Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Yesterday morning started very cold and the ground was frozen solid. I wasn't expecting to do anything in the garden at all, but after lunch I walked down to the allotment to check that all was ok. The sun was out and the area along the bottom of the roadside hedge had defrosted, so I pulled out a few speedwell and goosegrass seedlings.

I was going to leave it at that - the broccoli and brokali in the tunnel were covered in ice and clearly not in a fit state to harvest, and dinner was coming from the buckets of carrots and leeks that have been in the garage. Something made me try the soil around the leeks to see if it was frozen. It was slightly crusty but still soft, so I decided to harvest a leek. These have not been in the sun and there was ice on the leaves, so I can only think that the combination of the net over the tunnel and the leaves covering the soil has been enough to stop the soil from freezing even when the air temperature dropped to around -4. I was very surprised.

[Penellype]

No time for the allotment yesterday but today looked promising, weather wise. I went down at about 10am hoping to be able to dig the pea bed again and armed with packets of seeds for the hotbed. The temperature was about 9 degrees.

The pea bed was still frozen, as was much of the allotment. I am always surprised how long it takes ice and frost to melt, and I really shouldn't be because I understand the science behind it. it just seems bizarre to be looking at frost at 9 degrees.

As the hotbed temperature was around 10 degrees (expected after 2 very cold nights recently) I decided it wouldn't do any harm to sow the seeds. Last year I sowed 10 rows of seed (2 spinach, 2 beetroot, 3 lettuce, 3 carrot) 8 inches apart and found that things were a bit crowded, and in particular the carrots got crowded out. This time I decided on 8 rows, ditching 2 of the rows of carrots as I will be growing plenty of those at home. From the tunnel end, the rows are: Spinach Amazon, Lettuce crispy blend mix, Carrot Marion, Lettuce black seeded Simpson, Spinach Amazon, Beetroot Boltardy, Lettuce crispy blend, Beetroot Boldor. The bed was watered well and the cover put back on. I expect it to be about a month before much happens in there.

With everything else still frozen, I harvested a couple of small beetroot from the tunnel and went to the garden centre to buy my onion sets.

By 1pm I was getting frustrated. The sun was out but the back garden gets none of it, so it was still cold out there. I decided to go back to the allotment and see if things had defrosted there. They had - sort of. There were still some chunks of ice about but the ground was soft enough to dig. I uncovered the pea bed and dug out some more horsetail - this will probably be the last dig before I put the raised bed edge back here. This bed will be growing cauliflowers (Maybach) for early harvest - I ordered these today, and then I intend to make it into a hotbed for melons.

After that I decided to dig up the remainder of the first row of parsnips. There were 4 of them, 2 large and 2 smaller. I laid the 2 large ones on the soil and covered the roots with a little soil and then covered the whole thing with fleece. The idea is to be able to harvest these if the weather is cold, while keeping them reasonably fresh, I hope. If it doesn't work, I have another row to go at! I took the smaller ones home with me along with some PSB for tea.

[Penellype]

Nothing got done at all on Saturday as I was simply too busy elsewhere.

Sunday was very windy and unpleasantly cold. I walked down to the plot after lunch to check that the hotbed cover was still in place (it was) and harvested a leek. By the time I had done that I was far too cold to think of starting anything else, and it was starting to rain, so I went home.

Hopefully the weather will be slightly more amenable today.

[Penellype]

A glorious sunny day today. Morning meeting over and wanting to get on with things I walked down to the plot at about 10am. The local weather stations disagreed about the temperature - the nearer one said 5C, the one in Strensall a more pessimistic 2. By the time I got to the plot it was apparent that Strensall was more accurate. Having neglected to put on my overtrousers and hat I was frozen, and so was the ground. I walked round the plot checking that everything was still in place (it was) and picking up the rubbish that had blown in, then I went back home to warm up.

Very aware that the weather is not going to play ball this week (we may end up covered with snow), I went back after lunch in the hope that things might have defrosted a bit. I'd checked all the weather models, and as well as possible snow, tomorrow and particularly Wednesday nights look really cold (possibly -6 or less). I'd left some drip trays in the tunnel and they were full of water which I was reluctant to tip out, but I really don't want them cracking so I emptied them into one of my rubber trugs, which shouldn't crack (I hope). I then decided to cover the beetroot with some plastic sheet over the old shelves to try and keep it in a state to harvest if I want it.

That done, I had a poke at the soil where the romanesco has been, and it was defrosted, so I decided to dig it over. There had been a little horsetail there over the summer which I couldn't get at because of the huge romanesco plants. First I needed to harvest the last of the romanesco, which was now ready:



I am really pleased with this, part of which I ate for tea. It will do me 3 meals .

Anyway, having removed the romanesco I got a decent area of tunnel side dug and removed some horsetail root. I then moved the buckets of beetroot and fennel into the tunnel, more to get them out of the way than for any other reason. I'm not really sure either will be edible to be frank - the fennel is very small and the beetroot, which was sown last February, is huge.

The last little job I did before going home was cut off the tops of the tallest raspberry canes, so that I will be able to reach all the fruit. Some had grown a good 8ft tall.

My focus now is on what is going to happen with tomorrow's and Thursday's snow. Even tomorrow is completely uncertain. Something will definitely fall out of the sky at some point, but there is huge disagreement about what, how much and when. By 3pm tomorrow we could have anything from drizzle just starting to 2 inches of snow and several hours more to come. By midnight we could have wet ground turning to ice, frozen slush or several inches of freezing snow cover.

Unless the forecast has radically changed in the morning I am going to have to take the top net off the tunnel. I've been trying to avoid doing this as its a pain to put it back up, but by the time I know the answer to whether or not I need to take it down it will be too late, so I have to assume that I do.

[Penellype]

The tunnel net was always going to be a no-win situation. The 4 possibilities were:
Take it down and be glad I'd done so because of large amounts of snow.
Take it down and be frustrated because there was no need to, and it provides protection against birds and some frost protection.
Leave it up and wish I hadn't because it snows, and possibly breaks the supporting frame.
Leave it up and worry that the frame might break if it snows over night, when it is too late to do anything about it.

The forecast was for rain turning to snow after dark and continuing well into the evening. This would then freeze, and several hours of more snow would arrive on Thursday night into Friday.

The radar picture showed a mass of snow approaching from the west, with (apparently) snow already falling lightly at 8am. There wasn't much sign of this on the ground, so I assume it was evaporating before it landed, as sometimes happens.

All the evidence pointed to removing the tunnel net - it was a no-brainer. I went down at about 9am, with the main snow line approaching quite fast, and spent half an hour taking down the net, rolling it up and securing it to the ends of the tunnel.

It didn't snow. Despite the radar picture showing a mixture of sleet and snow over York lasting throughout the whole day until about 5.30, I didn't see a single flake of the white stuff. It did rain quite hard, and it did get very cold (-5.5 at the local weather station) over night.

Looking at today's forecast for the rest of the week, the snow risk seems to have moved further south, and suddenly, from a forecast of about 4 inches of the stuff, we seem to be going to have nothing. I'm not complaining as I'd rather not have snow, but it does illustrate how difficult forecasting this type of weather is, even when it is actually happening!

[Penellype]

Nothing doing on Thursday, partly due to meetings all day and partly because having dropped to -7 over night, the temperature never got above -3. The very cold night had been forecast earlier in the week but the models had backed off it and had settled at -1, so I was not best pleased.

Yesterday was a little less cold but with fairly frequent snow showers. We managed to get to about 1 degree which was enough to melt some of the snow that was in the sun, but gardening was impossible. I didn't bother risking the slippery pavements to walk to the plot.

The weekend looks little better. Everywhere is still frozen with a thin layer of snow this morning, and more snow showers may arrive. Tonight is forecast to be -5 so I can't see anything improving tomorrow. Things should get milder on Monday, but it comes with the price of a very wet and windy day. I'm just going to have to sit it out until conditions improve.

One thing I did do was make a decision on some fruit trees. One of the reasons for getting an allotment was to be able to grow more fruit. I've been looking at minarette trees, which are basically upright cordons, and decided to order 3 - a cherry Sunburst, which is self fertile, a cooking apple, Bountiful, which is said to keep until January, and a pear Concorde which is supposed to be self fertile. To start with I will keep the apple and pear at home in pots under my arch and the cherry will be in a pot at the allotment. Longer term I may take the apple and pear to the plot and plant them at the road end of what is currently the compost area. This will depend a bit on what happens with the hedge/fence and how much room I have as a result. I will of course have to at least attempt to remove the horsetail before I plant anything!

[Penellype]

Just a quick trip to the plot today to check everything and take a few photos. All was still frozen solid, but hopefully it should thaw out tomorrow.



All frozen, a little snow left and the top has been taken off the tunnel. The hedge is still there...



Closer view of the hotbed with the labels for the rows of seeds visible. The temperature has fallen to about 5 degrees in the middle - hopefully it will heat up a little when the weather is less cold (-7.5 last night). Last year the hotbed temperature didn't drop below 10 in the spring, but we didn't have -7 and I did insulate it with bubble wrap, which was a pain as it kept coming off.



A rather snowy tunnel. The cover on the left is over the beetroot.



The less snowy end - lettuces under the plastic cloche and PSB which will be ready to cut when it defrosts. The upside down blue trug covers a smaller trug full of (frozen) water.



The compost area and some rather snowy strawberry troughs. This needs rearranging soon - the empty buckets are waiting for potatoes, to be grown in compost from the green bins.

[Penellype]

Yesterday morning I walked down to the allotment to see if anyone had started on the hedge yet (no) and if the ground had defrosted (no). One of the other plot holders who lives in one of the houses that back onto the plots was clearing things away from the hedge. I asked if he knew when the men were going to start, and he said he hadn't had any further information since the letter before Christmas. I decided to go home and phone the man at the council to find out what is going on.

The answer to my question was that the men were due to start today. He has no information about what time, which end they will start at or how long it will take them. (I walked down to the plot at 9am this morning and there was no sign of anything happening).

I went back down to the plot to tell the other plot holder what had been said, and harvested a beetroot for lunch.

As it was a lovely sunny day and not at all cold I went back in the afternoon to see if things were defrosting. The bits in the sun were fine, but in the shade the ground was still frozen underneath. I moved everything I could out of the way in case the tree men start at my end first thing then transferred the compost that was being stored in the metal bin (horse muck from under last year's potatoes) into the bed next to the hotbed. Levelling this off allowed me to take the top section off this bed (some more layers are coming soon) and move it to the potato bed. I then put the 2 bags of leaves that have been in the green dalek into the metal bin and emptied what was last year's fresh horse muck in the bottom of the green dalek into 2 of the empty buckets - this will be mixed with the rotted compost to grow potatoes in shortly. The green dalek was then empty so I moved the bucket of rhubarb out of the black dalek (where I put it a while ago for forcing) and put the green dalek over it. There is a point to this - the black dalek is half full of chopped leylandii and the rhubarb shoots were getting too tall and about to hit the lid.

By the time I'd done all that I was tired, so having chopped up the romanesco stalks that I'd left near the compost bins when it was too cold to hang about, I went home.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was rather full with issues at work and waiting in for parcel deliveries (trees in one), and it was unhelpfully freezing fog first thing. I walked down to the plot at 9am to quickly check if the men had started in case they were at my end, but there was no sign of activity. I went back at about 11am and found they had started at the far end. It was still quite cold and I needed to get back so nothing got done.

My minarette trees arrived mid afternoon and spent the night in the garage. The apple and pear, which are staying at home for now, have their own special compost and pots as I wanted to do this properly. The cherry, which is going straight to the allotment, will go in one of the 30 litre buckets for the moment, my thought being that it will be ok at the door end of the tunnel, tied to the post in the middle. The plan is to plant this in the ground eventually, possibly in the autumn. It won't be staying in the tunnel, as it will eventually grow too tall and also will need pollinating - this is just a temporary position until the men have finished with the hedge.

[Penellype]

Wednesday was all about planting trees. First I had to go shopping for some tree ties for the cherry (the apple and pear came with theirs) and some other bits and pieces (some of which, including fresh Balconi tomato seed, I couldn't find). Having done that I took the cherry tree and the other things I needed to the plot and planted it in a 30 litre bucket in a mixture of mpc and perlite to help with drainage. I found a stake that will do for now and fastened the tree to it, then tied the stake to the post in the tunnel. I then wrapped the bucket in bubble wrap to stop it from freezing. I was quite pleased with the results.

I had a chat with the men who were cutting the trees down - there were 4 of them this time, and they had got half way down the hedge. I asked when they expected to reach my end, but they couldn't really say. The plan was to stop where they had got to and go back and cut the trunks (which were still standing) down to ground level, and then put up that half of the new fence. They reckoned they would probably start on the other half of the hedge next week.

I went home and potted up the apple and pear trees, finding that I had quite a bit of compost mixture left over. If I'd thought about it I could have used this for the cherry tree instead of mpc, but by the time I'd realized this it was too late. I used some of it to pot up the free strawberry plants (Fenella), of which there were 7 rather than the advertised 6. I put them in 1 litre pots for now and took them down to the plot to go on one of the shelves in the tunnel to keep them out of the way of slugs.

Yesterday was a write-off. Apart from the pouring rain first thing, I had meetings all day and there were also issues at work demanding my attention. Hopefully today will be a bit less hectic!

[Penellype]

This morning I walked down to the plot to check that all was secure for the gales (appears fine) and to see how the men were doing with the hedge. They seem to have nearly cleared half of it, but there was no sign of a fence going up yet. i think they will be at least another week judging on current progress.

While I was there I dug up a leek and a small swede, then as it had started to rain and was getting very windy I went home to make soup.

[Penellype]

As expected, storm Erik produced an unpleasantly wet and windy night and it was still blowing a gale for most of yesterday morning. I dropped by to check all was ok on my way to the stables and found that the wind had pulled the tunnel net out from under some of the bricks along the west side. I put them back, picked up a few bits of plastic litter and couldn't see any other problems.

After lunch the wind had moderated a bit and I walked down to check again. The net had again been pulled out from under the bricks, and the plastic that was covering the beetroot had been blown off. A half brick that was holding it down on top of the shelf support had blown off onto the leeks, breaking one of them. There was also a tear in the hotbed cover along one of the zips which I will have to try to mend and one of the joints in the frame had come apart, which I put back together. I do hate wind .

That done, I spent some time removing dozens of weed seedlings which have sprouted along the road hedge line which now gets a reasonable amount of sun - these are probably mostly speedwell. I dare say there will be loads more very soon. I also harvested the last of the turnips from the raised bed, but was disappointed with this as it didn't taste very nice. It probably didn't like being frozen.

I also checked the hotbed and noticed possible signs of germination from the spinach. The surface was starting to look a little dry so I watered it.

[Penellype]

A better day today. I went down to the plot in the afternoon with a bucket of Strulch and mulched the cherry tree and strawberry plants with it - I'd not done this before as I thought it might just blow away in the gale.

I then mended the hotbed cover as best I could with greenhouse repair tape. As well as the spinach, one of the rows of lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson) is now germinating.

Finally I planted 100 onion sets in the onion bed and covered it with netting to stop the birds pulling the sets out of the compost.

[Penellype]

Not much time today as I had to wait in at home most of the morning for a man to come and service my burglar alarm. I spent some of the time making soup and the rest of it clearing some stuff out of the garage to take to the tip for recycling.

The tip is conveniently on the way to my favourite garden centre, and I'd rung them earlier to ask if their Lady C seed potatoes had arrived - they hadn't last week, but had now. I therefore went and bought a bag, along with some tomato seeds - Balconi Red as the older ones have not germinated, and Shirley as I have run out). I'd taken with me a bag of broken plant pots and modules for recycling, but sadly I was told that they can no longer do this as their contact had stopped taking them and everywhere else was too expensive . The pots will just have to go back in the garage until they are recyclable. I didn't buy anything else, which I thought was very restrained of me!

By the time I got home (via the village for some shopping) it was nearly 3pm. I walked down to the plot to check how the tree men were getting on. They were putting the fence up at the far end, and had nearly finished that section. I tried to see where the fence line was relative to the tree trunks, but I couldn't really tell from the road. I will have to wait a while longer for that information.

I checked round the plot and found that the birds had pulled quite a bit of the mulch around the raspberries onto the grass, the first time this has happened. I'm astonished it has taken them this long to be honest, and I'm not quite sure what to do about it. The lawn mower won't cope with bits of leylandii so I will have to put a stop to it somehow.

The temperature in the hotbed is slowly creeping back up towards 10C now that the severe frosts have relented. Both rows of spinach are germinating but there is no sign yet of beetroot, mixed lettuce or carrot.

I spent a little while pulling more weed seedlings out of the hedge bottom then went home.

[Penellype]

A bit of time this afternoon so I spent an hour or so at the plot. I wanted to trim some of the grass that was starting to grow at the road end, and I had to half empty the shed to get at the mower, so it seemed a good opportunity to sort everything out in there too.

I also removed one of the calabrese plants which was clearly dead (probably due to frost). The other 2 don't look at all happy either, and neither does the brokali.

The mixed lettuces in the hotbed are showing signs of germination today.

I'm not sure what the tree men are doing - they seem to have ground to a halt as there doesn't seem to be much progress with the fence they are putting up at the other end of the allotments.