Sunday 12 March 2017

Getting Ready For Spring

I spend half my time moaning at Pete for not clearing up his tools in the wheelhouse, making it look more of a workshop than a pleasant living space.  Now I have turned it into a greenhouse!  My allotment greenhouse took a bit of a battering in storms over the winter and I lost several panels.  I am going to replace it with a small polytunnel, but until then I needed somewhere light and warm for my precious baby seedlings.  So the wheelhouse was the obvious place.

The only thing growing in the allotment at the moment is the garlic, which Scarlett helped me plant last year.  Scarlett came with me to the garden centre last year to buy the garlic.  I wanted white garlic at £1.99 for three bulbs, she wanted pink garlic at £1.99 for one bulb, so guess what I am growing?  Yep, pretty pink garlic!  We also harvested the new potatoes at the same time, which according to Scarlett, was like a treasure hunt.  Later when we were eating them, she declared that they were the best potatoes she had ever had in her life (all three years of it!).

Anyway, I digress.  Pete and I spent a couple of hours at the allotment, mulching and adding new compost to the raised beds, getting them ready for planting.  This gave me the incentive to start sowing once we got back to the barge.  I have soooo many seeds that I really must not buy any more this year, just use what I already have.  However, any allotmenteer will tell you what an empty pledge that is - there are so many lovely looking new varieties to try each year, that it is nigh on impossible not to buy the odd packet, just to try you understand.

So this is the chart table right now and I haven't even started on the window sills!




7 comments:

  1. I think I am the opposite regarding seeds as I am restricted to a few raised beds! I tend to keep seeds too long.

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  2. I have just thrown loads of seeds away, most were way out of date. I only have the smallest of plots and allotments here have huge waiting list. So when in my shed yesterday I got rid of all I won't use, it was sad but the right thing to do.

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  3. "The best potatoes she had ever had in her life - all three years of it"! What a precious comment, Fran. I love that, and the pretty pink garlic! I hope you manage to get your polytunnel soon. As one who has far too many houseplants in her kitchen, I can testify that cleaning round and under them is none to quick a task! xxx

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  4. DC & Marlene - I hate throwing away seeds and I also hate thinning out, it always seems such a waists, but I do now put the thinning into my salad, so that's not quite so bad xxxx

    Val - I also have plenty of house plants in the wheelhouse and yes, it's a pain to clean round. I find you can't move them because that just shows where I haven't dusted ;) xxxx

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  5. I've been getting my beds ready (just barely started) and I have tomato and pepper plants in the windows of the mudroom growing under a heat lamp. In April if the weather agrees I will put them in the potting shed for another month to six weeks. Last year it took them forever to germinate, so this year I started them even earlier and of course they germinated in a couple of days, LOL. I'm a learn as you go gardener . . . but I love digging in the dirt and grocery shopping in my backyard :) Have fun with your plants and teaching Scarlett how to garden . . . three is a magical age :)

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  6. I don't stick around long enough in the spring to tend seeds started indoors. I have to take my luck with direct seeding in the ground. I'm glad to hear you are still gardening at your allotment. - Margy

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  7. Marty - I do that too, then wait to see what does best! Xxx

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