theallotments


I have always loved April. Everything in the garden and on the allotments is bursting into life. I don’t know which bright spark first said that weeds are just plants growing in the wrong place but there will certainly be plenty growing where we didn’t want them this month! The most important thing will be to get at them early and certainly before they start thinking about producing seeds.


To add colour to the allotment, The Boss has planted daffodils in the grassed areas outside the plots. Daffodils are virtually disease free and because the leaves and bulbs contain razor- sharp crystals of calcium oxalate, animals, slugs and snails will not eat them as they are totally indigestible and poisonous to most creatures. An amazing fact for flower arrangers… Daffodils can make other flowers ill if they are placed in the same vase!


Do you like slugs and snails? I hate them and wage war on them from January to December. I am a little kinder to snails than I am to slugs because I pick them up and put them in some place where birds can feed on them should they so wish. But slugs have had it! I have been setting BEER TRAPS for them. Take a large yoghurt pot or similar and put it into the soil so that the rim is level with the ground; pour in beer so that the pot is about one-third full (any beer will do and it can even be flat) and then add a teaspoon of cooking salt. Place the traps at 5 metre intervals along boundaries and pathways and await results. Once you’ve achieved a good haul, carefully lift the pot; pour the beer into a container and dispose of the dead slugs. Pour the beer back into the pot and reposition. A pot will usually last for about one month. Don’t forget to remove stones from the soil because you will recall that slugs are partial to nice cool places.


Last month we sowed three varieties of Peppers (World Beater, Chilli de Cayenne & Corno de Torro Rosso), three varieties of Tomato (Gardener’s Delight which is a bush variety: Moneymaker and Marmande-Beef) and Celeriac under glass and also planted Celery seeds in trays in a cold frame. We also sowed the first


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of our Carrots (Early Nantes 5), our Leeks (Musselburgh), Beetroot (Boltardy) and Spring Onions in our prepared seed beds. As you will see in our Jobs for April we will be planting more of all the above to give us crops which mature later.


You will notice shortly that we are going to plant Land Cress (American Cress). We were introduced to this last year by a lady in the village. It tastes just like watercress and we thought it was superb. For succession it is recommended that you sow a few seeds every month from April until August. If you come across a packet of seeds, do try it. You will not be disappointed.


We busied ourselves in March with the last of the spring cleaning jobs we had planned. The roof net is back on the fruit cage. The glass in the greenhouse has been washed inside and out with a diluted solution of Jeyes Fluid. To catch every last drop of rainwater, the gutters on the shed and greenhouse have had a seasonal overhaul. The last of the dead leaves have been removed from paths and the paths themselves have had their annual service. As a reward we have been eating the first of our rhubarb which tastes absolutely divine. (It looks good too, doesn’t it?)


JOBS FOR APRIL l Attack weeds as soon as they appear. l Wage war on slugs and snails.


l Keep a weather watch for frost. Should it be forecast we will be ready to protect vulnerable plants and the buds on our apple trees with fleece.


l Transplant seedlings which have been grown under heated glass. (Instructions are given on seed packets about when this should be done.)


l Thin seedlings in the seed beds and transplant to their final position if they are ready.


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