June Week 1: crops and planting out

Finally there are some crops. Spinach, lettuces, radishes and early strawberries are in abundance.  Probably a good thing as apparently food prices are still on the up.

I've begun to plant out courgettes and pumpkins. Surely there won't be a frost now! I've followed Monty Don's advice and planted some of them in the middle ot the bean wig wams. Apparently this will make watering easier as they're all thirsty.

Mr Middleton wants me to watch out for onions seeding. I can't see any evidence of this, probably due to the earlier lack or rain. At least they're starting to bulk up with last week's downpours. Luckily Mr Middleton says not to plant too many leeks now as they're better a bit later in the year. That's an advantage as mine are currently too spindly and half the onion bed is under plastic to suppress the weeds. It's the last bit!

I'm almost on track with the celeriac if I can just make the time to plant it out. (He says end of May, but, this is the north so I think first week of June will be fine). My celery is fine to plant out in June, but, apparently I should have made trenches in the winter, oh. I'm meant to dig an 18 inch deep trench and leave it for weeks. I'm planning on digging a spit deep trench and leaving it for a fortnight, then I fill to two inches from the top with manure. My previous celery has only been stock-worthy so here's hoping this might be an interesting experiment that makes some fit for the plate.

Mr Middleton says: 'Keep records of successes and failures and avoid the same old mistakes year after year' So at least he's encouraging me to attempt to improve on previous performances. We'll see.

May Week 2: How's it going with the plan?

The peas have defied this week's frost

Mr Middleton wants me to begin thinning parsnips. This is a bit difficult as so far a whole row of sowing has only delivered two seedlings. Beetroot is similarly thin on the ground my allotment neighbour suggested I soak the seed first as the weather's been so dry. Fingers crossed.

Mr Middleton asks this week 'how's it going with the plan?' He gives a stern reminder not to be tempted to deviate from the plan (my usual operational style) as I'll end up not being able to fit in the crops I've got growing. He'd be quite ashamed of me letting the potatoes squat in the legume bed I'm sure.

Phacelia that will seed if I miss it...

I've just chopped down the green manure to dig it in for the runners and sweetcorn later this month. I've tried a few different mixes and favour any with phacelia as it looks so attractive - superficial, I know. Middleton was a great advocate of green manure, as farmyard waste was in short supply during wartime. He's also told me to watch out for 'the enemies of onions'. I'm not sure quite what I'm looking for and fear my poor commitment to watering may be the enemy at the moment!

April Week 5: Last day of April

Middleton was recommending
French Breakfast radishes in the 40s

It's always around now that I start to realise I've not sown enough plants to fill the allotment. I'm resisting planting out courgettes and pumpkins as there's bound to be a nasty frost on the way that would finish them off. So, I'm looking to Mr Middleton to see what I can still bring on to benefit me later in the year.

If only I'd taken Mr Middleton's advice to "thin out surplus seedlings early before the roots get tangled, or you may injure those left behind" before I let the purple sprouting broccoli get out of hand.

We're having weather of drought proportions at the moment with 2mm of rainfall in March and no wet days in April. Although it's not too onerous to keep the carrot seedlings damp once the potatoes and beans are on the rampage watering could become a full time job.

The gooseberry's healthy, leafy side

I usually avoid spraying unlike Mr Middleton who sprays and paints with an array of strange chemicals that certainly aren't commonly used any more. Back in the day Mr Middleton used naphthalene for soil fumigation, mercuric bichloride to deal with clubroot disease and painted his fruit trees' pruning wounds with white lead paint (surely banned now!) or Stockholm tar.

This week though the sawflies are attacking the gooseberries with some branches completely stripped of leaves so I've gone the insecticide route to keep them at bay.

On a sowing marathon I've managed to sow Romaine lettuce, beetroot, parsnips, turnips (swedish & golden globe), beans (borlotti and runner) and mushy peas this week. But, the best thing has to be sieving my own compost through a garden riddle to sow carrots in buckets. If like me you've always had a massive soft spot for Good Life style self sufficiency this is the nearest I've ever got to feeling it. I'd only ever used my compost for mulch and filling the bottom of trenches to plant beans. But that's changed for the minimal outlay of two pounds fifty. If you've got compost you've got to give it a go!

April Week 2: Mr Middleton knows his onions

I've been following Mr Middleton's advice on how to plant onions this week. He's very sceptical about ending up with produce with a thick neck. Let's face it a thick neck isn't a compliment in any context!

Mr Middleton says: "Great care is necessary with this work. It is important that the plants are not put in too deeply or they will grow thick-necked, too shallow they will be twisted and turned by the wind and fail to get hold".

As my soil still isn't great I give mine a head start in compost trays so that they've got a little root before I plant them out. Hopefully this stabilises them a bit too.

Finally the annual tussle to clear enough ground to get potatoes in is finally over. As ever I've had a good go at planting them in ground that's never been used before. It's always been part of the clearing momentum. I did have to work out some places that were least offensive to crop rotation to get them all in though. It's been so dry for this time of year. The clay soil is starting to get that baked quality...

Following Mr Middleton's instructions is definitely working. I've got more planted out than ever at this time of year. Peas, broad beans, cauliflowers, broccoli and salad crops are all on the go. However he's sent a warning this week "Never allow a weed to flower in the garden". I better get on with those dandelions.

The images on this blog continue to be very brown. Things are growing though and nothing more enthusiastically than the strawberry plants. As ever I've given plenty away,  managed to kill a few by transplanting them and forgetting to water them, but still they keep coming. As well as the four raised beds of their official residence they're also squatting on the brassica bed. Some of them have taken a stride out where I'm hoping to plant turnips too. These will need to move as Mr Middleton says I've got to get sowing these next weeks.

March Week 4: It's all about the potatoes...

As usual at this time of year I'm attempting to dig enough weedy space to plant potatoes. I don't know any other crop on the allotment that makes fellow holders offer as much advice. Techniques for selecting, digging and fertilizing are always offered, whether asked for or not.

Mr Middleton has advice I've never come across before. In the past I've often grown small potatoes that hardly seem worth peeling. I've longed for the large, baking kind that would see me right over the winter.

Apparently this is because I've been planting them with too many sprouts emerging. Mr Middleton says "sprouts reduced to two, unless you prefer a larger number of small potatoes". So I've had the knife to them and will report back on how this works out.

With his usual concessions to the north of England Mr Middleton is happy for potatoes to be planted from March Week 4. He also notes "some gardeners who have heavy land prefer to leave the digging of the potato patch until now and plant as they dig. There is something to be said for it, but under special circumstances". As anyone who's taken over an overgrown plot will know I'm claiming special circumstances on this one. As I'm in my fourth year I'm not sure how much longer I can though?

Just to join in with the potato advice I'd suggest Red Duke of York as a good all-rounder that does its best if you've got clay soil and plenty of slugs.

To contradict myself it's not just about potatoes at this time though. There's plenty of planting and sowing going on. Broadbeans are out started in newspaper pots and  peas have joined them. Parsnips are sown (fingers crossed) these were a no show last year.

The ritual of passing on strawberry plants continues. These thugs have currently taken over the whole area planned for cauliflowers.

Although I'm happy with my 2 inch cucumber plant Mr Middleton has expectations of comical proportions. He says "cucumbers will probably be 18 inches or so long and ready for a small stake".

Now that the days are longer and the sun is shining at least some of the time there's not a day goes by without sowing or planting something. Even if it's only five minutes filling a bucket with compost and sowing some carrot seeds. The gardening year's really begun and lets hope we all have a good year.

March Week 1: Coldframe convert

Getting an early start with sowing has had mixed results. It's hard to be excited about the wispy winter lettuce seedlings. One great success though is the sprouting peas out in the coldframe. Temperatures have lowered recently but this isn't stopping new shoots emerging.

Mr Middleton said I could even sow my first set of northern broad beans and these are just starting to stir.

I think he might be mellowing a little this week.

Mr Middleton says: "Potatoes are exotics. Do not plant them until the sun has made its influence felt in the soil". 

The sun has not made it's presence felt up here at all so it looks like they'll have to stay settled in egg boxes. He has given me a diagram of well-sprouted and badly-sprouted potatoes to ponder. I didn't know I could be judged on this! There's also some thrifty tips on cutting and multiplying before planting. But, that's for another day.

Although not popular with all gardeners this is a great time of year to burn weeds and woody waste that won't go in the compost.

Can't find Middleton's view but can't see him as an objector. Second choice on advice would be Monty Don, soon to return to BBC's Gardener's World. He is always prepared to justify a garden fire.

As all my allotment neighbours are fellow fire-starters a crackling fire as dusk sets in is a great way to enjoy this time of year.

February week 2: north/south sophistication

Even Mr Middleton admits February isn't the best month for gardeners. Not to be put off he issues clear instructions on 'How to use bad weather'.

Mr Middleton says: February is noted for its wetness. If it lives up to its reputation (it is!), work in the garden is at a standstill. Much can be done...

I'm convinced the February instructions included tidying the shed. Re-reading the first couple of weeks I can't find this anywhere. Must just be guilt. Probably Mr Middleton didn't let his shed get into the state mine does. Often a quick allotment dash to grab some food or take compost ends up with a downpour and various things being slung in the shed to sort another time.

So I have spent the time on general tidying.

One thing I really admire Mr Middleton for is his insistence on regionalism. His instructions don't only mention the north/south English divide but he even mentions the often ignored midlands. At a time when resources were really limited sowing too early in the north would have mattered.

It's often the problem with 'what to do this week' gardening features on TV or radio that don't mention this difference. In Dig On it's acknowledged that first sowings in the north are likely to be a few weeks behind the south.

This makes sense as whilst I'm grateful it's warmed up to six degrees here today parts of the south are already basking in twelve. I've found sowing at the later end of the seed packet date stops me scowling at the lack of germination.

Because of this Mr Middleton's also got me using the coldframe properly. The most action it saw last year was storing a few plant pots and growing some weeds.

All this rain has given me a chance to go searching for Dig for Victory footage. Now watch this and tell me digging techniques can't be inspirational!