7/2/25 - Big News, and Onions

Big News!

Good evening, and welcome to the latest diary entry for our allotment.  Let's get stuck in, and straight to todays big allotment news.  A new allotment mug and kettle have arrived this week, and this evening both found their way onto the plot and were immediately engaged in their respective allotment duties.  The original kettle that came with the Trangia stove is great for one cup, but not so for two.  And while shopping for the kettle, I came across a new suitable mug too.  Now we're talking! 😁

General Update

Out and about on the plot, as you'd expect, there's not much to report.  The broad beans transplanted last week seem to have taken OK.  There's not much more growth there but then it has been cold.

Inside the tunnel, the pricked out Ailsa Craig onions seem to have taken well insomuch as they haven't died anyway.  The cut and come again salad leaves have grown a little bit and a few more sweet peas have poked their heads up into the light.  The strawberry plants in the hanging baskets have grown a tiny bit more and continue their gradual escape from dormancy.

Afternoon Jobs

I only had a short amount of time after work to visit this evening, but I managed a couple of jobs while there.  While checking out the onions from last week, I accidentally collapsed a shelf in the grow house and knocked out some of the 2nd sowing of the Ailsa Craig onions.  Rather than try and salvage them by planting them back into the seed tray, I pricked them out and planted them on into their cells.

Last weekend, I had every intention of sowing a second variety of onions seeds, but I forgot to take the seeds with me.  So the main purpose of todays visit was to catch up on that job.  I'm trying a different approach with the Bedfordshire Champion onions, so instead of broadcast sowing them into a seed tray, and keeping them on heat until germination, I have sown them into cells, 2 seeds per cell, and a total of 40 cells.  This should give me way more onion plants than I actually need for 2025, providing they all come through OK.  I still have one 1/4 seed tray of Ailsa Craig to prick out, but I think I will leave those in place until the rest have germinated and only use them if there is any sort of failure elsewhere.

The leeks that were also broadcast sown into a pot last week have now also been taken up to the polytunnel.  There's no sign of germination as yet, but hopefully with reasonable daytime temps in the tunnel, they should come up in the coming couple of weeks.

Weekly Temps

It's been quite a mixed week for weather this week.  The wind particularly has been pretty chilly, but in the shelter of the tunnel, temperatures have reached up to 33 degrees, but at night have dipped as low as -4.9 degrees.  No wonder there hasn't been much movement in terms of growth!

That about wraps up todays visit.  There's a bit more on the list to do this weekend so I expect it won't be long before I'm back with another update.