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At least it’s predictable. Arrive at the allotment in the sun. Do some work. In this case planting 2nd earlies potatoes , Edzell Blue, and a bit of raking the seed beds; then it rains. Hide in shed and tidy it, then wait. Too wet for further raking - so some weeding of the strawberry beds. Then it hails so I give up and go home!

At home can at least do some seeding; after all must have something to plant soon else all my early work will merely help the weeds.

And I can also edit the video blog . 4 months of vblogs, but not much to show you yet!

paulmclaughlins.com

7:00 Sunday. Bright sun, but cold. The allotment is mainly brown.
8:30 Sunday. it’s all white.
17:00 Sunday. It’s brown again.

Thus was my plot on April 9. Planning to put in second early spuds the area turned into a Winter Wonderland. Luckily the video blog will show all the beauty of fresh snow in spring. This time we didn’t have the nasty grey slush and ice that usually comes with snow in Surrey.

Having missed out on the last lot of snow we all had a great time with snowball fights, building snowmen etc.

A couple of days later at the allotment … the plants seemed to survive. Someone has put in some sturdy looking peas - they survived 15cm of snow.

Let’s hope we get the usual weather from now on.

If you want to know what the weather will be then read Diary of an Edwardian Lady. Written exactly 100 years ago she describes snow in early April. See what she says about the summer!

Until the next time

www.paulmclaughlins.com

Forced to stay off the soil this weekend - to wet and cold.

So, it’s seed trays to the fore and start sowing. OK, it’s still cold and wet but we are now in British Summer Time so it SHOULD be warmer!

And.. a fact I didn’t know.

Jamie Oliver says the leaves and stems of PEAS can be eaten. I’ve not heard of this before and will try it.

In fact it seems most vegetable leaves could be eaten. Except Rhubarb.
Does anyone have a list of vegetables which can be eaten completely?

OK, this is really for testing my blog feed… However!

Today, amongst the rain, hail and sleet I’ve had to remove my compost heap. A big brown rat has managed to get in and live in it. Despite Rat poison this pest continues to rumage around.

So today I removed eveything, remounted the bin on solid concrete, fixed down the sides with bricks and put back in all the rotting compost. It’s a beautiful sweet smell; not sickly; so it’s working! The friable soil at the bottom is great. I’ve been using it in seed trays but I’m not sure if it has all the nutrients needed.

So I’ll get some John Innes and start seeding in earnest this weekend. After all It’s April soon and stuff should start going in!

As they say in GQT… goodbye and good gardening.

Paul

This week it’s been difficult to do anything really useful on the allotment. If the snow didn’t settle, the biting northly wind preventing too much time outside then it’s so wet!

But I cut the grass around the plot!

And pruned the berries slightly to give the plants a jolt.

As the clocks change this weekend I expect the next 3 weeks will be a busy time planting and potting on. Wait for the video clip!

Paul

Since Christmas 2007 I’ve been taking regular short clips of progress on the allotment. 3 months on and it’s still mainly brown soil. I have done a lot of building and digging so I hope it’s all worth it.

The first part of the video diary will be posted everywhere soon. But HERE first.
Please look out for it!

Thanks

Welcome everyone. It does get better, honest.