Page 18 - ALG Issue 3 2020

on the...
Kings plot
from March to the beginning of June 2020
Well what a strange world we are living in, and how grateful I am to have my allotment for relaxation and daily exercise. I must admit that our allotment site in Capel St Mary has never looked better, as more time has been available to plotholders whilst
in the Covid-19 lockdown. We even
had a plotholders drone fly over in February, March, April and May and it is surprising to view the changes; this can be seen on the Capel St Mary website by visiting www.capelallotments. co.uk/a-view-from-above/.
At Kings Seeds we were inundated with orders from regular and many new gardeners, all wanting to grow their own. It was a very busy time for all our staff and with social distancing, order processing does take a little longer and most gardeners were very understanding.
On my own site at the start of lockdown, we had some vacant plots but we now have ten people on the waiting list which is good to see as it adds pressure to any plotholder not working their site fully
to be challenged if they still require this valuable growing space and something our Site Manager is keeping a very close eye on this year. With so many new plotholders, it is important to try and offer some advice, as for many this is the first time that they have done any growing, and a vacant space of soil can be quite daunting for some. A kindly reminder of when to sow something,
or a note of caution if too early to plant out tender crops, is always helpful and I find the majority will welcome any help they can get. A plotholder near me said earlier in the year he felt lucky to have his plot near me and Denis, our Site Manager, as he just copied what we did and, if he had any questions, all he had to do was ask.
March was a very wet month to start
with and the soil took a while to warm up for seed sowing, but it did eventually towards the middle of the month and carrots, beetroot, radish and parsnips were sown. Potatoes were planted, and the ground prepared for where early sown brassicas and lettuce growing under glass can be planted. In April, Pea Avola, sown under glass at the end of February, were transplanted out, and around the same time I sowed a double row of Pea Hurst Greenshaft to give me a successional crop over several weeks. The Pea Avola was on flower and producing pods at the end of May and should be ready to harvest in early June. Brussels sprouts, cabbages, calabrese were all planted out, given two good waterings and have never looked back. The only problem has been some Flea Beetle, due to the dry weather, but it is now under control since treating it with a suitable insecticide. Carrots, parsnips and beetroot have all germinated well, which I put down to using good quality seed and, before sowing, watering the base of the seed drill and then covering the seed with dry soil, trapping the moisture where the seed needs it. I must say it infuriates me when I see celebrity gardeners sowing seed into dry seed drills and flooding them with water overhead; all this will result in is capped soil and the seeds having difficulty germinating. Onion sets and shallots were slow to start moving but now look very good, as do the leeks and Show Onions Globo. Unfortunately, we won’t require these for showing this year and they will be used just in the kitchen as our September Village show has been cancelled this year, due to difficulty undertaking Covid-19 social distancing measures on show day.
The potatoes pushed through well
and were earthed up until too large to earth up any more. This did create a problem from the 11th to the 15th May. During this week, it turned very cold
At Kings Seeds we were inundated with orders from regular and many new gardeners, all wanting to grow their own
and we had sharp frosts on Monday and Wednesday night going below 0°C on each night. Despite covering my potatoes with heavy grade 30g fleece, the foliage still got slightly nipped by frost. Fellow plotholders who did not cover their potatoes really got hit and the plants were completely black. They will recover and after a few warmer days in May, mine are starting to look as good as ever. It is a reminder to gardeners not to become complacent
, as unfortunately a few who probably were looking for something to do
had sowed courgettes , runner bean, squashes , tomatoes and sweetcorn early and had decided to plant them
out in early May as the weather had been good and these were all killed off by these frosts. In Europe they call the period between 11th & 15th May ‘The Ice Saints’ week as there is often a very cold snap, as we all found out. I never like to plant any tender crops on my plot in East Anglia until after the 25th May, so mine were safely tucked up in a cold frame or the glasshouse.
18 Allotment and Leisure Gardener