Gardening gifts from a busy shed

John has bestowed some rather fine little gardening gifts from his busy shed. A huge steel Victorian spike which his father used for carrots. He too had heavy clay soil. And to make sure that he could get a good crop he used the following technique: he would push the spike into the soil where the carrots would grow, and wind it around to make a good sized hole. He would then mix equal quantities of coarse sand and compost and pour it into the hole. He would then drop a carrot seed on top. He guaranteed that the carrots that appeared would be of a meaty size. ‘A meal in themselves.’ I also have a wooden dibber and a nifty piece of wood that will tamp down seed trays. Off to the allotment today.

And back after just three hours work (predicated on the fact that I forgot to pack any lunch). But I have achieved what I set out to do this month – I have cleared the plot. And my god it looks like the Somme. All turned earth and very bleak indeed. Eleven metres are still under cover, but I have 13 metres to work with. And as is my hideously symmetrical wont, that means four six metre long beds, two metres wide. The plot narrows a bit more towards the shed end, and the paths in the middle are a tad wonky, but it looks darn neat. Poor David will be appalled. Naturally I want to do the paths at once before the weeds push through. That will mean more plastic and some sort of bark chipping. Is that madly suburban? The pictures of allotments in the papers on the weekends showed wild abandon (the story was about how allotments are being taken over by young women, much to the consternation of the older men. But that’s okay, because I’m not young). But our plot is just is too small and located in a very neat area of the site. So it’s straight lines all the way.

I did dig out more bindweed roots today. And hauled up on something massive that was about the length of my leg and about as thick as a broom handle. God only knows what it was. That’s the problem with being impatient to start. Perhaps it’s the most wonderful plant just waiting to burst forth. But alas, it’s smack bang in the middle of where I want to plant garlic, so out it goes. The rhubarb roots are a gorgeous crimson pink (or is that another exotic weed?) and very fat and juicy. I tried not to kill those. But the plant isn’t ideally placed.

Back home incident free in the car (that’s half the adventure as I am hopeless at driving a geared car) and now it’s on with the paper, ruler and notes to try and draw up a decent plan. It was such a gorgeous sunny day that I couldn’t resist having a little pot up. Using my whiz jiffys (peat pellets that come like little disks – you pour water on them and they fluff up and become the perfect potting containers) I potted up two tomato seeds (Gardener’s Delight), two celeriacs (monarch) and two Dwarf French beans (maxi). They are bound to come up way too early, get leggy and suffer. But the urge was too great to resist. We have had no rain here in London for three weeks, so I did water the plants up on the soon to be neglected roof terrace. The purple sprouting broccoli is still going strong. And I do have plans to do runner beans and broad beans again this year.

Vegetable: Tomato Gardener’s Delight
How many?: 2
How planted?: Jiffy 7s
Notes: In warm heated room

Vegetable: Dwarf French Bean Maxi
How many?: 2
How planted?: Jiffy 7s
Notes: In warm heated room

Vegetable: Celeriac Monarch
How many?: 2
How planted?: Jiffy 7s
Notes: In warm heated room