Allotment gardening

A break in the weather means I get the chance to go down to the allotment and plant my overwintering onions. I have put some manure on the bed where the potatoes were and so I dig the earth over and get it to as fine a tilth as possible. It looks like rain so I crack on and plant the 150 onions I have bought - one packet of Senshyu Yellow, the type I planted last year, and two packets of Electric - a nice red type. As per usual, I have doubts over whether I have planted them properly - this year I worry that I have planted them to deep as opposed to last year's hurried pushing them into the earth. Well, we shall just have to see. At least I got them in. Ideally I would love to now get some green manure down and clear the last three beds of weeds. But we are going away for half-term so it is likely to be even more out of control before I get the chance to tackle it. I find it embarrassing that other plotholders will see my patch and tut and think "He's lost interest." I haven't, it's just finding the time that is proving to be a problem. I just need two good mornings' work and there will be a big improvement.

When I look back at postings for this time last year I see I was down at the allotment a lot more than I have been this October. It makes me worried that I am losing interest. When I went down recently I couldn't believe how bad the three beds at the back were - overgrown, brambles etc. But, although I have been a bit busy recently, the main reason stopping me from going down as much as I want to this month is the weather. It has rained an awful lot. It seems like every day when I'm off and I have a few hours to spare - it hoses it down. I'm not making excuses but it has been a wet October.

I want to go down to the plot and dump a load of manure over the ground where the potatoes have been, harvest the squashes and get some more carrots. However it teems down with rain all morning. In the afternoon it brightens up enough to take the kids down straight from school. I quickly cut off 11 squashes and then dig up some carrots - there are some real beauties.



I then pick some tomatoes that still look fine.



My next plan is to turn over the earth where I intend to plant the onion sets. So I begin digging, but the boys get impatient and it looks like rain. I'm working all weekend so I won't be able to return until Monday. The plan then is to turn over the onion bed and plant all the sets and then put manure down over the remainder of the old potato bed. There is still a lot of work to do - the beds at the back are overrun with brambles again. What I need is a few dry days to coincide with my days off.

Today has got to be the day to dig up the main crop of potatoes - the sun is shining - and so I go down in the morning and crack on with it. I haven't been down to the plot as much as I should have been recently and it is sad to see how the brambles are taking over in a couple of beds. I dig up all the King Edwards and there are quite a few of them. There are a lot of very small ones but I'm generally quite pleased. I leave them all to dry in the sun for a few hours as the books tell me to. I return in the late afternoon. I bag all the spuds up and take them home. Storage is going to prove a bit of a problem. I buy some paper potato bags from the Organic Gardening Catalogue to put them in but the HDRA website says they should be kept at between 5-10C. I guess they'll be all right in the greenhouse for a few weeks but after that I might have to think again.