Plans go out of the window when other things get in the way. I had several jobs to do in the morning but got round to preparing the Brussel sprouts for dinner. I also washed some broccoli and potatoes. This is really all that is available from the allotment apart from some manky parsnips and carrots.
It took me quite a while to fill the car with the sweet pea seedlings. I could not put all the pots in the car so had to leave four varieties behind. When I got down to the allotment, several people wanted to chat about allotmenty type things. This took up at least 45 minutes.
Only then could the sweet pea seedlings be planted. Honeymoon, Lipstick, Jilly, Gwendoline, Epicure, White supreme, Lizbeth, Angela Ann, Eclipse and Anniversary. I have still to plant Oban Bay, Nora Holman and Restormel. Lizbeth has a particularly good scent.
When they were planted some inoculated charcoal and mychorrhizal fungi were added to the planting hole. I would like to say that these helped the sweet peas to produce large amounts of flower last year. However, this is just anecdotal evidence and needs to be tested scientifically before any major claims can be verified.
Planting sweet pea seedlings takes up a large amount of time but I do not resent it particularly if they all come well. It does mean that there was no time to plant anything else. It's a good job I have so much on the go in the greenhouse.
Now that I have planted out the sweet peas, I have a lot of pots and labels which will be washed and used again for various seedlings that need to be transplanted or potted on. I reckon that I will have used all the pots and labels at least twice this year.
This is what allotment gardening is all about. Growing vegetables and flowers with the least expense possible. Someone has left some plant pots by the gate for anyone to have. They need to be washed carefully to make sure that they are not carrying disease. I reckon that I will have some of them and wash them with the empty sweet pea pots.
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