Normal weather resumes!

Well the snow has gone, didn't last much longer than a day but it was a surprise and caused much disruption on the Yorkshire roads.
This is a picture taken as the snow was going, when the sun came out.

 You can see that the rhododendron at the bottom of my garden is in full bloom now, well not quite, weirdly there is a stripe across the middle which is not flowering yet, not sure what is going on there.

So the long Easter weekend has bought grey skies and cool winds but at least it has been mostly dry here in Huddersfield apart from some drizzle in the air. Have been doing some useful jobs at the allotment, I've put a structure up for my first sowing of peas. I sowed pea 'Meteor' and 'Purple podded' on the 7th March and placed them in the mini-greenhouse. They all germinated and I've been hardening them off this week. Normally I grow my peas up a structure made from bamboo canes and pea netting but it always drives me mad putting that up, getting tangled up and last year it didn't feel very sturdy and collapsed a bit. So this year I have made a more substantial structure, still from bamboo canes but strung together with twine and taller than normal. Took a while to do but much less fiddly and I think it looks better than the bright green plastic pea netting.

I know some people say that peas are so cheap and easy to buy frozen, but for me, they are one crop I always make room for as I love the taste of peas straight from the pod. Its always exciting when the first plants of the new season go in. 

My broad beans that I sowed in autumn are flowering now so it shouldn't be long before some beans appear.

I also planted my potatoes. They were all ready and chitted.

The varieties I've gone for this year are Pentland Javelin (first early) and Cara (maincrop). In the post that I wrote when I received the seed potatoes in the post I discussed the varieties that I had grown last year, one of which was Vales Emerald. I hadn't enjoyed the taste or texture of this variety and they had broken up on cooking. This was mentioned on Gardeners World on Friday when Monty Don was planting his potatoes. He noticed that some of the varieties that he had grown had done the same and that though he'd blamed the variety at first and was going to do a potato trial this year. It turns out lots of people had this problem and that the weather conditions in late spring into summer last year were to blame. We had a very cold May and June and it was proposed that this had an effect on the structure of the potato. So maybe I was a bit hasty at giving up on Vales Emerald as it was a very healthy and clean crop. Maybe I'll try it again next year.
I've planted my spuds at the bottom of my plot in ground that I didn't use last year but I have given it a good dig over and added plenty of compost. We'll have to see how they do. You can see its still a bit weedy on one side! But I'm planning on putting some proper paths in, in the next week or two, all being well so will sort that weed out.

So a useful day at the plot today.
By the way talking about Gardeners World, is it just me or is anyone else loving the many appearances of Nigel the dog! He's the real star of the show....

Catching up!

Time is flying I can't believe we are nearly into June. After a lovely April, May has not been quite so nice but at least we had some rain but the problem has been the wind which has been very strong at times. I've been a bit lax at keeping up with my blog recently but lots of things have been happening so I'm trying to catch up. So I'll try and post a few blogs over the next few days, one to catch up with what has been going on at the allotment and also my garden. Then I've also been to visit a few gardens so I'd like to talk about them and show some pictures. This week I've been down to the Chelsea Flower Show, the last time we went was in 2006 so I was really looking forward to it. As always I love the fact that we get at least an hours coverage on TV every night. Alan Titchmarsh back on TV doing what he does best talking about gardening.
Anyway I'll talk about that in a later blog, but first things first. My allotment. There has been a few disasters but some things are doing OK.
We had a frost at the beginning of May which damaged the tops of the potatoes.

There has also been a problem with flea beetle on the radishes that I sown.

On a stormy night in May I planted two rows of Calabrese.

I didn't manage to get up to the allotment again for a week and this is what I found when I next got there!

Bl.oody slugs! Luckily I didn't plant all the seedlings and have some back at home which I'm now going to grow into bigger plants which will hopefully survive some slug attack. This has been the first sign of slugs since I  got the plot but I guess that is due to the dry April. Will be much more vigilant now.
I had a long day on the plot on the 25th, there has been an explosion of weed seedlings, they seem to be some form of annual Euphorbia. They have ruined my sowing of carrots and parsnips, but the radishes have survived, despite the weeds and also the flea beetle.

 My strawberry beds are starting to fruit.

The runner beans have germinated and are coming through well.

The potatoes have recovered and growing well now.

The Broad beans are starting to develop pods.

The shallots are doing OK but the onions not so good, only just really starting to grow now and not the best growth.

I had a thorough weed and then carried on digging over one of the new beds.

 I need to get the strimmer up there soon though as I'm getting a great crop of buttercups!

So thats where I'm up to with the allotment. I've also planted some more peas tonight and some flowers, some Ammi majus, Cerinthe major, sunflowers, Campanula persicifolia and Alchemilla mollis, plus the sweet peas.

Warmest April on record!

Its official, last month was the UK's warmest April on record, according to the Met Office. Records show that much of the UK experienced temperatures 3 to 5C warmer than is normal for April. It was also the 11th driest month, with on average half the usual rainfall.
This has its advantages in that there hasn't so far been a problem with slugs and snails but its disadvantages in that having to do a lot of extra watering which is taking up my digging time, plus the ground is rock hard now! The person who had the allotment before me left a good hosepipe at the allotment but I've not been able to use it due to not having the correct connector for the tap.The tap has a thread at the end and the two connectors I've bought have both been too big. I chatted to the chap who has the allotment next to mine and he has one but he wasn't sure where he got it from. But today I have been at the plot and the chap on the other plot lent me his (he had a whole box full of adaptors that he bought which didn't fit!) and I managed to water at last, it was much quicker with the hose. Though I was a bit cautious and didn't water my spuds as there may be a touch of frost tonight. I just covered the newly emerging leaves with some more soil to protect them. I love how everyone is so friendly and helpful though.
So my spuds are starting to emerge.

I've got lots of flowers on my strawberry plants.

Also there are now flowers on by broad beans, which have been a bit nibbled by pea and bean weevil but I think they are growing well enough now to cope with that. The peas are starting to grow up their supports.

Plus have got some radishes coming up now which I sowed in rows.

Today I also sowed some Spring onions 'White Lisbon' and 'Deep Purple'.
It has been really windy the last few days and this has kept it cool, it looks like there is rain forecast maybe for the end of the week but we'll see.

Little Robin!

Its been a really windy day today with a few showers. Spent the morning sowing seeds and then when the weather brightened in the afternoon I went up to the allotment. The small path that I put down the other day had taken off! Blowing in the wind.

I'll have to put it down again when the wind has calmed down.
 Planted my first early potatoes 'Vales Emerald' at the allotment today and have dug a trench for the rest of my spuds.

While I was digging I met a new friend at the allotment, I think he was assuming that where there is digging there will be worms!

I also planted some Broad bean seedlings which I started off in the greenhouse. There are lots of pigeons and magpies hanging around the plots so hope they will survive!