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!