Roeshot Hill Allotment Association
  • Home
    • Want an allotment?
    • Welcome
    • Late News >
      • Green Flag 2016
      • 2014 show prizewinners
      • Working Parties
      • Woodchip
      • 'Manure' heap covering
  • Members
    • Your Committee etc >
      • Committee's duties list
      • Constitution (2003)
    • Report a Problem
    • Members' Notices >
      • Suppliers giving Discounts
      • Data Protection Policy
      • Notice of 2017 AGM
    • Covid Trading Hut
    • Hints & Tips >
      • Blight warnings
      • July Hint #3 - Potato Blight
      • July Hint #4 - Green manures
      • July Hint #2 - After welcome rain.... Mk2
      • July Hint #1 - After welcome rain......
      • June Hint #4 - yellowing cabbage leaves
      • June Hint #3 - Clubroot
      • June Hint #2 - sowing dates
      • Hint 31st May - Protecting Cabbages etc.
      • Hint 25th May - extra crops
      • Hint 10th May - Weeds
      • Hint w/e 4th May - Sowing tender veg.
      • Hint w/e 24th April - Planting cabbages for summer
      • Hint w/e 20th April - carrots
      • Hint w/e 20th April - Still planting potatoes?
      • Hint No.1-13th April-digging & sowing
      • Hint w/e 6th April - Onion sets & shallots
      • 30th March-planting potatoes
    • Photos >
      • Mince pies and Mulled wine at the Cafe 15th Dec 2013
      • Summer Show 2010
      • Summer Show 2012
      • Summer Show 2013
      • Steve Burgess Pics
    • The Cabin
    • Plot 40 - Special needs plot
    • Growing Tips >
      • Water Conservation, Tips from Hugh
      • Growing Potatoes
      • Grow2eat tips
      • Hint - thinning carrots
      • Preparing for the show
    • Recipes >
      • Courgette and Raspberry recipes
      • Christmas or Fruity Flapjacks
      • Toffee Apple Pudding
    • wildlife >
      • Birds
      • Wildlife 2018
  • Contact Us
  • Steve's Blog
  • Save our Allotments!
    • EIP Update - 9th Jan 2014
    • Letter to the Echo - 6th Jan 2014
    • Members Update Sept 2013
    • Community Asset Application - 20 Sept 2013
    • Update on EIP - 19th Sept
    • Summary of the situation - Sept 2013
    • RHAA Chairman's comment in Bournemouth Echo - Feb 2013
  • 2018 Green Flag
  • Caring for Wildlife
  • Corona Virus
  • NASLG Covid advice

Coping with weeds and seeding crops!

1/6/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Friday 1st June
Having been rained off yesterday I grabbed the chance to spend part of this afternoon on the plot.
I first emptied the kitchen waste bin into my compost bin and worried that the smelly mess was exposed so, after chopping it up with a spade, I covered it with some of the grass cuttings already in the bin.
Next I started on earthing up the maincrop potatoes in an effort to reduce the chance of a blight infection (following the Blightwatch warning yesterday.) I remembered to scatter some slugbait along the rows before I started as well as what was left in the pot of potato 10.10.10 fertiliser. This is almost the only time I use my 3 prong cultivator and draw hoe. I loosen the soil by drawing the cultivator along the side of each row and then use the draw hoe to pull the soil up into a ridge over the plants. The first two rows (Sarpo Mira and King Edwards) have made so much growth that I couldn't cover them but the second two rows (a second row of Sarpo Mira and a row of Cara)  finished almost totally hidden.  Hopefully the slugbait and the fertiliser will do a good job.
​That done I moved on to digging out the chard that was going to seed. There was only three plants of rainbow chard but there was a whole row of Swiss chard. I cut the tops off the rainbow chard and a couple of tops of Swiss chard to take home, the rest became very expensive green manure as I chopped and folded the stems into the compost bin. That was added to by the seeding parsnips which I then also pulled up. I kept two of the best parsnip roots to try and make parsnip crisps at home. Finally I hoed off the weeds that had sprung up in the shelter of the row of Swiss chard, leaving them to die off inn tomorrow's promised sunshine.
I then decided to hoe between the rows of seedlings in the new roots bed as the weeds are growing at a fantastic pace and overwhelming the young plants. I had almost finished when a flash of red in the bed beside it caught my eye. It was a ripe strawberry in amongst the weeds smothering the strawberry patch. When I looked closely I found several more and started pulling out the weeds to expose the fruit. I soon found it necessary to fetch a hand fork and began weeding in earnest. While I found no more ripe fruit there was quite a crop developing, as well as a heap of weeds. Fortunately all the weeds are shallow rooted and came free fairly easily and I soon had completed nearly half the bed.

Picture
​Having exposed the strawberry plants and their ripening fruit I realised that the birds would also find the crop so I had to go and find the length of netting I had stored away and cover the whole bed. That done it remained for me to tidy up and go home, cutting four more asparagus spears to have with my evening meal.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Your Comment!

    To add your thoughts to any of my posts, click on the title and then go to the 'Reply' box that should appear at the bottom of the post.
    Otherwise go to the 'Contact Us' page.

    Author

    Hi! As "Webmaster" for this site I feel a bit of a fraud. 
    I am neither an expert at IT nor at growing vegetables. I do enjoy playing at both, however.
    I have a 10 rod plot in the middle of the site, having transferred in 2012 from a 5 rod plot I had been cultivating for about 5 years. I needed to give myself space to grow a wider range of crops.
    I will be recording my thoughts and activities on the allotment as well as sharing any knowledge and information I gain in my 'travels'.
    I constantly seek hints and advice from my neighbouring, and usually more knowledgeable, plot holders and will pass on anything I think is of general use via this blog.

    Categories

    All

    Archives

    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.