Sweet Peas, Globe Artichokes and more flowers!

Back from Wales and back up the allotment again, waking extra early on Sunday morning so I could get busy working through my to-do list. The allotment site was empty when I arrived and I loved it, it’s so peaceful up there and I almost prefer working like this, it means you can really get your head down and work to the sound of the birds. To be honest I desperately wanted to get some of that garden therapy, I won’t be back in Wales for 2 whole months due to work commitments and it’s put a bit of a downer on my mood… it’s time like these that you need to keep busy and the allotment and work are sure going to do just that!

The jobs for the day consisted of planting out my poor sweet peas, they’ve been desperate to go out for a good few weeks now and look a bit of a tangled mess! I used saved seed from last year and sowed them in the Root Trainers which I use every year, they provide that extra space for those long root systems and have always produced great results.

I am rather pleased I waited to plant them out though, we’ve been having glorious weather but hard frosts lately, the kind of frosts that would destroy seedlings and new growth. Plus I was kind of putting it off because I didn’t actually have anything for them to grow up… My old hazel archway was pulled down last Autumn after slowly rotting and falling away. I was hoping for a nice metal archway but because we’ve been so busy with work bamboo canes will have to do and they’ll do a fine job at that. I built a row each side of my pathway with canes roughly 8 inches apart, I planted a sweet pea per cane and added some bonemeal into each planting hole to help stimulate root growth. Earlier this year I added some 6X Natural Fertiliser into the soil either side of my path so hopefully I’ll get a good crop this year. In a couple of weeks the Munchkin Pumpkins and Climbing French Beans will join the sweet peas and fingers crossed they all produce this year (and that the bamboo structure holds!)

Next on the list was to plant out the globe artichoke into the corner of the flower patch. If you remember I grew one from seed the year before last and it was happily growing away until it disappeared from sight last Summer, I was devastated! I’ve learnt from my mistakes though and now have 3 back up globe artichoke seedlings in the cold frame at home just in case this one gets eaten.

We also popped to a garden centre yesterday which can be a dangerous thing for me… I came home with 3 hollyhocks, two verbenas, a fox glove and some more seeds! I’ve always wanted a row of holly hocks and fox gloves on my allotment so I decided to treat myself, plus you can’t have too much Verbena Bonariensis growing can you?! I headed straight back up the allotment before supper to get them planted, lining the holly hocks and fox glove against the fence either side of the artichoke and planting one verbena by the pond and the other by the apple tree. I can’t wait to see these all bloom this year and I’ve made a note to take seed from the hollyhocks so I can grow even more in the future!