First rhubarb of the year

new herb bed and my bike

horsetails of doom

First planting of broad beans (Claudia Aqualdulce)

Quite chuffed about the beans, but I do need to get a slug trap set up. Last year I lost a lot to slugs, and the nibble marks on these tiny bean plants are goading me into action. It also means I need to get some more beer for the plot …

Two horsetails from Hell have appeared by my blue shed, and I spotted the first standard horsetail. Made up for this by pulling my first rhubarb. Still small and awfy green, but tasty.

Was called an holistic gardener by a neighbour … kinda nice but also a bit sarky. Anyway, I’ve taken down the crappy chicken wire fence and added some subtle boundary markers: a small raised bed (30cm x 40cm), some red and white bricks to emphasise the corner and a few pieces of wood that’ll be made into the edges of a longer raised bed. Planted two rows of coriander (variety for leaf) in the small raised bed, and in the nascent one some parsley close to the lavender, and transplanted several crocus (?) bulbs.

Have decided where I’ll put one of the French Bean tepees: where the larger raised bed is languishing. Just need to dig the area and make a bean trenche. The comfrey’s coming along well and a few nettles are poking their heads up, so I’ll dig a hole, put down some newspaper then some comfrey and nettles, and cover it up. Still need to think of where to put the second tepee, and am in two minds about putting it between the blackcurrants and comfrey, as it’ll cast some shade on the blackcurrants.

Turf houses

Must be something in the air … A low impact woodland home in Wales plus an article on building it, and this week’s Big Issue Scotland headlines a £4000 straw and turf house in Dumfries. Wayne Hemingway’s opinion piece is a little po-faced. He’s right that duplicating the £4000 house will not solve a housing crisis, however he fails to laud the recycling and community aspects of the build.

In allotment news: planted the remaining 21 beans. The first lot didn’t look like they’d germinated, and I wonder whether I planted them too deep. Rhubarb stalks starting to unfurl on all three crowns.

Dug up the comfrey that was growing near my blackcurrants; almost a bucketful of roots. I’ve come to recognise the brittle tearing sound of comfrey roots, and the ensuing search for slivers of root that have broken off in case they regenerate. Am waiting for the horsetails to spring up soon, and then I’ll know Spring is really here.

The chives have growing again in my garden — didn’t spot these down the allotment.

manure on rhubarb…

…not a recipe but an action! Two of the three crowns are showing a little life, so I put a good pile of manure around each one.

• Cleared up after the winds: the wheelbarrow was upturned and bits of corrugated metal had been blown around
• Blackcurrant leaves continuing to unfurl, and the layered branch is coming along OK.
• Redcurrant bushes aren’t, in fact, dead, but I’m not hopeful that they’ll produce anything worthwhile. If they don’t, they’re out
• Neighbour’s Winter heathers are look resplendent. Vibrant colours against the soil.
• Tidied up the path on the West side, created a long habitat pile and mulched around the strawberries using the dried grass.
• Cleared the larger of the raised beds (it’s still small, at 4 foot square). Will take cardboard down and start to fill the bed with that, manure and then soil from excavation around the plot.
• Broad beans not germinated yet. Decided not to plant the remainder of the beans because the ground was a bit wet.

Not bad for an hour and a half this morning

manure and rent

Monday … took possession of 10 bags of manure from Gorgie City Farm. Lovely rotted-down stuff and plenty of worms in there. It’s enough to fill my empty compost bin and should go across a few of the beds.

I had wanted to spread it on Tuesday, but the weather was crap: heavy rain and wind. It’s probably worse today. I need to dig it in pretty soon and get on with other stuff.

And last night I got home to find an invoice for the year’s rent of the plot. Very happy to see this after all the hassles last year. This year, I promise to spend more time down the plot … no, really!

Costs:
Manure: £30. 10 bags at £3/bag (min order for delivery; £2/bag if self-collected)
Rent for the plot: £48/year

Next up:

• break down very old compost bins
• prune off any broken and diseased bits off the blackcurrants
• weed under and around blackcurrants
• put manure under the blackcurrants

• weed around rhubarb
• add manure to the rhubarb

• decide which beds are going to have which plants in, and manure where neccesary.

Mostly weeding and mulching

Been to the allotment twice today. Got there at noon and has a mooch around, planted a second row of spinach, attended to the French beans, and got a barrowful of leafmould, but it was too hot and I had forgotten to bring any water. So at 1pm I headed home, had some lunch and headed out to Redhall walled garden, met A+J at the Water of Leith visitor centre and then pottered around the allotment again, mainly to plant a tiny lavender that I bought from Redhall.

Two trips to the allotment today …

… am enjoying the annual leave and the opportunity to get to the allotment as often as possible.

rhubarb gone wild

Took the daughter down the allotment in the buggy. Most of the time I carry her in a Mei Tei sling, although the folks from Redhall suggested I bring her down in a buggy so I can leave her safe while getting on with work. Not a bad idea, but the devil’s in the details…

In the last week Spring has sprung and the plants have grown like topsy so with her low to the ground and being pushed through the narrow allotment paths, the site has taken on a more sinister aspect. Nettles and sticky william grab at her legs, toxic rhubarb leaves poke through neighbours fences to within her reach: the allotment’s a death trap!

Hello world!

When I posted about rhubarb from my allotment on another blog I got loads of comments, so maybe a blog dedicated to the allotment is the thing …

After two years on the waiting list for Saughton Mains Allotments in Edinburgh, I heard in February that I’d been allocated plot 18. The key arrived on 1 March and I’ve been a few times since then. The allotment is second from the right, 4 from the top

Highlights so far

Friday 6 April: single-dug a bed in the allotment — damn hard work for a 4′ x 8′ bed. Met the neighbours and was given some garlic and 2 redcurrant bushes. They also pointed out what was left in the allotment from previous holders: comfrey, chives, blackcurrants.

Monday 23 April: pulled the first rhubarb. Didn’t have to do much work as it was already established in the plot. In March, as the crowns were just starting to waken, I weeded around the sets, watered liberally, and then mulched with some compost from Redhall Walled Garden. Cut back the stems with inflorescences today — perhaps a little late for this though.

My books say I shouldn’t pull any stalks after midsummer or mid-July, so I’ve got to have rhubarb every week. Am also experimenting with freezing it.