Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
April 1, 2008: fools rush in
Spring-like weather has gardeners reaching for their wellies and tools - but watch out, Jack Frost may still have a few tricks up his sleeve, warns Terry Walton
Well All Fools' day has just passed and I hope this pleasant start to April is not a trick being played on us gardeners, lulling us all into a false sense of spring only to bite back at us in the middle of the month.
April is a month of contrasting weather, warm one day and frosty the next but the month is full of wonderful expectations. For is it not said that April showers bring the May flowers. It is a time of opening buds and blossom everywhere and there is a sense that new life is emerging from its winter slumber. The barren landscape of the allotment is soon transformed by the appearance of the green shoots of life, even though at this early stage it is only the green of our broad beans.
Not all the action is observed above ground for the potatoes. As a reward for producing strong green shoots they are to be buried in the soil. There they will toil away below the surface building root structure before erupting to the surface with that trade mark strong shoot. Not too early we hope, or Jack Frost may exact his revenge.
Now is not the time to rest on your laurels because the lengthening days will bring impetus to the plot. As the soil is warm and moist it is crying out to receive the seeds of success for this coming season.
It is this time of year that I wish my greenhouse was a replica of Dr Who’s Tardis, small and compact on the outside but infinitely large on the inside. Every day the number of transplanted seedlings grows and space is at a premium. Not only does it have to house my early vegetables of onions, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbage and many more but it will also have all my annual flowers in their infancy.
My begonias, impatiens, lobelia, marigolds and many more are all nurtured from seed. These will give my garden borders, pots and hanging baskets that glittering, gaudy show during the summer months.
Nothing could be more pleasurable on a warm summer’s evening than to sit in the twilight of the day sipping a glass of chilled wine and absorb the stupendous colour these plants produce. The cascade of vibrant colours in the fading light is just reward for the work of the day tending and nourishing these precious plants.
I also make room on my allotment for some of this colour. The plot is not all about growing vegetables. There is a place on it for those fragrant sweet peas and a small row of chrysanthemums to brighten those autumn days.
Dahlias used to be a passion of mine with the vast array of colours and the brashness of the large decorative type down to the compact perfect pom poms. Somehow they have lost their charm for me in recent years and I no longer grow them. I think the combination of what to do with the tubers during the winter months and my loss of stock made my love affair with them come to an end. The changing climate brought about the debate of whether to leave them in the ground to over winter or to dig them up and store them. This indecision meant I lost most of them and the affair came to an abrupt end.
That is gardening life for you, just like the seasons come and go so do individual tastes of what to grow and what changes to make. Life moves on and the closing of one door opens the way to another experience.
Oh! How I love the variation that gardening brings into your life, an ever changing scene.
More from Terry
- March 24: the worm turns
- March 18: cloche work
- March 12: dig for victory
- March 4: mad March roars in
More gardening
- How to fit a water butt
- Gardening with arthritis
- Use free software to design a garden
- Driving out invader plants
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Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called, My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press at £12.99. The book is available from Amazon
Reader comments
im waiting to get my first allotment plot within 2weeks. im going to start by planning where my shed, greenhouse, small pond and compost heap is going to go. then cultivate the area. my question is from august onwards what shall i start to do
Posted by: ken davies | 19/07/2008 15:38:43
As the world's worst gardeners it's gratifying to know that we can wait another week or so before tackling our garden.
Posted by: Peter and Marion Condon | 04/04/2008 23:59:47
