Bank Holiday

Steamy Windows

We thought it would be a good idea to visit the plot before the predicted rain beat us to it.

First thing to do was to give the coldframe a good airing – there was plenty of condensation on the glass and it was fairly steamed up. Humidity level: rainforest.

A few plants have now reached the end of their time luxuriating in the comforts of the coldframe and have been planted out. These include the radishes and wong bok – which is usually referred to as ‘wrong box’.

Coming along nicely in the coldframe are three varieties of tomatoes that we bought from B&Q a few weeks ago – a fiver for six plants comprising ‘cherry, standard and beefsteak tomatoes’. The product description was no more specific than that but the photos of them on the label looked nice enough. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?

Soft Fruit Sunday

As the soft fruit plants are now well-leafed we’ve started adding a sprinkling of potash around the base of them and gently mixing it in with the soil. It’s an easy enough job that will hopefully pay dividends in the form of a bountiful harvest.

However, it’s going to be hard to tell if this really makes much of a difference in the resulting crop as we have no control sample for comparison.

Progress

Our spuds haven’t yet broken the surface of the soil but there are plenty of other plants on the plot that seem to be thriving at the moment. Garlic and onions planted late last year are going from strength to strength.

We’ve cut the last of the purple sprouting broccoli and pulled up the bare plants. As a replacement for it on our dinner plates the yellow Swiss chard is almost ready for its first harvest of the year – we’re definitely looking forward to plenty of that delicious stuff.