At last, something planted.

Although it probably shouldn't have been it's turned out to be a quiet week or so allotment wise. Thankfully now the clocks have gone forward there's going to be time in the evenings to work on the plot, starting tonight all being well.

Having said that, the allotment hasn't been completely without activity, we got our early spuds in for a start. One row each of Red Scarlet and Annabel planted in individual holes rather than a trench (will do the main crop in a trench I think, was just giving this a go as an experiment). We've cut back on how many we've sown this year, only ten tubers of each, as we found we had far too many last year and we don't actually get through that many new potatoes compared to main crop so it made sense to cut back a bit and save the space for something else.

As you can see at the top of this pic we've also planted the ten asparagus crowns we got from Victoriana Nurseries as well as some broad beans (closest to the camera) I accidentally chitted at home. I say accidentally because I'd been trying out a tip I'd heard about soaking the seeds in some water overnight before planting, unfortunately circumstances then stopped me from going to the plot for a couple of days so I ended up leaving the thoroughly soaked beans on some damp kitchen paper and by the time I get to plant them a couple of days later they'd all started to sprout. With any luck they'll not mind the change in environment and carry on growing, if not I'll know not to do that again next year...

The parsnip seeds I started off in the airing cupboard have been something of a success too, pretty much 100% germination which doesn't seem bad for an old packet of seed. I've potted up twenty eight into loo roll's full of compost to give the roots a good start before they go outside. The plan is to sow a row of this years parsnip seed direct into the ground one night this week to see if there's any big difference between the two methods come harvest time.

Sorry for the horrible quality photos by the way, I used my phone in not great light. I'll use the proper camera from now on....