April 2011

Finally, it looks like spring has sprung. As I write this (lateish March), the sun is beating down, although the air is still quite chilly. An old hand on the allotment, Andrea (pictured on the blog last year with a huge pumpkin), reckons the trees are late coming into bud [however, I mentioned this to my father-in-law, who says that he read that both daffs and birds are doing their thing too early (nesting or flowering) - one of them is right, anyway].

It’s a very busy time on the allotment now – I’ve put in about five or six half-day sessions in the last month, trying to get everything in hand: the weeds cleared, grass under control, and of course seeds planted. In the 1950s, the former allotmenteers on our plot saw wisdom in importing an aggressive grass from the Netherlands, known as maran grass, which is used in land reclamation and is very good in holding soil together and soaking up excess water – a problem the allotment had in the ‘50s. Sixty years on, our problem is that the grass is extremely hard to get rid of, and spreads so quickly you can almost watch it grow.  As many self-help guides will tell us, we need to see this as a challenge, not a problem. (Excuse me a moment while I pop into the bathroom and do my morning self-affirmations in front of the mirror).

The best tool of all for clearing plots, getting rid of tough grass and even tree roots, or just giving a light turning over of the top few inches of soil, is the mattock. Along with a draw hoe, this is pretty much all one needs; and there’s also the advantage of feeling like an African farmer when digging (a mattock is the sort of tool one sees them using on documentaries). You can get just the steel head online and buy a handle at a decent DIY store – make sure the fit is very tight as the head mustn’t spin around (frustrating and inefficient) or fly off (deadly and extremely embarrassing). 

The beds are now clear, with parsnips having finally all been dug up, except a handful left in to continue growing all summer, flower, and then produce free seeds. Leeks have all been dug up too, as have beetroot and carrots (although for some reason I didn’t leave in any for free seed collecting in autumn). If you’re looking to save any seeds - which is incredibly easy as the plants know what to do themselves with no care at all - bear in mind that anything you collect seed from must not be F1 or hybrid (it’ll say it on the label), as offspring will not be true to the parent plant, which had been carefully pollinated by hand in a protected environment, as I learned at Gefiltefest.

Talking of Gefiltefest, I’ve been asked by Michael Leventhal, its overarching and chief macher, to give it a plug. It’s a unique festival, dedicated to all Jewish things food-related. Following a wonderful debut last year, it is moving to far larger premises; if you have Facebook, which I don’t, you can get the details from there.

Early spuds have gone in, into pre-dug trenches dug about 2-feet apart, the spuds spaced in the rows a foot apart, about 5 in. deep. Add compost/manure and blood, fish and bone (a disgusting notion, really), as they like nitrogen. Once they are growing well they must be watered in dry weather, as I’ve learned to my cost in previous years. 

I have lots and lots of seed potatoes for sale. I bought 50kg online, have loads left, and am selling them on for £1 a kilo – about half the shop price. Please email if you want some. 

Onion sets have gone in and will need little care except for occasional weeding, watering and feeding. You’re still in time to do this now. Don’t forget to leave more than a hoe’s space all round – imagining a full-sized onion - as weeding will be a pain otherwise. 

Leeks need to be sown now – thinly in rows, or if you have lots of time, indoors to be planted out once they’re up and running. I don’t sow indoors, as they’ll anyway need moving in June, which’d mean doubling the effort. 

April gives us the first genuine glance towards summer, in the form of cucurbit (cuke family) seeds. These will all be sown at the end of the month, indoors of course, and kept warm and safe until June, when they’ll go outside after all frosts have passed, having been gradually hardened off.

Here’s all the things that need doing this month…

All month, you can sow broad beans, beetroot, carrots, kohl rabi, lettuce, peas, radish, spinach and perpetual spinach.

Alexei