New Year on the Allotment

Since the New Year arrived we have visited the plot just a few times. Not much work has taken place – we’ve tidied up a few areas, done a spot of weeding and discussed some improvements we’d like to make during the year.

The mild weather late last year encouraged some very early growth to several of our crops. The onions that we planted in late November were already a couple of inches high by Christmas and have since continued to grow quickly. Our garlic is also well ahead of where it should be at this time of year. Some of our purple sprouting broccoli was ready for picking before the new year and tasted delicious – so glad that we planted plenty of that.

Now that the temperatures have taken a sharp down turn we expect the growth of our crops to slow slightly but at least they are now strong enough to survive the cold weather.

With the weather set to remain cold for the next week the enthusiasm for a trip to the plot is currently low. Fortunately there are no urgent tasks to be completed there so we’ll probably put our feet up for the time being and spend our time working out a planting plan for the year and checking that we have the necessary seeds.

Less Rain

We’re hoping for less rain in the coming weeks because the soil is already totally sodden. This makes any attempts at digging very frustrating and essentially pointless. However, the rain has filled our large water butt full to overflowing so we’re now set for the year and shouldn’t need to rely on any tap water.

Allotment Plans

It’s at this time of year when we really want to get going with our allotment plans but have to wait another couple of months for the weather to warm up sufficiently.