Allotment Blog: Bind weed, Pickled onions, and Cider?
Allotment Blog 3rd Year.
The frosts of January, and the showers of February have ceased. We are at that time of year where the weather is mostly unpredictable. But the allotment yearns for its crops, and I yearn for fresh air!
Our second year was not nearly as successful as our first, with the weather being so up and down, too much dryness and moisture caused many of our crops to wilt, rot, or just not grow at all. This was out of our hands unfortunately. Nevertheless, we had successes and some rather tasty veg that lasted us through to January. I even had a crack at making some pickled onions, they were delicious, even my partner’s family enjoyed them.
As we started the new year, the ground was mulched, and dug over. I decided to lay new dividing lines on our plot, using some reclaimed bricks from our old garden walls. I wanted our Asparagus to be separated from the plot itself, and this seemed to work nicely. Our greenhouse was clean and ready for our new crops too. I will one day brave the tin shed and give that a good sort out. Yet my fear of spiders does not help me at all in this situation.
Unfortunately, bind weed is a major problem on our plot. There is no true way we can deal with it fully in any capacity. It mostly affected our strawberry plants; this year they were due to be dug up and replaced coincidentally. When I uncovered the protective layer that my nanny had installed, I was taken aback by the amount of bind weed that laid beneath. I can only describe my reaction as that to someone who had discovered their bed was made with mostly sweet wrappers.
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The attack was full on, but most was cleared. New strawberry plants have since populated the land that was once overrun by the fiendish bind, and long may it stay that way.
The greenhouse now houses our fresh seeds of broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, cucumber, lettuce and the rest! I am so excited to show you all once they have broken their soilly confinement.
Our potatoes are in, and our alliums have taken their place on our plot. I am attempting to grow garlic this year, and usually my success with garlic is dismal. I can only hope at this time I haven’t left them too late.
So, what are our plans for the rest of the year? Pretty much grow, and eat. I am hoping to tidy up and organise our equipment a lot more, as that hasn’t been sorted for at least 4 years, and we are accumulating too much at present. I would also like to try making our own apple cider using the apples from, you guessed it, our apple tree. Stay tuned for that mess!
So that wraps up our allotment round-up for this quarter of the year. I am looking forward to our next allotment round up come June, where I hope it is a lot longer. So, until next time, please enjoy these lovely Tulips that were planted by nanny. May your growing be fruitful!
Max
