Plotholders generally spend less time on their plots during the winter months than in the summer. The obvious reasons are that little or no planting has to be done, Christmas and New Year activities take up a lot of time, most of the harvesting is over and the weather is poor.

Most years I still manage a couple of visits each week but this year that has been greatly reduced. Apart from the reasons mentioned above, we have had a particularly severe winter and visits to and from family and friends intervened. So, when in January there was a spell of reasonable weather I got back, all keen, to catch up on the winter digging. I overdid it and finished up with a bad back. I should learn, the same thing happened last year. Now things are back on track and the digging is well up to schedule. Harvesting continued and now there are only a few leeks and sprouts left.

Two years ago my farmyard dung was contaminated with the agricultural herbicide Aminopyralid and this severely affected the potatoes. I didn’t buy any dung in 2009. The herbicide was temporarily withdrawn from sale but is now back on the market. My reaction is no more farmyard dung! The chosen alternative is compost from the recycling site at Braehead Quarry. I’ll be getting this in March and it gets spread under the top spit of soil when I double dig for the potatoes. I’ve been using dung for years so it is a bit of a blow, but the general condition and fertility of the soil is good and I’m hoping that this can be maintained with the compost.

In March seed sowing and planting gets going. The garlic is already in Rootrainers and soon the shallots will follow. Then comes the first of the sowings of brassicas with successional sowings during April and May. These seeds are started in thimble sized modules, potted on into Rootrainers and finally planted out starting in early May.

The section for brassicas had its first application of lime in January with a second to come in late April. Soil organisms don’t like sudden changes in soil pH. The other three sections have had their annual application of Rockdust. The makers advise that not much improvement in cropping comes after only one application but that the benefit comes in later years after annual applications. I’m now in the fourth year and can report that this is the case. Last year the Minicole cabbage turned out to be MAXicole and the swedes were the biggest ever. Leeks also responded well with a noticeable improvement in other crops.

Once the remaining leeks and sprouts are finished the plot will be completely bare. It’ll stay that way until early April when the potatoes get planted. At the end of April the garlic and shallots will go in, then the Setton onion sets. Last year the Red Baron onions had quite a lot of bolters. This year they will go in a fortnight after the Setton. Setting out the plants brought on in Rootrainers starts in May.

In March the main activity will be double digging for the potatoes. I’m hoping to take this easy so that my back doesn’t suffer!

B. A. Plotter.