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Tag: Peas

Allotment Jobs for July

Published on Jul 7, 2019Jul 7, 2019 by Richard Chivers6 Comments

The memory of last July is seared into my mind. Recalled through a painful cringe.

Continue reading “Allotment Jobs for July” →

Categories Articles, On The Plot•Tags Advice, Allotment, Allotment Diary, Allotment gardening, Articles, beetroot, blogger, Blogs, gardening, Gardens, Grow your own, Grow your own veg, homegrown, no-dig, organic, Peas, sowing, summer

Summer is easy peasy

Published on Jun 27, 2017Aug 20, 2017 by Richard Chivers2 Comments

If I was only allowed to grow one vegetable in the garden, it would be tough to deny the position to peas.

Growing your own peas is truly a rewarding experience. Continue reading “Summer is easy peasy” →

Categories Articles•Tags Allotment gardening, Grow your own veg, Peas
I'm Richard and I'm passionate about growing fruit and vegetables on our family allotment. Sharpen your Spades is a blog to inspire anybody to pull on the wellies and join the grow your own community.

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Exciting news!
The little wooden greenhouse has green shoots and promises. Since 15th of February, I have slowly been sowing a few seeds and watching the new growing season peek through the compost. There's lettuces and early cabbages. Onions and beetroot (boltardy). Some calendula and spinach. I've sown some extra broad beans because I'm a little worried about the weather beaten plants that overwintered on the allotment and there are sweet peas slowly waking up from a sowing a few weeks ago. Inside, on the heated propagator, I have aubergines and chillies just waking up. Today has been beautiful. Blue skies and sunshine. Teasing me of the prospect of spring 🌱
Little lettuce seedlings. These were sown a few days ago and left on a warm windowsill to germinate. They're in the unheated greenhouse in my back garden now and I'll prick these out into modules really soon. I've find it easier to prick them out at this size as there's only a single root and they take really quickly in their new space. Pictured above are seedlings from Lollo Rosso and Marvel of Four Seasons. Therealso some spinach seedlings just out of shot 🌱
A cold but very enjoyable few hours at the allotment today. Outside, all the beds are now prepped for the year ahead. It's incredibly easy as a nodig gardener, simply hoe out any weeds and then top with some compost. You don't need much compost. You're providing enough organic matter to feed the soil organisms. I find two bags of @dalefootcomposts are plenty for my 4x10 beds (that's just my example). Inside the polytunel I had a bit of a tidy up. I pulled out the remaining Tatsoi plants as they have run to seed. They have been fantastic over winter though, their firm,dark green leaves are delicious in the salad bowl at this time of year. The other salads in here are brilliant. I pulled away any leaves that have gone past their best but there's still another bowl or two of salad leaves to be had. Pull the outside leaves every few weeks and they will provide from late autumn into spring. I highly recommend Grenoble Red lettuce (so grateful for the home saved seeds from @stephaniehafferty ) and Lollo Rosso. These are fantastic lettuces to grow in a polytunel or under some plastic over the winter. Seeds sown in early September and planted out in these beds in October. Hope you've had a wonderful Sunday 🌱
The little wooden greenhouse is rather empty. A few pots of sweet peas on top and bags of compost ready to go in the shelving below. Anticipation. Slowly, in about a week I'll start sowing more seeds. Mainly aubergines and chillies which will sit inside on a heated propagator. A few early brassica perhaps. Like the daylight, which grows to the magical, life giving 10 hours around valentines day, the seeds I sow will also expand rapidly over the coming weeks. For now, I'm enjoying the quiet period 🌱
It's a rare event. When it snows, no matter how little, it's always a treat. It's snowing now, not sticking much but the sky it's full of flakes, darting around and making everything feel close. A reminder that it's still winter 🌱❄

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