Plot Notes

A personal journal, open for the world to read, recording the progress of a novice allotmenteer on his allotment.



Weed it and reap.


Sunday 18 April 2010

Bud Burst!

Apologies for the lack of recent updates. I have had a very busy couple of weeks. I have changed my job and returned my laptop to my previous employer and I now find that I am well down the pecking order when it comes to the use of other computers at home. The last two weekends have been taken up largely with family celebrations and parties for my daughter's birthday and my parents-in-law's golden wedding anniversary.

I have however still managed to fit in a few hours work down on the plot and today I am having my own private celebration to mark Bud Burst. Eight out of my ten Rondo vines now have buds growing through the wax coatings. I have put pop-bottle cloches over the other two vines and hope to see buds on them soon.

The other significant news is that the contractor installed my three large raised beds last Thursday. This weekend I have transplanted onions, spring onions, calabrese, broccoli, and brussels sprouts from the coldframe and into the raised beds. I have also planted a couple of rows of onion sets, red and yellow, along with some solent wight garlic into one of the beds. I had bought two garlic bulbs but unfortunately found that one of them had started to rot when I came to plant it. The garlic and onion sets have been hanging around in my garage for a few months awaiting the arrival of the raised beds and ideally should have been planted a long while ago. I have also now planted rhubarb and asparagus into two of the smaller raised beds.

Finally, I am pleased to report that the greenhouse frame is still standing. I have aquired some eight foot lengths of treated timber (8inches by 2 inches) from which I will construct a base-frame for the greenhouse. I plan to incorporate a couple of raised beds into the base-frame inside the greenhouse. Once the greenhouse has been securely fixed to the base I can start to think about glazing it. At home I have tomatoes and chillies which are itching to be moved into a greenhouse. Small flowers are appearing on the chilli plants which I assume is a good sign but I could be wrong.

4 comments:

  1. It's all systems go now that your raised beds are installed. Glad to see the greenhouse looking like a greenhouse should again.

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  2. Happy Bud Burst! We have had some leaves start to appear on our one and only garden grape vine and I was so pleased it has survived the winter. Good luck with the aspargus - I am still researching this but have now allocated a space for it at least.

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  3. I assume anything that isn't death to be a good sign! Since my utter despair the other weekend, I have now adopted an attitude of "if they want to die, let them", and so far, very few things have died. That said, there were very few things left alive!

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  4. Good progress, flowers on the chillies is a good sign!

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