Potatoes Planted!

The potatoes are in the ground and raring to go (hopefully). We are currently running about 3 weeks behind previous years at the allotment, and I guess everyone else is in the same boat. The weather in the last week has been not too bad. It has been sufficiently warm enough to warm the soil enough to enable the weeds to make an appearance anyway! What is depressing is that the weather forecast says that we are still only going to be reaching a high of 10C or so for the next 2 weeks. Furthermore, it looks like we are set to see a couple of frosts next weekend :(

In an attempt to catch-up with things a little I did a lot of seed sowing this week. The leeks that I sowed back in February are doing well and need moving. My single dahlia seed is also slowly growing.

The broad beans I planted ages ago are doing well and are in the coldframe. They will hopefully be making their way into the ground this week. I have never grown them before so I am looking forward to seeing how they get on.

Back From the Freezing Cold South

Although it has been very cold and windy here in the South Lakes, it has been sunny. I drove down to Kent just after Easter and was surprised to find that it was very very cold and it was still snowing! Despite the prolonged cold weather (it has also rained a lot there) some trees were in blossom, and I spotted some pussy willow and catkins. A trip to London showed that Spring appeared to have arrived in St James' Park (below). However, the orchards around my in-laws house were still showing no signs of life.

Anyway, I'm back home now and raring to go at the allotment. I drove home yesterday, hoping that I might be able to plant my potatoes at last. Unfortunately the weather still isn't cooperating with me - it decided to rain (the first rain we have had since the 18th March). 

I did manage a quick trip up to the allotment (in the rain) to see what, if anything, was going on. The rhubarb had managed to grow a little in the last 2 weeks, but not a lot. This time last year I was in the midst of making rhubarb crumble, rhubarb chutney, and rhubarb vodka. This year I haven't even been able to harvest a single stick of rhubarb yet :(

The leaves on our gooseberry bushes have finally begun to emerge from their buds. The raspberries, currants, and blueberries are also making a valiant effort to ignore the cold. The primrose has finally come to life and is covered in flowers, however I couldn't help but notice that something has been eating it!

The children are back at school tomorrow and I only have a little bit of work to do so, if the weather is nice to me I will hopefully make it up to the allotment and get some seeds sown (I have a lot of catching up to do). I am also hoping to plant my first early potatoes on Tuesday evening. Fingers crossed!