Parsnips in a tent

Yesterday we decided to plant out our first parsnips. The first 15 parsnips growing in their fibre pots had the bottoms cut off the pots so the all important tap root can get away. That root will, of course, be the parsnip we eat next winter. We made temporary cloches with strong wire hoops covered with fleece to protect them for now. This morning they look great.

We took the rest of the parsnips we have started to the allotment greenhouse, to make more room at home. The cabbages are looking great, so they should go out soon, but they need mesh over them to keep the pigeons off.

When I had finished putting up a tiny tent for the parsnips I noticed Jim had a frame that rivals Wembley stadium half complete. He bought it from the internet and I don't think he realised just how big it was about 7 metres long, about 5 metres wide and 2½ metres high. He wants to grow some tomatoes, but will still have enough space to hold a barn dance.

And a partridge on the shed roof

The asparagus crowns arrived today. What great timing. It snowed again overnight and is set to be frosty again tonight. The planting leaflet says plant without delay, so we set off to plant it.

The snow had all melted and the ground was wet but not too sticky. The patch set aside for the asparagus had loads of manure dug in few weeks ago. A pit was dug, about one metre by one and a half and about twenty centimetres deep. Then three ridges were built up along the bottom. The crowns were laid out four to each ridge, with the roots spread out on either side of it. Then they were carefully covered over. There is enough soil left to bank them up if needed.

I now have to wait a whole year before I can cut my first shoot, but if all goes well I could be cutting about 90 shoots each year for twenty years. I do hope so.

The sweet peas we planted have been eaten to the ground. We kept some back just in case, but I don't know what ate them so I don't know how to protect the next batch.

And the partridge ... it was sitting on the shed roof when we arrived. A lovely red-legged partridge. Hey, I hope he's not the sweet pea eater.

Trees 1, Parsnips 0

After a spell of windy, cool weather, today has been warm, calm and sunny. We set off to do a few jobs. The greenhouse is helping plants along, except our parsnips. We put some in the allotment greenhouse, partly to make room at home, and it's been a disappointment. They are wilting and not really growing well at all. I think the fibre pots are drying out too quickly, so that's not a great success yet. We will keep the ones at home where they are until they nearly ready to plant out.

I put some plastic netting up for sweat peas to grow up. I avoided the worst tangle but it was still a bit fiddly. We planted half of the sweat peas against the net - I hope they latch on to it soon. We only planted half in case we're too soon, we have some to fall back on. These are also outside our rabbit fence, so they could be vulnerable to munching.

I cleared some poles and planks from around the edge of the site so we could plant some tree seedlings. They grew in pots all last year so I decided to plant them out to see how they do. There are some hazel, oak, whitebeam and rowan trees. Eventually I want them in the hedge (maybe not the oak) but growing them for a year or two inside the fence will give them a better start.

The forecast is for more cold and windy weather in the next few days. I hope spring starts properly soon.

Easter snows

It's been a quiet week. The shelves and windowsills are full of seed trays with seedlings growing on. The greenhouse on our allotment has its shelves full of seed trays too. Even the cold frame at home has some beans in it. I've added another shelf into the greenhouse and there's room for two more. They can be removed later so we can grow some bigger plants that do better in the greenhouse all year. Jean got some free seeds with Gardeners' World, including some peppers, which we should grow well in that warm space.

Easter is early this year - almost as early as it could possibly be. Unlike previous recent years, this year we have had a taste of winter with some frosts and a few storms. This Easter the cold north winds have blown in snow squalls. So far the snow has not really settled but the ground is quite cold, so really we're waiting for things to settle down and warm up.

Parsnips

The first leaves of parsnips have appeared. These are thought difficult to grow, so we spread the seed on wet newspaper in a seed tray with a clear lid. Nearly half of the seeds rooted and have been transferred to fibre pots. Now the first couple of leaves have sprouted above the compost so it looks as though the method works. It is a bit fiddly and time-consuming, but home grown parsnips next winter will be well and truly worth it.

Now we will sow the next batch in just the same way.

Out they go

The first of our broad beans have been planted out. We have lots of spare seeds - more are already growing - so we decided o see how they do. Other plots have broad beans out on them, but they have mostly over-wintered.

We took some more leeks up to the greenhouse and also our first batch of savoy cabbage too. The greenhouse is working well, so I want to make the most of it.

Our major success is the first showing of parsnips. They are notoriously poor at germinating so we have put some on a wet newspaper to force them to germinate. so far about a third have sprouted roots. We potted them into fibre pots with sandy compost so I'll be very pleased when their leaves break through, but things look good so far.

Bin there, done that

The council have delivered a new bin to us. It is a large wheelie bin for our garden rubbish, the sort of stuff that can composted. This stuff all goes to our allotment compost heap so this large bin is not much use to us. But then again ...

We have a large pile of pernicious weed roots at the allotment, left over from clearing the site last year. They are rotting down, but we're worried about putting them on the compost heap in case they don't rot completely - the heap might not get hot enough to kill them. They are mostly bindweed and nettle roots so we don't want to spread them. So in an ingenious exchange deal we take our garden cuttings to the allotment compost heap and take the weed roots home to the new bin, so the council can take them away. The council will compost them in a big facility that will get hot enough to kill them. We have filled the bin but the first collection is about a month away so we have to wait get rid of more. We could probably fill the bin many times over, so it could take a while to get rid of the nasty stuff.

Seeds are growing fast, well not the parsnips yet. Plants in the greenhouse are growing nicely and don't seem to have suffered in the frost at all. We seem to be off to a good start.