots. A very productive and positive day, over half the plot prepped.
Monday
Crack on with the tilling, but already the soil has started to harden and I sort of regret leaving yesterday. It’s obviously still a lot easier but it’s definitely not prancing mud today. Get up to where Hannah had dug up too and decide to plant the broad beans. As I’m marking out, Hannah arrives and carries on where I left off, I get all the beans in and then go and sow chive, nasturtium, red cabbage and courgette. I have to discard my hollyhocks, which I am sad about, but there is nothing doing there and I need the superfine compost. Hannah speaks to the lovely Carol who is offering up her compost bin for us to plunder, another kind human being to be grateful for.
Having cleared another corner in the poly, we now have space for another raised bed so I’ll take this as an opportunity to raise a call to anyone who has any spare scaffolding or wide planks just lying around and some form of hinging apparatus to join them together, any grit sand, compost, seeds of flower or veg variety … Any marigolds? If so, please get in touch and be part of this project.
A massive thanks to Toni, Flick, Carol, Rachel and Delia for all their kindnesses this week x
Tracks of the week:
I had only one song that I played incessantly so if you into liquid drum and bass, it’s an oldy but a goody from Calibre
I’ve also created a Music for Plants playlist that I play them during the morning watering and if I’m in the poly, any suggestions are hugely welcomed!!
The Baker's Cafe Community Allotment 