The allotment over the last couple of years has not been as well maintained as it should have been. However, I hope that period is over. April saw some nice weather for getting down to the plot. I have been away from home and this has been the first week I have been able to get gardening.
While away, I visited a mainly outdoor museum and saw lots of harlequin ladybirds. I hadn’t noticed any where I live, but spotted my first one last week. I umm, accidentally killed it as I was trying to take photographs of it with my phone and moved the stem it was on. Oops. It was the only harlequin I came across so far on my plot. There are however plenty of 7-spot ladybirds and on my last visit to the plot, a couple of pairs of ladybirds were making more!
Seeds have been sown both indoors and on the plot. Tomatoes, chillis, aubergines, peas, beetroot, leafy things, cabbagey things, leeks and so forth.
Some potatoes have also been planted, obtained from the Shropshire Potato Day held at Harper Adams University. We have been to this Potato Day for a few years now and we’ve come away with most of what we wanted (some varieties do go quickly).
I haven’t done a proper seed order for this growing season. I still have seeds from previous years and from the veg. gardening magazines. I did however receive my Heritage Seed Library order in good time. Hard to decide sometimes what varieties to get. I like to try new things and the sorts of things not generally sold in supermarkets – have you ever seen Pink Fir Apple potatoes (for eating, not growing) in the big supermarkets? I remember as a child being fascinated by Tigerella mentioned in The Vegetable Expert. After hounding my father, we finally got some seeds – they did well!
