Quick update

I've spent most of this year eagerly awaiting spring to arrive. There were many early signs, but things weren't moving very fast, but now all of sudden, spring is finally here and I seem to have been caught by surprise, because I find myself running a little behind.

Here are some photos from the allotment. 

Last of the potatoes go in!

Ran out of seed potatoes, so cut the last row ones into halves.

Potatoes Main Crop

Plum Zahr

Gooseberry

Pear Blossom

Potatoes - First Early

The first of the years potatoes have gone in ... here are some photos.

Strawberry Patch Clean-up And Onion Sets

The strawberry patch, which started a few years ago, has just gone wild, so this year I decided to rein them in a little. 

Before

After 1

I also planted the onion sets ... where I put the peas in back in January. The Peas seem not to have germinated, so I thought I'd put the onions in there instead. Convenient, given the shallots are just next door.

Onion sets planted

Start of the digging season

So the digging has begun in earnest this weekend. Yesterday was particularly heavy going, being the first proper bit of digging I've done since last year. But, as with most things you've done before, I soon found myself settling in.

This time of the year is particularly exciting as you see signs of plants and trees stir to come out of dormancy.

The allotment site that I'm at is not particularly big with only around 22 plots and around 15 odd tenants. There are the few regulars that you see there on quite a regular basis come summer or winter, and then there are the large majority who you see mostly in the summer months. And then, there are the elusive ones that you see once in a blue moon.  This weekend there was a lot of activity on the site.

As always here are some photos of this weekend's allotment activities.

Preparing to dig1

Preparing to dig2

Daffodils in full bloom

Done!

Sowed1

Sowed2

Calling it a day ..

I also planted some onion sets and cleared up the strawberry patch, I'll post some photos during the week if I get a chance. 

Seedling Progress - Early March 2016

Here we are in March eagerly awaiting the latent spring to arise and kick the 2016 growing season into gear. 

I haven't really done much work in the allotment in the past few weeks and what little I have done was maintenance related.

I have brought a few varieties of Potatoes and some onion sets which I'm hoping to plant in the next few weeks. Traditonally the potoatoes should go in around St Patricks day (So I've bean told by a Irish fellow allotmenteer). 

Peas are another canidate for sowing. Unfortunletly the ones I sowed directly into the ground back in January have not grown - I guess it must have been too cold for them. 

Fortunately, the growing situation has faired better at home and  there has been some progress with the plants sowed in progagator. The plants all look healthy and strong, albeit a little leggy. 

I'll be going to the allotment today and plan on doing some digging, ready for putting the peas in next week. I'll post some photos of the plot later to show how it's looking. In the meantime, here are some photos of the plants I'm growing at home. These photos were taken a few days ago. 

Chillie Peppers

Various varieties of tomatoes seedlings

Cape Gooseberries

Tomatoes

Marygolds

6 Geraniums

Aubergines

Hot Peppers

Plants under light