April arrived and the garden activity moved up several gears! The weather has been challenging in terms of bringing on young plants as a cold north wind and clear nights brought late frosts and significant amounts of snow and sleet. The frosts were sharp enough to get into the polytunnel so all the seedlings had to be tucked up at night with fleece and even then some were touched but thankfully not killed. It has also been incredibly dry, which seems to be a trend for Aprils in Europe since 2007, possibly linked to effects climate change.
Kirsty and I brought along the various young plants to prick off and pot up and volunteers who had been part of the ‘Adopt-a-pot’ activity began to bring back their ‘charges’, young seedlings which they had taken home to grow on, soon every available surface was being filled up!
The over-wintered veg in the polytunnel has been steadily harvested and partly filled the ‘Hungry gap’.
Meanwhile the new outside beds had to be filled with top soil with the addition of our home made compost and rockdust to get them ready for the people who are taking them on, the uptake of the new beds has been popular. Other established beds were also topped up with compost or those with over winter green manure were prepared the next stage in the coming season, lots of sowing and planting!
In other news – we had our first plant and seed swap last weekend, where it was lovely to see lots of friendly faces again. Our next swap is going to be on Sunday, 23th of May, 1-3pm. Come along to say hello, pick up some veg and flower seedlings, and find out how you can get involved!
