2/3/25 - Spring Arrives Strimmer's Out

What a difference a couple of days of sun makes.  Winter finally seems to be loosening it's grip, but frosts are still frequent overnight.  It reinvigorates, that's for sure. It's been a busy weekend on the plot and at home, so let's have a roundup of this weekends accomplishments.

On the plot...

It seems to be that as soon as the sun comes out for a few days, so starts the first chorus of lawn mowers from gardens up and down the land.  It's no exception on the allotment.  Personally, I won't get the mower out while there is still frost about, but that hasn't stopped others.  What I have done for the first time this season though is get the strimmer out to give the bed edges a tidy up to make the place look a bit neater.  The first weeding of outdoor beds has also taken place, tidying up around the garlic and the broccoli, both of which have been sitting patiently during the winter months.

I've also taken some time to pull up the roughly laid slab paths running between the front 3 beds.  After flattening out the soil underneath the path by breaking up the surface and raking flat, the membrane and the slabs went back down.  Originally, I was going to go all out and actually cut the last slabs on each row so the fitted, but I had second thoughts and left as it was.

Polytunnel shenanigans...

As nice as the weather has been this weekend, the majority of the allotment based work has been in the polytunnel, and the news is mixed.  Over the last couple of posts, I've mentioned that I haven't had much luck with some of the peat based compost I pricked out the first wave of Ailsa Craig onions into, and also in which I made the first sowing of Bedfordshire Champion onions.  This weekend, I decided to bite the bullet, and I tipped the pricked out and sown onions onto the compost heap.  It was a shame, but it does that I still have time to make more sowings.  In addition, I still have one tray of pricked out Ailsa Craig that went into a different compost, and they are seemingly fine.  I also still had held back one 1/4 seed tray of Ailsa Craig to be pricked out, which I have done.  So, I still have plenty of Ailsa Craig.  Those, combined with the new sowings of Bedfordshire Champion onions from earlier in the week, we should still be all good on the onion front.

Perhaps the nicest surprise of this weekend is the germination and appearance of the sowing of the Musselburgh leeks.  Earlier this week, I was concerned as there was no sign of them, but it seems that the nicer weather and warmer polytunnel temperatures of the week have coaxed them into life.  I have already made a second sowing of the leeks which was actually on my list of sowings for March anyway as my plan was to only plant half the bed to start with, and then follow up some weeks later with a second planting of the other half of the bed.  The intention that we have a longer leek harvest later in the year.

Elsewhere in the polytunnel, the sweet peas and salad continue to grow well.  I'm already finding that regular watering is needed in the tunnel because of the day time temperatures.  While it's been topping out at around 12 to 14 degrees outside, inside the tunnel, this week we've hit 42 degrees!  I rounded off today's visit by sowing a half seed tray of Rocket and 15 small plugs of Lettuce Red Velvet.  The lettuce I intend to grow on in the smaller hooped tunnel once they get big enough.

The only other thing that has been done on the allotment this weekend is that I have take the opportunity to re-hang the front polytunnel door.  Over the wet weather, the frame and door have warped a little, making the door a bit sticky and hard to close.  Easily adjusted though, and all sorted in 10 minutes.

The bright lights of home...

Back at home, there has been plenty to do as well.  Starting with the pricking out, I pricked out and potted on 7 Tomato Steak Sandwich seedlings after they had formed their second set of leaves.  My original plan was to only retain 4 of these plants, but the seeds were quite expensive for the price I paid and so I decided to keep 7 for the time being.  I do have some spare space in the tunnel, but if I run out, I can always give away some plants later in the spring.  Next on the pricking out list was a few Cauliflower All Year Round seedlings.  I will be making another sowing in the next couple of weeks, so I'm only look for two healthy plants to start off with.  Like the leeks, I'm looking at a bit of succession sowing through the season.

I'm finding that I need to keep on top of the watering here too, but everything certainly seems to enjoy the new lighting rig and additional heat mat.  There is a dilemma ahead though.  My Red Cherry tomatoes are doing super-well.  Perhaps too well if I'm honest.  They have been pricked out into 3 individual pots, and bot are they flying!  Each plant is now around 6 to 8 inches tall and probably ready to be potted on into larger pots.  My only problem though is the space this will take up.  With overnight temperatures in the polytunnel still dipping into the negative, it's too early to ship them off up to the plot.  But it won't be long before the next load of seedlings will need somewhere warm to live.  Let's see!

To round off this weekends update, it's chitting time.  The best place we have to chit at home is our porch.  It's light and cool as it's North facing, so pretty good.  The earlies have been chitting a couple of weeks already and it won't be long before they will get planted out.  This weekend, the main crop varieties stepped out into the daylight too.  That's all the seed potatoes out chitting and before I know it, it will be planting time!