Hard to believe it has been a month since my last allotment update, but alas life (and the weather) has got in the way. Annoyingly, the ground is still too wet to plant anything directly; the potatoes and onion sets should be okay to plant a little later on. It is still frustrating when you want to get on with things but are unable to because of reasons that are out of your control.

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We have since erected an archway (well, two that we joined with canes) so that we are able to grow various climbers over the path. Last year we had two bean tepees that grew over the path, but we thought the archways would be more structurally sound.

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Whilst we aren’t able to plant anything into the ground, we have started to plant some seeds. We have only planted Jalapenos and Lemon Peppers so far; in regards to edible things at least. We wanted to see how successful the germination would be with our DIY propagator. It seems so have done the trick; 6 Jalapenos and 5 Lemon Peppers have germinated thus far, so we well set up more little propagators on any windowsill we can.

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The rhubarb is starting to outgrow its pot. The crown below is one I purchased last year, the other three are currently resting in the compost heap at home. They seem to have recovered quite well and have grown back without any pest damage. Last year, the crowns appeared to have been eaten away by something. We’re planning to make a raised bed for the crowns we have in hope that we can avoid pest damage in the future.

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The strawberry patch will also be boxed off soon, the runners have made the plot wider than we originally intended and they will continue to do so once the warmer weather arrives. Even the neighbours have gained some strawberries!

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Some more sweet peas were planted about two weeks ago and some have germinated, hopefully more will germinate. The herbs have burst back into life and add some much needed colour to the allotment.

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Here’s hoping that April doesn’t bring its showers.