Starting to sow a lot of seed.

I have already germinated mellon, cucumber, tomatoes and pepper seeds.  The propergator is full and I still need to sow more seeds.  

I am going to sow all the brassicas next week.  Early peas and parsnips are going to be sown this week but there is some suggestion that the week is going to be very cold.  I intend to protect the peas and parsnips with scaffle netting or enviromesh.  It seems to give seeds just that little bit of protection and allow them to germinate when otherwise they wouldn't.  

I have grafted 16 apple trees all of which are new varieties for the allotment.  Most of the grafts have been simple grafts but I have tried a crown graft using the East European varieties.  I had two Pitmaston Pineapple apples so I cut one down to do the crown graft.  If I get a lot of the grafts to take I will grow them as cordons just so that I can fit them in the allotment.

I am starting to dig in the green manure but leaving as much as possible to grow on until I need the beds for sowing or planting.

Sweet pea beds are all prepared and I am just waiting for the flea beetle to die down a little before I plant out the October sown sweet peas.  I have used poles rather than canes for the supports.   I had just enough to do seven double rows. I gave the bed a sprinkling of garden lime to protect the plants from yellowing during the summer. I have done the same for the sweet peas at Wightwick Manor gardens.  (National Trust) They are January sown seed so they will flower at the end of June onward.  October sown seeds will flower at the beginning of June.

All the sweet peas are going to be grown as cordons with one stem tied into the supports with garden twine.  Garden twine rots eventually and is better for the garden.  Side shoots and tendrils are taken off so that more of the plants energy can be diverted into flower production.  

The paths between the sweet peas have been cardboarded and then covered in remail.  This helps to prevent the paths becoming too consolidated, breaks down the remail so that it begins to compost, provides a bit of a mulch for the sweet peas and keeps my boots clean.  Luckily the tree people bought some remail and left it right next to my allotment.  Saves wheelbarrowing it uphill from the bottom car park.

Potatoes are chitting in the greenhouse.  I do not need to plant them just yet.  I sowed green manure on the bed in January.  Remarkably the green manure has germinated under enviromesh and scaffol netting so the ground is not exposed to the elements.  I have taken the nets off now, rolled them up and stored them away in old dustbins.  I will need some of them for the peas and parsnips.  

I have already planted the oca tubers.  They seem be cold resistant.  I have two rows of about 12 feet so may be able to use a lot more of them this year.  

The yakon is in the small greenhouse. I put them in pots with my own compost over winter.  They would probably survive during the winter in the soil but I wanted to make sure they would be ready for this spring.  

Things to do today.  Check the greenhouses to see if the seedlings need watering.

Continue putting ramail on the paths.

Sow peas Douce Provence and parsnips Tender and True.

Take some photographs of the allotment.