Tales From The Plot February 2023

Well we have the whole year to look forward to. Most of the winter veg has now been harvested and the surplus has found its way into the freezer. Every year I say I’m going to plan what I’m going to grow and where I’m going to put it: it normally all falls apart in an embarrassingly short time! 
We all have an excess of plants and usually my friends on the allotments will walk down my path saying ‘do you want some of these mate?’ I’m usually too greedy to say no and then think ‘where am I going to plant  those?’ – so within no time at all the planning has gone out the window.
Weather permitting, the broad beans will go in this month, they are usually the first things to go in the ground on my allotment and I will start lots of other seeds off on my windowsill in our spare room at home. 
It’s around this time I’ll try to sort out the compost. I use the black Dalek type plastic bins – I find they work well and I think the colour attracts the heat which obviously helps the composting process plus the cone type shape also means they can be lifted off which makes emptying them much easier. Compost is always a most useful and valuable asset on the allotment.
Sprouting broc will also be coming soon, I’ll keep an eye on it and try and keep the pigeons off ….. I love it and they’re not having it lol! I can never resist the temptation to eat some raw while harvesting it, even Sidney my grandson tried some raw last year …….. I’ve learnt that if it doesn’t get spat out then that’s a success.
Let’s have a great year growing.
Richard Thorpe 15b