Seeds To Suit - March Newsletter

 

 

The March newsletter from Seeds To Suit has hit my in-box today and there are some nice new products that are on offer. If you have not visited their web site then I really encourage you too as their prices and really good value for money. If you have not already subscribed to their newsletter then again I would recommend that you do as there is always something interesting in there.  Below is just a short extract from the March newsletter, there is much more interesting stuff included when you subscribe.     Don't forget if you have already used DISCOUNT10 code at checkout in the past you can always use the MANVSLUG10 discount code.  Thanks to Sandra for the Mention In Dispatches regarding my Loft Conversion solution to having a broken vent opener panel, the post can be found HERE

 

Shop The Website

 

Shop THE SALE!

 

Buy A Gift Card

 

WHO'S NEW!

 

I'M NEW! Cavolo Nero Organic - This black kale is the tastiest variety we have found and packed full of goodness! Buy Me!

 

I'M NEW! Watermelon Petite Yellow - one of the earliest and sweetest available! Buy Me!

 

I'M NEW! Turnip Milan White - Milan Turnips cannot be bettered so we have swapped out the Snowball for this buttery delight! Buy Me!

 

I'M NEW! Tomatillo Verde - This Mexican marvel is grown like an Indeterminate tomato and makes the best salsa. A must for your Mexican recipes! Buy Me!

 

I've Changed!

 

I'VE GONE GREEK! Oregano Greek - Prized for its superior flavour and a must for any Italian or Greek recipe! Buy Me!

 

Working the Corner and the Shed

It was not supposed to rain this morning but it did and there was a fine mist of rain in the air as I arrived at the allotment. Today the weeding, shovelling and sweeping off the weathered and rotting woodchips that have been on the tarps in the Greenhouse cage corner.

The pulling up of a sack load of bind weed that had grown under the tarps and made their way up the plot last year. It's been put away to be burnt on the next fire.

Relocated a very big fat frog found under the tarp to a new home where he or she will not be in danger.

A tidy up in the plot 1 greenhouse and a tidy up in the plot 1 shed resulting in a sack load of rubbish taken home, and a much tidier greenhouse and shed, and the sorting out of resources that I'm going to need for the pebble pool and the potting shed when it comes.

I still have not found the assembly plans and the bag of bolts for the mesh cage clad greenhouse, and it could always be that I'm actually looking in the wrong shed!

It's the first time for a very long time that I can actually sit in the shed!

The Foxes have been doing the Watusi /wɑːtuːsi/ in the boundary beds, I should have sprinkled coffee grounds over it again to put them off.

A single Daff in the comfrey bed, so what has happened to all the other bulbs away, is it the squirrels nicking them and they missed one?

Once again thanks to "Thing" for helping me on the plot today !

Thing is actually someone that comes and helps me occasionally and does not want to be featured on the Blog.

Working My Way Towards The Corner

Another 3 hours on the plot today with "Thing" lending a hand again, 9 degrees C and sunny it was really quite a nice visit for early March.

More soil processed in the rotary sieve and the boundary beds topped up again, paths formed and the pebble pool located up against the boundary beds.

Another section of paths weeded, membraned and woodchipped as I work my way into what will be the mesh covered greenhouse frame in the corner, for climbing vegetables and plants.

Above is a photo of "Thing" who has been giving me a hand to get these works done. He is sitting on the edge of the bottom liner to the Pebble Pool that will have a solar powered water pump in and will provide a water feature on the plot that will benefit the bees on the allotment, and will just look nice.

I picked up the two pebble pools off freecycle a couple of years ago and they have been sitting behind my greenhouse waiting for me to get to this point where I'm completing the end of plot 1 on the main path.

I will be cutting a square of weed membrane to go under the pools bottom liner that will extend over the timber frame and then I will take the pebbles out to the edges of the frame. I used the pots that are seen sitting in the liner to form the recess in the woodchips that I filled the box up with. At the moment they will just stop the liner filling with water when it rains.

I will finish the install of the pebble pool & solar water pump once the risk of frost is over.

View of the paths and Pebble Pool looking up the site towards the Potting Shed base. The potting shed is on order and I'm waiting to hear when I will be delivered, hopefully at the end of next week or the week after as I really want to get it erected as soon as possible and get cracking fitting it out and using it.

finding good quality woodchips on the pile that has been there way too long in the drop off and pick up area, has been really difficult, once you have skimmed off the dry surface layer that is dry what's left underneath is already going black and decaying and makes for a good mulch  .

I have two scaffold poles to install in the last Raspberry bed, but at the moment they are a little long so, they will have to wait until I bring the grinding wheel down to trim up the mesh panels that will be cladding the greenhouse frame. 

Finally all the stacked flower buckets of soil and stone in this corner are gone and now all that remains is to remove the tarps, dig and weed the area, find the bolts and assembly drawing for the greenhouse and get it erected. 

The water hosepipe seen coming out of the ground, needs to be taken into the plot and looking at this photo I may have a post and tap somewhere near the pebble pool that will connect to the watering system I have installed over plot 1 and 1A 

The balls on top of the scaffold tubes are spray foam that I squirted in a few days ago to stop the scaffold tubes filling with water and rusting from the inside out. 

Planning and Reviewing March in Previous Years

 Reviewing the diary over the last TEN years for March 

2013 - Infrastructure works, picked up 17 paving slabs off Freecycle, met my plot neighbour for the first time, finally after clearing I started on digging and weeding, Comfrey roots purchased and grown in toilet rolls.   

 

2014 - Infrastructure works continue, Erected the green house on plot 1A, lighter nights and a few extended lunch time visits from work and early evening visits, Spuds sown and solar tents to warm up the soil on beds. Sowing seeds and a hard frost at the end of March 

2015 - Infrastructure Works, the very last two beds and paths on Plot 1A were formed, Greenhouse clearance ready for using, Collecting and drying Coffee Grounds, Grass cuttings and composting starts, Spuds in buckets and sowing mad March.  

2016 - Infrastructure works on Spencer Road Plot 23B, Comfrey beds dug and weeded, Daleks Composting compound started, Lots of Paving Slabs off Freecycle, First two beds weeded and formed, Timber scrounged from roofing works, Spuds planted, Tomatoes sown.

2017 - Infrastructure works, Grow Stations created, walking Onions Bed and Comfrey pipe for Plot 23B, seeds sown and Grow house at home full, Onions and Beetroots sown on allotment.

2018 - The Beast from the East and snow early March this year, Infrastructure works, Woodchipped the paths on plot 1A, Catawissa Walking Onion Bed installed,  Catawissa Onion Planting Membrane made, Sowing in Grow Stations from the 9th March, Onions and Beetroots sown on allotment, The Agralan Compact Plug Plant Trainer purchased and used for the first time, Raspberries purchased and planted, Soilfixer over Winter Experiment concludes, Sprout Sowing, Mr Fothergill's Optigrow®  Leeks Experiment. 

2019 - Infrastructure works, Buy Seed and Cutting compost from Tesco, Quad biking for my Birthday, Onions in Modules in the Growhouse, Chitting Potatoes, Woodchip behind the shed, Full day on the plot as Jen taken out for the day, Cutting and painting timbers for beds, accident injuring leg. Picked up a load of paving slabs off Freecycle, visit to hospital as I had Cellulitis as a result to the injury to my leg. First Early spuds in buckets.

2020 - Covid-19 hits the UK. Cutting weed path membrane. Attended the Gardening Press Event 3rd March. Tree is finally removed from the top of my shed on plot 1A. Visit to the allotment to get parsnips in the ground. Radish in Modules sown, Won Mr Fothergills Swift Cucumber seeds. Runner Bean frame rebuilt. 

Tomatoes sown in Grow Stations 11th March. In lockdown due to Jen being high risk and not even going to the plot for exercise. Working on your allotment for exercise is allowed. You can use your car to go to the allotment. Bought more CHM Modules, Sowing Spring Onion seeds. Suttons & Dobies re uplift in business due to people working in their gardens, Composting at home in the back garden using flower buckets.

One could not believe the stupidity of the human race massing for loo rolls and taking little heed of warnings about not going to the seaside etc. Anthia & Hubby Fellow site rep got me sacks of compost and dropped them off.  Mr Fothergill saw a 10 fold increase in demand over 14 days due to people working and growing in the garden. 

2021 - Infrastructure works, Virtual Gardening Press Event. Keter Store retained and moved. Built and installed the timber base to the plot 1 greenhouse. Cutting path membrane for the remainder of the paths around the Rhubarb beds etc. Installing the plot 1 greenhouse cladding and weeding and clearing the path around SFG bed 1. 

Cutting paving slabs for the inside of greenhouse on plot 1. D.T.Brown Raspberry collection arrives Emma on site with be but we remain over 2m appart. Miracle-Gro Peat Free Premium Fruit & Vegetable Compost to trial. Emma & Kelly assisted in gathering all the debris on the plot. we gathered it up and placed in the greenhouses to keep it dry until we could get it down the dump.

First signs of leaf and growth of the early raspberry canes. Cutting the timbers and painting them for the Square Foot gardening beds. Trench created with the Power Planter for a hose pipe from the tap to the corner of the plot. Emma discovered how much work is involved in removing mares tail, couch grass and bramble roots when clearing a plot. Plot clearance of rubbish with Emma and Kelly taken to the local tip. 

Scaffold tubes driven into the ground each end of the Raspberry beds. Taking paving blocks from the back garden down to the allotment to replace the soft bricks (milk bottles full of sand). Hydrating Coir and home and storing on the plot in a coir dustbin.  

2022 - Applying Equigrow mulch and conditioner to beds. Clearing the old leaf bin area for the grapevines. Visiting the Harry Potter Experience. fear of Covid and traveling on the tube stopped me going to the Gardening Press Event this year instead I spent time on the allotment. Second grapevine arrives and is planted. Making up the Mels Mix for the two square foot gardening beds, hydrating coir, sowing Watermelons, sowing Aubergines and planning the square foot gardening beds, Chalk Quarry Driving Experience with Emma, Radishes growing, reviewed Son of a Secret Gardener. 

To Do List   

Below is the to do list in no particular order and catching up with what actually happened in February and what has slipped. In reality not a lot has slipped and lots of progress has been made as my wife passed away on the 23rd January and thus I have had a lot of time on my hands during February, that I have not been used too during the last eight years and have needed a whole lot of allotment therapy for my mental wellbeing.   

Mill Green - Plot 1A

• Re Add additional supporting timbers to the roof of the shed - TBD
• Tidy Up the Allotment - Ongoing but getting so much better 
• Weeding - Complete the weeding of plot 1A
• Greenhouse 1A - Get ready for early spring sowings and perhaps some hydroponics
• Greenhouse 1A - Construct a dormer window with twin solar fans to replace the vent like the one on Plot 1 Fans arrived 1st March aim is to have the dormer window constructed and installed by the end of March.

Mill Green - Plot 1

• Beds and Paths - The third SFG Bed didn't happen because I'm being gifted a 6ft x 8ft potting shed from Forest Garden, and during February that area of the site has been cleared and the base to the shed constructed.  
• Also during February the Boundary Beds at the bottom of the beds were constructed and half filled with decaying woodchips and a layer of sieved earth from the many flower buckets of soil and stones from around both plots.
• Potting Shed  - The area where the potting shed is going to be located was cleared and    
• Install the kerb edging along the bottom of Plot 1 - Ended up constructing the boundary beds. 
• Potatoes in Buckets - See what state the last four buckets of spuds are in still to be done and completed in March. 
• Greenhouse 1 -  Loft conversion  completed and installed on the 1st February.  
• Greenhouse Cage - The plan has been for some time to build a greenhouse frame in the corner of Plot 1 on the main path and secondary path with plot 2. The frame will be lined with mesh panels so that climbing plants can be grown over it and I can enter the greenhouse and just pick vegetables that are hanging.    

Home 

• Planning - Ongoing
• Cut Planting Membrane - Make more full bed blanks
• Space Saver Greenhouse - Clear and Cleaning half completed  then Sow some winter crops.