I started last month’s growing update with the old proverb ‘March winds and April showers bring forth the May flowers’. Well March was windy enough, but April brought us precious little rain. No April showers this year. We had so little rain that digging the fast-draining soil at the allotment has seemed like an impossible task.
The first couple of weeks of April were very warm and dry and we started hardening off our tomato plants. But then arctic winds came in, and with them frosts, so we took to bringing our tomato plants indoors of an evening to protect them. Still there was almost no rain, until finally the last week of the month brought us a welcome break in our watering duties.
It’s been a fairly quiet month for us. The first couple of weekends we were away visiting family and we are still playing catch up now. The amount of time we’ve had to spend watering hasn’t helped our cause. We’re very behind in the garden, but we’re making good progress at the allotment.
This month we got our first early potatoes in. More specifically my dad planted them for us. He was helping me at the allotment and while I was weeding and harvesting he offered to plant the potatoes. He wrapped a comfrey leaf around each of the potatoes before he buried them. This apparently prevents the potatoes from developing scab. The variety we planted was ‘Red Duke of York’. We’ve also got second earlies and maincrop to grow at the allotment, and I’ve still no idea how we’re going to fit them all in what with all the other roots we plan to grow there.
Planting our first early potatoes at the allotment. Note the comfrey leaf buried with it.
Sticking with the roots bed at the allotment, we’ve also sowed carrots and parsnips. From last year’s roots bed (this year’s legumes bed), we’ve now finished harvesting the last of the leeks and carrots. I know it’s unusual to leave carrots in the ground this long, but we’ve been harvesting them fairly regularly and they have been excellent. This final batch did have one that was quite woody, but that was the first that we’d had go like that.
When I came back from the allotment with the leeks and carrots, Liz told me to leave them in the bath tub for an hour or so until we were ready to use them. I think she underestimated quite how much I’d brought back – she was quite shocked to walk in and see the tub half full!
Our bath tub containing the last of the leeks and carrots harvested from the allotment.
But the unseasonably cold weather brought in with the arctic winds meant that we were happy to have a (rather carrot and leek heavy) stew for dinner the next day. Plus we made a big batch of leek and potato soup – a staple dish for us in recent weeks – a large proportion of which we froze for future use.
That’s about it for this month. We’ve been sowing and potting on climbing beans and curcubits ready for the warmer weather, so we’re a little ahead of schedule on that front. But there’s still so much to do in the garden that it’s starting to seem a bit daunting. Check back next month to see how we got on.
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