Last Monday was a cold and rainy day with the odd hailstone shower thrown in. I was at the plot, working on a few odd jobs, my headphones on under the hood, with Conor Oberst and Joan As A Policewoman helping me along. I was hoping to record the RCT (Rainwater Collection Thingy) in action at the end of my shift, but wouldn’t you know it, the rain decided to stop at the same time as I did. So instead, I ended up shooting this walk around the plot on my iPhone. Mostly, everything is growing well. A few downers… my potatoes have a bit of frost damage which I hope will go away soon! My Sweet Peas look very sad and, most disappointingly, my rhubarb is sickly with yellowing leaves and weak stalks. I think it needs time to settle in to it’s new bed – no bumper crop this year I’m afraid!
vegetables
The three amigos.
The three amigos: Fabes, Bunyard Exhibition and Crimson Flowered.
My runner beans went in the ground at the weekend, a weekend that started on Friday with me rescuing an abandoned, blue, plastic barrel from a field, then later staying with friends in Gorey where I received a gift of some precious, Asturian faba beans… thanks Mayte! And next morning, on the way home, buying another rhubarb plant at a farmer’s market, and five, not-so-small bales of barley straw at a disused brick factory.
On Saturday afternoon I dropped the straw off at the plot, covered it from the elements, and did a little bit of digging. Then on Sunday I planted two varieties of runner bean plus the fabes from Asturias (according to google, the faba bean is a member of the broad bean family, so that make it three kinds of broad bean then!). I planted two rows in a prepared bed, one row consisting of eight seeds of ‘Bunyards Exhibition’ and the second row – eight seeds of ‘Crimson Flowered’. The fabes went into two potato bags – four seeds per bag. I also sowed a few extra seeds per variety to use as transplants if required. Job done… now I’m looking forward to making Fabada in the summer!
The new rhubarb plant took its place in the rhubarb bed, and finally, I made space on the plot for my rescued water barrel.
On the way out I spotted the elusive Mr. Pheasant parading around the perimeter. I tried to sneak up on him for a closer shot but he was having none of it… one of these days!
Fabes in a bag… Fabada in the summer?
Filling a gap… the new rhubarb plant, ‘Timberley Early‘.
Come closer Mr. Pheasant.
Time to go home!
It’s a bit sketchy.
The plot thickens.
Just looked through my seed packets and decided roughly what’s going where at the allotment. I hope to have some potatoe bags dotted around the plot as well. Thinking of giving sweet potatoes a bash this year too. Vegetables I am trying for the first time are broad beans, butternut squash and spinach. Because of past failures, leeks and celery are only maybes for this year. I may grow lettuce, salad leaves, spring onions and herbs in the garden at home. Oh yeah, and I might try growing mushrooms in coffee grounds… It’s all a bit sketchy!
100 Square Metres 