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Time for Beans.
As we started to go through
April I began moving some of the tougher plants outside onto my yard to
harden them off and to make more space in my little Green House for
other things. Some plants such as the Chard had to go into my Cold Frame
and be kept under Fleece to keep them a bit warmer and to keep the
Pigeons off them as well. A few of the plants had to be taken back
inside on the odd frosty night and stood, in trays, in the gangway of my
green House, before putting them outside again after the Sun had started
to warm things up again the next morning. We only had the occasional
Frost in early April and a late one that took the Potato tops towards
the end of the Month. As always I had put them in too early, and
although, I had earthed them up in rows, the tops were shooting through
the soil ridges and were vulnerable to the Frost. Hopefully, the
Potatoes will shoot again, but it may make them a bit later than normal.
This April was one of the driest Aprils of recent years, although I must
say that the soil was still quite damp a few inches down all throughout
the month. Around the middle of April I planted out some Beetroot,
Turnips, Red Cabbage and Chard making sure to water the planting holes
before I put the Plugs in as well as giving them a good soaking
afterwards.
After making some space in my Green House I then sowed my Beans - that
is to say Runners, Dwarf French and Borlotti. Usually, I make a point of
buying fresh Seed every year when I place my Annual order with the
Allotments, but this year I was able to Sow all my own Beans that I had
saved and dried from last years Crop. After keeping them all Winter in
brown paper bags, inside a tin, in the bottom of my Fridge, germination
was quite good with only a few not taking. It may seem that I was Penny
Pinching by saving, my own Seed, but Packets of Bean Seeds are much more
expensive than ordinary vegetable seeds. Vegetable seeds may be less
than a pound a packet whereas Beans are generally 2 or 3 pounds a
packet. Another reason for saving my own was that it meant that I could
sow a lot for our Annual Fundraiser without any expense to myself. It
will be well after the start of May though, before I can plant them out,
although the Garden Centres have been selling them for weeks which isn’t
fair on people as they will then plant them out not realising that a
late Frost will take them. As we get further into May other tender
things like Sweet Corn, Squash, Pumpkins, Courgettes, Ridge Cucumbers,
Tomatoes and Cape Gooseberries, can also go out.
I did put up my Bean Canes a little while ago though when I was looking
for a nice lazy job to do. I used some Hazel Rods from my Brothers
Garden to mix in and make my 8 foot Bamboo canes go further. Of course,
as always, I used soft, natural, string to tie up the Canes so that when
the time comes to dismantle it all at the end of the season, I can just
pull everything off the Canes and tip it all into my Compost Bin with no
need to worry about having to sort out bits of Plastic String.
At about the same time that I sowed my Bean Seeds in my Green House, I
pricked out my Tomatoes, Aubergines and Sweet Peppers, most of which
will be for growing in my Green House, although some of the Cherrola and
Gardeners Delight Tomatoes will be able to go on my Allotment Plot.
With April being so dry I have had to do a lot of watering on all my
Pots and Trays of Plants that I have been growing on for the May
Fundraiser. Most of them have been coming on very well and I seem to
have got the timing correct for them so that they will all be at the
right stage of growth for them to sell. One thing that I did that has
made a bit more work for myself though, was mixing Allotment Soil with
the bought Potting Compost that I used to pot everything up in. I
thought that it was a good idea to help make the Compost go further and
still maintain some quality in the Pots for the Plants. From that point
of view it did work as they have grown well in the mix and watering has
been easy whereas normally watering pots full of Garden Soil is not easy
to do. However, I didn’t expect quite so many weed seeds to germinate in
the Pots, so it has been a bit of a job to keep the Pots tidy and keep
the Weeds at bay. On Balance though, it has saved me a lot of money for
just a bit more effort and some of the new style, bought Potting
compost, is of questionable quality anyway.
On my Plot the Broad Beans have been developing nicely even though it
has been so dry. Both the first batch that I planted at the end of last
Autumn, and the fresh sowing that I put in before Spring really started,
are doing well. By the end of April the first batch were bulking up well
and in flower with the others starting to develop. I like to treat Broad
Beans as an early crop so that I can replant the space with a later
planting of - either tender things like Squash and Courgettes, or else I
put in Leeks that have been held back in trays. However, some varieties
of Broad Beans can be sown much later in the Season and some varieties
can even be sown right through the Summer. If you do plant them later
though, you will be pestered by Black Fly that love their growing tips
making them very sticky to handle. Pinching out the tender tips when the
Plants have grown is one simply way of dealing with this rather than
resorting to Sprays, although Garlic and Soap Sprays are said to work
and be safe for the Environment.
It hasn’t been all growing in April as I have done some harvesting as
well. My Leeks went in very late last year, and I didn’t even think
about harvesting them until well into the New Year. In fact it wasn’t
really until the end of March and into April before I started digging
them up. Surprisingly, they weren’t really going to seed even by the end
of April when I dug up the last of them. Normally, by this time they
would be going skywards and have woody centres, but they were all fine
and most had taken advantage of the late harvest by thickening up quite
nicely.
My Sea Kale harvest was quite good as well with a good pulling of their
Celery like Stalks that actually cook like Asparagus. They did start
going to flower quite quickly though, as I harvested them, so I removed
the upturned Buckets covering them letting the Flower Stalks start to
develop before cutting them all down. This encourages their thick and
fleshy Leaves to develop for the rest of the Season. These leaves will
then feed the roots and Crown ready for next years harvest early next
Spring.
As usual several Plot Holders kept inspecting their Asparagus Beds to
see whose was going to be first to start into growth. This year I think
it could be called a mass dead heat because everybody’s seemed to start
shooting at the same time with a few fat, green, shoots breaking the
soil on each Plot. However, I certainly didn’t have enough growth to
make my first harvest on the traditional start of the Asparagus Season
which is St Georges Day, or April 23rd.
My Globe Artichokes were hit hard by the weather at various times
throughout the Winter with fresh growth appearing and then being cut
back by a sharp Frost only to reappear again a week, or two later. This
happened several times, but by the end of April they seemed to have
settled down and I hope to get a good harvest at their proper time that
more or less follows the Asparagus harvest, although some years the
timing does get mixed up.
Then as we go through the end of May the main activity will be to keep
on top of the Weeds!
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