Last year, we took on an old overgrown allotment. We were a bit late getting some things planted and we ended up buying many plants rather than growing from seed.
This year, we decided to get serious and give ourselves ahead start by investing in a greenhouse. We’ve not much space in our garden at home so we chose a patio glasshouse,which would give us three tiers of growing space without encroaching too much on the decking. The one I fell in love with was from Hartley Botanic, made in the UK, available in a range of colours and it came ready assembled so, it was decided that was ‘the one’! It was made to order and delivered in no time at all. We were so pleased with it, I’d told them I’d give them the ‘thumbs’ up here on the blog.
Despite the heavy rain we’ve had in Yorkshire lately, we did find a fine weekend to plant the following seeds: Turban squash, basil,tomatoes, courgettes, peppers, cucumbers, aubergines, runner beans, French beans and broad beans. When my husband wasn’t looking, I also managed to plant some sunflower seeds and sweet peas too.
After a few weeks, this is how some of them are doing:
I have no idea when it will get warm enough to plant them out, but I really hope it’s soon.
Up at the allotment, the spuds are in (earlies, late earlies and main crops) – but they’re only just starting to show. The radishes are poking through and the garlic and onions appear to be flourishing! Our purple sprouting broccoli has done us proud and is featuring highly in our diet at the moment. The last of the curly kale has been dug up and is being given to the chucks on a daily basis as a special treat. I have to say the kale was second only to the courgettes in terms of being ‘the plant that keeps on giving’. We’ve a thriving soft fruit area, thanks to a generous friend (and one of the Pound shops in Huddersfield) and I’m looking forward to the traditional WI activity of jam-making come the summer.
As well as our made-to-order greenhouse of loveliness, we also bought a cheap second hand greenhouse for up at the allotment. In time, this will house our tomatoes,cucumbers, peppers and aubergines. Reuse and re-cycle is good but the old one wouldn’t look stylish right outside the kitchen window. We like to balance oldand new. We’re now on the look out for an old garden bench and a new shed so we can spend our summer evenings harvesting and barbecuing to our hearts content.
Roll on summer!