Page 18 - ALG Issue 2 2017

General
On the Kings Plot from December to the end of February
By Andrew Tokely, Seed Purchasing Manager for Kings Seeds
Well, December through to February was a busy time for winter digging. All spare ground on my original plots was completed by early January; these have been well cultivated over the years and are a pleasure to dig. The new plot I took over was a little more challenging; the ground was more compact and
do, which will be completed as soon as possible. I am not a fan of digging so late but unfortunately there is very little that can be done about the weather. If this late dug soil dries and gets too lumpy I may need to rotovate it to bring it down to a workable tilth.
took more effort to dig as it had not been worked well for many years, and will probably take at least two years to get it into the same good order as my original plots. It is important to remember when taking on a new plot that all perennial weeds like couch grass, bindweed roots and docks should be removed as you work your way through the soil. Annual weeds and mushroom compost were chipped into the bottom of each trench as I worked across the plot and turned the soil over.
As a back-up I also plant a few shallots into cell trays in a cold greenhouse; these grow slowly and can be used to ll gaps in rows
Shallots were planted under cloches in December around the shortest day and should have good size bulbs ready to harvest by the longest day. As a back-up I also plant a few shallots into cell trays in a cold greenhouse; these grow slowly and can be used to ll gaps in rows.
I keep a few of the larger bulbs to grow on in
trays the whole time; these are then harvested as small pickling shallots. I have just about nished harvesting my Brussels sprouts for this year, but I now have some very nice savoy cabbage Sabrosa F1 to harvest, and it won’t be long before the purple sprouting broccoli is ready to harvest.
During February we had some very cold
penetrating frosts; these stayed in the ground all
day and stopping me from digging. I nd there is no point digging frosted ground and turning over the cold frozen soil as this will take much longer to warm up in the spring. Due to the hard frosts at the end of February, there is still probably three days digging left to
Under glass the large exhibition onions Globo that were sown at Christmas have all been pricked out and are
growing well. I also grow my leeks from leek pips; these were rooted in November by a friend of mine in Wales. The variety is Pendle, and once rooted they are posted to me in December to pot on. They
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