Back on the plot

It's inevitable that the longer you stay away from your allotment, the harder it will be to get it up and running again. Grass takes over very quickly in the winter months and leaves you with a mini football pitch on your return in early spring. This year has been (yet again) spectacularly bad weather having endured a very soggy 2012 and then a very bitter winter that just would not go away until fairly recently. We've had the coldest April day in 20 years too, it's like some sort of gardening depression!

Even Monty Don got into hot water by saying it's okay not to plant until April which has annoyed an army of gardening centres and nurseries. As us gardeners know, most of April has been way too cold and / or wet to grow anything outdoors so I'm going to be rushing seeds into the ground this week if the weather holds up. I'm going to cover everything in fleece and cross my fingers. That's my expert advice.

Luckily my raised beds look like they only need a quick tidy up and the soil turned to be back to normal again. The rest of the plot looks like it's ready for 80 minutes of rugby.

Next post will hopefully be an allotment plan for 2013. I'm going for hardy veg this year. Big, chunky, water-loving veggies. I'm taking no risks with delicate plants that conk out at the sight of a cloud. 

A broken chair, grass, broken scarecrow, more grass and the greenhouse

Worzel Scummage looks like he's been beaten up!

When all else fails, there's always rhubarb!

2012 was the second wettest year - official!

Today the BBC are reporting that 2012 was the second wettest year on record in the UK*. You ain't kidding!!

This year has been possibly? no, definitely the worst year for allotment gardening. I successfully grew some early peas, rhubarb and some round courgettes but that's about it! Everything else has rotted. In fact, I haven't seen the allotment since September as it's been THAT bad. Plus I only wrote 6 blog posts last year!

I received my allotment tenancy renewal last week and I'm wondering if the plot is still there? It might have slipped off the face of the planet for all I know? Nice weather for ducks but horrible for vegetables. I am dreading my first plot visit of 2013 but hopefully I'll bump into some fellow allotmenteers and report back on their experiences too.

There was a positive to 2012 though, one of my blogging buddies, Matt, made a lovely courgette gratin from my yellow round courgettes. I'm definitely giving these another grow in 2013!
You can try his recipe here: http://easyteas.co.uk/2012/10/21/courgette-gratin/

*(According to the Telegraph, Wales was the 3rd wettest)