More Planting

30 March 2016:

My husband is the main planter and looks after the allotment with a little interference from me. I have a tiny plot in the back garden where I’m in charge of growing lettuce, rocket, radish and usually a courgette. We also use the small plot early in the season for starting off plants which eventually will take up residence in the allotment.

My husband has neatly planted rows of spinach, chard, beetroot, radish and spring onions in this plot.  In the rest of the plot I have planted out my lettuce seedling in a haphazard way.  I like to do this as I feel I can fit in more plants – some of which will no doubt be eaten by slugs and some of which I will pull out early to allow the rest to fill out.

Whenever I plant out lettuce seedling, I also plant more seeds inside a plastic ring (for protection) in order that we will have a succession of lettuce throughout the year. I usually have a few different packets of seeds on the go – webs, mixed salad leaves, cut and come again, etc, and plant out a selection.  Sometimes one grows better than the others so it’s often a bit of pot luck what we end up with. That’s fine with me as they all make a good base for summer salads.

All the seeds and seedlings are covered with glass at the moment for protection as we are still having some frosty mornings. When my son had new windows in his house, we took all the old ones to use for these cloches.

My husband has planted out onion sets in trays – just to get them started before transferring them to the allotment. They are now in our little plastic greenhouse. Often if planted straight into the soil, the birds pull them out as they are not planted too deep. This method allows a little root system to develop which can then be pressed into the earth. We are growing just red onions this year – one called Red Baron which is meant to store well.