Start of the New Year

Yesterday was the first time on the allotment since way before Christmas as the weather has not been conducive with the ground frozen solid much of the time.

We had made an earlier start however with garlic planted in modules. This proved very successful last year producing the best garlic. Unfortunately the allotment is contaminated with Onion White Root Rot virus, for which the only cures seem to be expensive and/or impracticable. Over wintered alliums seem particularly prone to the dreaded infection, so I try to minimise the time they spend in the ground and starting them off in modules gives them a good head start.

We sowed some onion seed in modules and put these in the cold frame. The job of the day however, was to cut down the autumn raspberry canes and mulch them. Not a moment too soon as the daffodils, which are planted amongst the raspberries, are just starting to show. The mulch was all the beech tree leaves that we'd swept up from the access road.

The artichokes seem to have been hit very hard by the recent weather and where there is still green growth showing it all seems to be rotten at the base. It would be very disappointing if we lost them as we have cultivated a good patch of excellent plants.

Unharmed by the weather were the parsnips, swede and beetroot. As we hadn't had any produce for so long these were a bonus.