Remiss

Yes, I've slipped back into the old ways and failed to make proper records, at least for the past 3 weeks. So I suppose I'd better start with tonight's planting. With 5 weeks to go till the end of May, and supposedly 3 till the last frost date - at least for us, I've sown 4 rootrainers of Daniels Defiance - my heritage runner bean. I've also sown one of Bridgewater (climbing french bean), one of Brightstone (dwarf french bean), and one of Duke of Albany (heritage pea). I've also sown one tray of each of my open polinated sweetcorn, a red corn called "Strawberry", and a popping corn called "Blue Hopi".In addition last night I finally managed to get round to sowing the seeds I rescued from the supermarket pumpkin.
Now to attempt to catch up with what is where. I've got second batches of greyhound and all-year-round (cauliflower) on the legde in the greenhouse. I've also got what's left of the all-year-round (lettuce) after the mice got at them, in the same place, and a tray of Lanro (Kohl Rabi).
In the cold frame are trays of Brightstone, purple teepee, mangetout, and either purple podded or Duke of Albany peas. The trays of Hurst green shaft and ?????? I planted out on the plot the weekend before last. At the same time I put one row of rooster and one row of cara potatoes in. My memory is now confusing me because if I'm right the "Crimson" heritage broad beans were sown 3 weeks ago direct into the ground.
If I am right on these dates, then I also sowed carrots and parsnips in the garden. These are now about 3/4" tall seedlings, although if the weather forecast is anywhere close to right keeping these alive over the next week may be a challenge.
This also applies to my tub grown potatoes and the lilies, all of which are now outside and have been for most of the last 3 weeks.
Also outside are the remainder of the onion sets, sown in module trays about 10 days ago. These occupy the top shelf of my coverless mini-greenhouse frame. Beneath them are trays of brussels, one each of Early Half Tall and ????, one tray of greyhound, and one tray of calebrese. Hopefully after the weekend the Romanesco and All-year-round cauliflower I pricked out Monday night will have recovred enough to also go outside to harden off.
This just leaves the 3 short rows of Mayan Gold planted in the garden veg patch on Tuesday night.

Hard Graft

After a rest at Easter, down at the Wychurst Project, laying 4m³ of concrete to try and secure the site gates and then helping to put down the first 30m² of wooden floor - that's excavating the soil, putting down brick sleeper walls, then a timber deck, then the foor boards - I spent the weekend on the allotments digging (just for a change).
Friday and Sunday afternoon, after a visit to the Wokingham Beekeepers Assosication Apiary, saw me on the Bracknell plot. The first task on Friday was to clear enough space to transplant some of the self sown Salsify to the adjacent bed as it's in the way of this years potatoes. This meant diggin this section of the bed then leveling. It also enabled me to treat the remaining section of the bed with Armillatox so I can plant my remaining onions in about 3 weeks.
Sunday, saw me weeding last years french bean bed, the newly constructed one, to stop the weeds gaining to much of a hold, then transplanting some more of the salsify, before catching up with weeding the over-wintered onions. I estimate I've lost about 30% over the winter. It was then back to digging this years potatoe bed, before emptying the plasters trough, so I can use it as a composting space for couch grass and bind weed roots - it's my aim to be able to tackle the final strip down the edge of the plot where I've dumped all the couch and bind weed to date this year.
I've about 8 ft of the bed left to dig so with a fair wind this weekend I should get the Maris Piper and PFA planted.
Saturday (afternoon) saw me sweating heavily in the glorious sunshine on my Sunningdale plot. I managed to dig a strip about 4ft wide about 2/3 the way across to plot, so again with a fair wind I should be able to get a row of Cara or Estima and a row of Roosters in this weekend.
Saturday morning I'd actually spent emptying the green house so I could then spray the inside with a strong Armillatox solution. Hopefully this will kill off any malingering powdery mildew spores which did for all my cucumbers and melons last year. I also must make a greater effort and get and install a louvre window to imporve air circulation at the end of the greenhouse most badly affected.
On the record front I've now sown Black Russian, Green Nutmeg (heritage Melon), Marketmore, and Gardeners Delight in the propogator. The sowing of Tumbling Tom has been a disaster an I think I've 2 plants surviving - much like the previous sowings of Marketmore and assorted melons. All the previous sowings in the propogators, including the mint, have now been removed and the Super7 switched off.
Using this as a resevoir I've sown another batch of Greyhound and another batch of All-Year-Round (Cauliflower). This is not to be confused with the All-Year-Round (lettuce) also sown. In addition I've also sown Kohl Rabi (Lanro) and Sweet Basil.
What I now need to do is try and catch up with some of the pricking out, including getting the remaining onion sets into modules.
I should also not that I sowed French beans Brightstone and Purple teepee last Thursday, and have tonight moved both lots of peas (the first sown ones) to the cold frame.
All the lilies and tubs of potatoes are also now outside, and most of the potatoes have required earthing up. If nothing gets caught by a late frost I should have potatoes in about 6 weeks.