Monday 30 March 2009



I've been growing my own veg on my allotment for two years. It's about a five minute walk from my house up the hill - or what passes for a hill in Norfolk.When I first took it on I had to pay a £60 deposit and I pay about £15 a year for the use of it. It is 100 ft (30m) long and about 25ft ( 8m) wide. It's come a long way from a bramble infested patch of ground to a garden that is producing vegetables and fruit all year round.


Today was a fantastic example of how good the weather can be here in Norfolk. A cerulean blue sky, pale pink plum blossom and the new green growth on the trees and shrubs.I have the week off work and the forecasters say it's going to continue like this for the rest of the week! Yipee!


I planted 36 potatoes that I chitted for about a month on my window sill at home - they looked pretty healthy. I had to get the ground ready which was still very uneven. But because I dug it over last autumn the winter frosts have broken it down into fine tilth which was fairly easy to rake level.One of my fellow allotmenteers lent me a huge pointed post with a handle and a foot bar that acted like a big dibber and I made holes about 10cm deep or so and popped the spuds in with the shoots pointing up and gently backfilled - hoping none of them would break off.


The variety is Swift which is one of the earliest you can find and I planted them about 18ins (45cm) apart or so. I didn't use a line to keep the rows straight; I tend to do everything by eye which can lead to some interesting results when the plants do eventually show.
I recorded some audio on the allotment today but unfortunately my techie skills aren't up to scratch
and I have to find a host for my "podcast". I waxed lyrical about my radicchio, cavolo nero, leeks and jersualem artichokes that I'm harvesting eating at the moment. Anyway I will try and post some audio in future once I've worked it out.