Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
April 8, 2008: a sudden cold snap
This week Terry Walton reports of the effect of the recent snowfall and has glowing words for his new-fangled bokashi units
You were warned! Beware the month of April as Mother Nature has still a few tricks up her sleeve. The opening of the month had us basking in very warm, sunny days and it was off with the woolly jumper and with sleeves rolled up we set about our work on the plot.
But what happened? By last weekend the wind swung to the East and the temperatures plummeted. By Sunday we were all in an Arctic grip and below zero temperatures were upon us and the allotment had turned from brown earth to pure white.
There is one good thing about a snow-covered allotment, all the plots look equally as good. There is no way of telling the neat gardener from the messy one. It is a great leveller on the allotment.
During those earlier warm days I was tempted to rush ahead with some planting but fortunately I sat on my hands and resisted the planting urge. I am eternally thankful now!
The little onion sets remained sheltered in the protection of the shed and that is where they will remain until warmer days are back. Also no seed packets were opened and these little souls will stay in their foil protection for a while yet.
Panic measures on the greenhouse front though. Some of the trays had been put out in the cold frame and some of these are having to be squeezed back into the warmth of the greenhouse and the heating switched back on to protect our charges from the very cold nights.
I hope this cold spell soon passes as it is all a little cramped in there now.
I have for some time sang the praises of the benefits of the wormery and at the same time as the wormery arrived in my gardening repertoire, I acquired two Bokashi units. I saw the benefits of that last summer in the feed they produced for my hanging baskets and pots. Little was I to know that they would significantly impact on my seed sowing and the 'bringing on' of the resultant seedlings.
One of the problems often encountered when growing seedlings is that damping off can occur in the seed trays. This bacterial effect can quickly spread through a tray of young seedlings decimating all those young plants.
When my seeds had germinated this year I added a small drop of the liquid drained from the Bokashi to the water I use to spray the seedlings. This has eliminated any loss of seedlings from damping off and has brought a sparkle into their young lives and they have grown strong and healthy on the magic powers of this elixir of life.
These organic systems have taught me the benefits of trying new ideas and the additional rewards they can bring into a long history of my gardening career. Never again will I not take that bold step to new ideas, for I have seen the light and the will embrace these new-fangled things with open arms.
Some things fail and these then can be consigned to the scrap heap (not compost heap) and others will bring success in which to bask.
It is no different in planting new varieties of vegetables for the first time, some succeed others fail.
So gardening mirrors the road of life with our ups and our downs!
More from Terry Walton
- April 1: April fools?
- March 24: the worm turns
- March 18: cloche work
- March 12: save food miles and help beat the credit crunch
More gardening
- How to fit a water butt
- How to start a vegetable garden
- The window box allotment
- How to grow beautiful berries and savoury salads
Gardening chat
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. The book is available from Amazon
