I made a good start on my Lechlade allotment today...

...though it doesn't look it from the photos. I put in a double row of broad beans in front of the runner bean poles. They are longpods which should go in in November, and were saved either last year or the year before, so it will be a big bonus if they come up and I get a good crop off them.

 

Further down, I put in a row of onions (Sturon, I think). The beans and onions were put in ground which had not been dug, just cleared of surface weeds. Broad beans and onions like hard ground, so do sprouts and purple sprouting, so I will save some hard ground for them too.

 

 

 

Down the bottom, I put in my two remaining Jersey Royals, which are to be treasured like golden eggs. On the same line, I put in two very short rows of cut-and-come-again lettuce and radish. Eventually, I shall put my pumpkins and butternut squash or maybe some nasturtiums down that end so that they can scramble all over the pile of rubbish down the end and hide it. There's time for a catch-crop of lettuce and radish meanwhile.

 

The soil is beautiful and black and light and crumbly, but it is full of stones and of bits of pottery and broken clay pipes and glass. Spadey tried parsnips in there last year, but they came to nothing at all. Parsnips don't like even the tiniest stones: even sharp sand added to the soil makes them grow all forked and gnarly. My soil in Swindon is great for parsnips, so I'll grow them there. It is useful to have two types of soil to choose from: this will be good for onions, I should think.

 

 

A start at last

Last year was a terrible year because of the rain, and so far, this year hasn't been good because of the cold, but at last yesterday I made a start on one of my new allotments. On Pickards Field, I have moved from plot 59 to a smaller plot, no. 78. This was Old John's plot, but he is now too decrepit to work it, and Big John spent a lot of time last year keeping it up together for Old John. As Big John has two plots of his own, and has had umpteen heart attacks, he didn't want to have to do the same this year, so when he heard that I wanted to move from plot 59, he asked Old John if he'd consider handing the plot on to me. I got to know Old John well when I worked the Salvation Army plot, no. 77, and he knew that I'm a good gardener, so he agreed to let me inherit his plot. He said he would only give it up if I took it on. We went to the Council last year and signed all the papers. Since then, I'd only had time to transplant some raspberry canes and strawberry plants and sow some broad beans before winter set in, but someone rotovated about half of it for me in the autumn, and Nobby rotovated another quarter this week, so I've been able to start planting and sowing now without having to spend hours digging. Yesterday was just about the first nice day of the year, so I was able to put in a double row of spring-sown broad beans (Windsors), a row of Kelvedon Wonder peas (from saved seed), and a row of Jersey Royals (International Kidney) potatoes. I salvaged some compost from my old allotment (which no-one has taken on yet) to put in the potato trench and to put in the compost bin to get it going.

My other new plot is in Lechlade. The owner of the Antiques Centre, where I have a unit, owns the plot. It was cultivated by an old man who gave it up two years ago and died last year. Last year it was cultivated by an antiques dealer, who has since left the shop. It is in a sheltered, sunny spot and the soil is light and well-drained. Another of the antiques dealers has a rotovator and is going to rotovate the plot for me next week, so I'm feeling very lucky. His son helped me plant some strawberry plants on Friday, and I also transplanted a near-dead sage plant from my old allotment.

Broad beans

Today I sowed my first seeds on the Cat Allotment. I put in two double rows of broad beans. I had finally got round to cycling to Ron's Stores in Rodbourne, where they sell them loose. I bought a cupful for £2.20, and had so many that even though I put two in every hole, I still had enough for a second row. There's no way I can eat that many beans, but they're good for the garden, so I sowed them anyway. You never know, I might find enough old ladies to give them to by next July.

I had to hoe down a strip of dug soil about a yard wide before I sowed them. The Italian hoe Joe gave me is useless - every time I use it, the head falls off. But if it didn't, it would be a 100% improvement on the titchy hoe I've got now. I simply must get a decent Italian hoe by next Spring!