April 10th, 2016

It's unusual for me to visit the plot on a Saturday but I had missed various routine visits recently and I wanted to catch up.
I ran my cultivator over the rough dug ground in the potato patch and was able to plant a row of Sarpo Mira and a second row of King Edwards. By alternating the blight resistant Sarpo Mira with the susceptible King Edwards I hope to limit any attack. - We'll see if it works! (Again I used my bulb planter in newly dug ground as a time saver. I hope that works!)
I then went up to the top of my plot to sow my root crops. I was surprised to find all my seeds were old. The parsnip (Tender and True AGM) was in a new packet but dated for last year. Cheap seed from InExcess is normally OK but parsnip seed should be absolutely fresh for good results. I am sure I ordered new parsnip seed but seem to have mislaid it! To make matters worse, having sown a clump of seeds at 6 inch stations I thought I had no radish seeds to sow as an indicator of where I had sown the slow germinating parsnips. (I found the packet after I had covered them over!)
I then sowed a row of carrots; half a row of Amsterdam Forcing and half a row of Early Short Horn. Expecting poor germination from the old seed I sowed very thickly, hoping I will get enough plants and not have to do too much thinning.
The next row I sowed was half beetroot (Detroit 2) and half turnips (Purple Top Milan), again sowed thickly hoping for a reasonable germination. Both rows were sown in a shallow trench so watering will be easier later on.
While up at the top end of my plot I lifted the cover on my rhubarb to discover another good crop of pink shoots. I shall really enjoy the sweet taste in the next few days but I need to start picking normal rhubarb from the other plant and give this one a rest.
Before going home I lifted the rest of my leeks, about 20, and heeled them in between rows of potatoes where they will survive, I am told, for a few weeks. That cleared the way for me to prepare to dig over the ground for the last row of potatoes (Cara). I managed to dig the trench ready to use my Backsaver spade again before finally calling it a day and going home well pleased with what I had done - apart from having to use old seed!