Ides of March

Well it's mid March already, it's actually St Paddy's day today, this is when some of the 'want to take a chance' guys down the plot traditionally plant their first early spuds, I was even smarter off the mark and planted mine last week (12th-14th), planted 5 rows of earlies, Epicure, Maris Bard and Arran Pilot....if I've made a boob and the frost get them..then what the hell, it's worth the risk, just to be able to get my nashers into them as early as possible:-)

Picked the last of the carrots, which were riddled by the 'Fly', still used them, cut out the bad bits, they were they lovliest and sweetest ones I've ever tasted. started diggin Brassica bed, coming on nicely and started to prune raspberries, really not sure how to, but cut out loads of old wood, will need to strenghen posts that support them,will wait to see when they fruit and if they are autumn fruiting,(as I suspect ), then I will prune them hard after fruiting is bye.

left pic shows before and right shows after, will now need to think of a use for the old dead canes...mmm????

bye for now...Happy Gardening...VP

Mare's Tale

Well that's the tattie bed dug over, ready for planting earlies next week or the following, might be a little early, but old allotment buddy assures me that they will be ok !, In the process of doing this I removed THREE! carrier bags full of roots from the Marestail or Horsetail plant, almost enough for a meal, don't know if they are edible though, and boy do they run deep, see photo, root is laid on 2' slab!, don't imagine I got them all ...but it's a start

until later...happy Gardening..veggie

Seed Sowing

Now to get down to business and get the seeds sown, not an easy task without a greenhouse at this time of year in Scotland!!
Started these sweet peas off about a week ago on window ledge, just cheap packets from Morrisons, variety is galaxy mixed,these are just to add a little colour and hopefully scent to the allotment.
If you click on picture to enlarge it you will see that germination rate is fairly high, this method uses two paper towels, one below one above, soaked and kept moist, very soon they will be transferred into rootrainers and hopefully sneaked into the newly decorated spare room, without too much fuss from 'er indoors'.....aye right:-). Started off my peas yesterday using the same method, varieties are Hurst Greenshaft, which I grew successfully last year and a petit pois variety celebration, this early start with peas stops the mice eating the seed, also sowed in compost, cabbage Primo and onions that I brought home from Spain last summer, manged some more digging before work also and plan to do some more today, will keep you posted on seed results...until then...happy Gardening.....Veggie

One Down...Many To Go

Tried out one of my lifelong ambitions at the weekend, actually tried out skiing, this was on my list of things to do before I die (bit morbid , I know

but if you don't get aff yer butt and do these things, before long you've left it too late!). We went to Aviemore in the Cairngorms, the snow was still plenty and the weather was fabulous, only expected to be able to stand up on the skis without falling, but actually managed to go on ski tow without falling off and skied down to bottom(well, mid way), only falling twice, I was fair chuffed with myself and would certainly like to have a go again, all be it a bit pricey for an old scrouge like myself.

back to the allotment....... got a good bit of digging done last week, tattie bed almost done, (think I've laid aside a bit too much of my plot for them, as I have lots of other stuff to get in, but we shall see and if this is the case, cut down on them next year, not had time to get greenhouse up yet and may struggle to get off to a quick start without one, however I'm sure I will catch up. planted some Jerusalem artichokes which I recieved from a dear lady (Sarah), who sadly passed away one week later, these will grow in her memory for many years and hopefully I'll have more to share with other friends in the coming years........until later....Happy Gardening....Veggie