It's stopped raining...for now

It's been a while since I've written anything, not because I haven't been to the lottie but mainly because I haven't remembered to take my camera.

April, needless to say, has been the wettest so far and the persistent nature of the rain meant that allotment trips were mainly confined to watering the seedlings in the greenhouse and checking that everything was alright, no vandals etc. I awoke on 2nd May with the sun shining, no rain and it was my day off. With the greenhouse rapidly becoming a jungle I decided that this was the day for planting out. I started at 10.30am and didn't finish till 4.30pm. Phew!

 I know you're supposed to harden off seedlings before planting outside but they'll be producing crops if I delayed planting any longer. So the day started with about 60 pots of assorted seedlings and ended with 2 more rows of peas and mangetout and 7 rows of a variety of different brassicas.

Swede- Best of All

Pea - Kelvdon Wonder & Mangetout Oregon Sugar Pod

                                                          

Cauliflower - All the Year Round

Sprouts and PSB

Peas & Mangetout

Red Cabbage

The ground was very boggy especially where I had dug it earlier in the year and hadn't compacted it and I lost my boot a couple of times and ended up with soggy socks as the boot was left behind such was the suction of the quagmire and the hole left by my boot soon filled with water. The plot has alot of clay under the top soil - there used to be clay pits in this part of town during the 19th century and before - so the ground is very wet indeed. Maybe I should be growing rice.