At the end of March the plot was completely bare. Now it is almost completely planted up. The weather has been reasonably kind and, although there have been a few dry spells, the soil moisture level is good. By the middle of June, apart from transplanting the leeks in the space left when the first early potatoes have been lifted, the planting will be complete. Most years this is the time for a short break. That didn’t happen this year, it was replaced by a ten day family break in the middle of May. That meant a busy time just before the break and an even busier one on our return. Things are now back to normal and we won’t be going away in June.

Section A has still to get another sowing of two rows of Flakkee carrots plus one row of Autumn King. An earlier sowing of two rows of Chantenay and one of Autumn King has still to show through the ground. These triple rows have a six inch spacing and are protected from the carrot fly with Enviromesh laid over wire hoops to form a long tunnel. It’s then easy to lift one side of the mesh, throw it over the hoops and pull the weeds. Soil is used to hold the mesh down. In the past this method has given almost complete protection. The shallots (Red King) planted direct in the ground on 13 April have now caught up with those started in the greenhouse on 2 March. I’ll be comparing the number of bolters and the yield with last year’s results. If there is not much difference then future plantings will be in the middle of April. I’ll also compare the number of bolters in the Red Baron onions planted on 29 April with last year’s planted on 6 April. To allow a little more space for inter-row hoeing this year I’ve reduced the spacing of the double rows of peas from 2 feet to 1 foot six inches. The peas are grown up canes as single stem cordons. This makes harvesting easy and usually the pods have about ten peas each. The pairs of canes are tied together at the top and then a “ridge-pole” makes the whole structure like a long narrow tent with internal string guys to stop end-to-end swaying in the wind.

In late autumn 2007 my load of farmyard dung was contaminated with the selective herbicide Aminopyralid. Now, three years later, the first early potatoes, planted in section B where this dung was applied, are showing signs of contamination. I’m hoping that by the time the main crop of potatoes are grown in this section in 2012 the Aminopyralid will have completely broken down and cease to be a problem. This year another plot holder asked me what was wrong with his potatoes. He had used stable manure and it was Aminopyralid contaminated. The horses had been fed with contaminated hay. The beetroot (Boltardy) and swedes (Angela) are still in the greenhouse. They’ll be planted out soon and section B will be complete. In July the first early potatoes will be lifted and the leeks (Musselburgh) dibbled in to take their place.

I’ve still to plant out the last of the successional sowings of calabrese (Chevalier) plus all the winter cabbage (Celtic). This will happen soon and section C will then be complete. All the brassicas are protected from pigeons and cabbage white butterflies with tunnels of wire mesh.

The tasks for June are routine weeding and hoeing plus tying up the peas. Pea thrips have been a problem in the past. This year I’ll start organic spraying as soon as the flower buds appear rather than waiting for thrip damage to become visible.

B. A. Plotter.