What happened to springtime?

So just a few days ago it was brilliant sunshine, pushing 40C in the greenhouse and everything looked wonderful on the plot.

And now...

It's dreadfully dreary, damp and dismal, with a definite dreich drizzle.

But there have been some changes though. The spuds I planted have decided to emerge.

Also in the French Dwarf bed there is a single bean looking all forlorn in there.

(It also looks like the slugs have had a go at it as well).

The turnips are showing the lines well too.

But there are some flowers which are promising fruit later. Firstly there are the Blueberries...

And to keep The Wife happy, the strawberries are starting to flower.

Now if only we could get back to those sunny days, then it would be worthwhile spending a longer time down the plot. But we beat a hasty retreat to a nice hot cup of tea.

Allotment Week: Strawberries and Spuds

We've done the majority of major jobs this past week, so now we're left with a few smaller jobs just to tidy the week up.

Firstly The Wife is still amassing her Strawberry Empire. What started as 5 original plants (50p each or 5 for £2 from a car boot sale in Lincolnshire) now spans three beds, 39 individual pots, about a dozen of the 3-plant pink stacking things...

Meanwhile, I'm on leftover spud duty. We got some spare buckets at B&Q the other day. They'll do.

After that there were a few fixes to the rain water barrel, and covering up of the new courgette mound.

Plus a smattering of other odd jobs that needed doing.

Then of course there was some watering to be done. This dry weather has finally evaporated the paddy fields and kicked the turnips into growth.

And close on the heals on Yesterday's Apple Blossom, the Blueberries have started flowering.

Looks like this hot weather is coming to an end... as is Allotment Week. Picked a good week for it. More by luck than judgement.

Allotment Week: Potting on

So this week has been a bit warm. We've often reached over 40C in the greenhouse, which means that the seeds in there have really got off to a great start. Now a lot of them need potting on.

First off there are the old faithful Courgettes. We start them in the small pots (right). Those that actually sprout and make it to the cotyledon stage get potted on into bigger pots.

If you look closely above, you'll notice that some of them failed to germinate.

And then we have the sweetcorn. We're growing two varieties here labelled "sweetcorn" - and unknown organic, large cob variety, and "popcorn" - our existing variety that does superbly in the popcorn maker. Some of the sweetcorn have also failed to germinate, so planted another 9 to see if we can make up the numbers.

The Edamame (Soya Beans) are doing really well. The Toilet Roll trick seems to work well with them.

Then there are the Cape Gooseberries. These are the saved berries from last year. Also they are doing well and will need potting on soon. Probably at the weekend.

Outside, there are beginnings as well. The Apple tree has started to blossom.

And I've been delving into the murky depths of one of the compost bins.

I'm sieving out the compost. All the fine stuff is going into a clay and claggy bed whilst anything larger is getting thrown onto the new courgette mound.

Soon this will get covered with weed membrane and then we'll put a few holes in it and plant the courgettes through. Wonder what this year's tally will be. Probably less than last year as we won't have as many plants.

Allotment Week: The hottest day in April since 1949

Whew, what a scorcher.

Well I guessed it was going to be hot because I keep an eye on Weather Underground. A useful little website where you can even setup alerts for potential frost warnings. No need for those today, as apparently it's the hottest April day since 1949.

Just as well I pushed The Wife out of bed at 7am so we could get down to the plot before the big heat hit. First on the cards was the third and final trough.Then, as I turned round from making that, I saw the sorry state of the shed.

One quick coat of Ronseal later and it looks so much better.

I guess the grape vine won't notice any difference. It hasn't started shooting yet, which is no surprise. It always takes an age to get started. Mind you, last year it had already started budding by the 16th April. I guess the late winter has set everything back about 2-3 weeks.

Anyway, by the time noon rolled around, we were definitely wilting under the heat, and thought it best to head for cover.

Allotment Week: A quieter day

There's this thing called sunshine. And for some reason there appears to be a lot of it at the plot this week.

Which is no bad thing really. At least it's taking a while to dry up the paddy fields on the plot. Although now the water level has dropped sufficiently that the algae is growing all over the place and makes it smell like a swamp.

Anyway, I managed to get some legs made for the other set of shelves for the second greenhouse.

Just in time too, as the Pak Choi has been sprouting well in it's little seed tray and needs to find a new home.

So now it has pride of place as being the first produce on the new shelves.

It seems that there will be other ready for transplanting soon, as everything is trying to play catchup after the rains and late winter. Lots of things are sprouting in the greenhouse.

Tomorrow we're going to try and get there first thing in the morning to do the work. Then we can slack off back home come noon and the main heat of the day. We might pop back later in the day for a BBQ.