January 2014

January 2014

Saturday 4th January 2014
Got to allotment late in the day.  Put the Salem's Plot #13 name plate bought for me by the boss and daughter onto side of shed.  Checked water level on IBC - about 25% full I reckon at least. Should have plenty of water available by Summer.

Still plenty to dig over but bottom bit is done and I did top bit a month or two ago so not much needs doing before planting time, really

Salem's Plot - Christmas Present from Boss and Lulu

Water Level coming along nicely.

Wednesday 16th January 2014
Not had a lot of time for lotty as been putting floorboards down in the loft.  Managed to pop by and check everything alright this morning during morning run.   Water level is coming along at a rapid rate it must be said.

Sunday 19th January 2014

Went down the lottyfor half an hour to put some silicon round where the pipe enters the IBC so it should give us a bit more capacity.  Not sure whether it'll work or not - time will tell.

Monday 20th January 2014

Bought a load of seed spuds from 99p shop - can't hurt to give em a go can it?  We'll see

First Earlies

Red Duke of York

The Red Duke of York has a thick red russetted skin with soft fluffy yellow flesh with a delicate flavour. It is most suitable for fluffy roast potatoes or baking jackets.

Duke of York

This variety has a yellow flesh and loose skin. They are harvested early before maturity for a fresh flavour and are ideal for boiling, roasting whole or steaming as part of everyday healthy meals.

Vales Emerald 

An outstanding early bulking variety with attractive appearance on the shelf and excellent flavour. With 25% higher yields than existing punnet varieties, Emerald is proving to be extremely popular with growers and retailers alike.

Sharpes Express

Sharpes Express seed potatoes are one of JBA's exclusive heritage potatoes, first added to the national potato variety list in 1901 and they have been going strong ever since.

Sharpes Express tubers are long and oval shaped with white skins and pale, lemon-coloured flesh. Their highly dry matter makes Sharpes Express a great potato in the kitchen with great all-round cooking use. Sharpes Express has a fine flavour and is suited to boiling, roasting and chipping.

Second Earlies

 Wilja

This variety has yellow skin and light yellow flesh. It is ... Potatoes Roast Potatoes Homemade Potato Wedges

Charlotte

Charlotte potatoes are classic salad potatoes and widely available across all ... and light yellow flesh, they are relatively small potatoes

Tuesday 21st January 2014

Went down the lotty and set the spuds out to 'chit' in egg trays.

Left to right it goes:

First Earlies: Vales Emerald, Duke of York, Sharps Express, Red Duke of York

Second Earlies in last two columns are Wilja and Charlotte. 

Planning ahead.  
Spuds want to be planted where the beans were last year so that's the bit up near the raspberries nearest the shed.  Will set up a new bean row at the bottom of the raspberries I reckon.

First earlies want gaps of 12" between each seed potato and 18" gap between rows.
Second earlies want gaps of 15" between each seed potato and will use same gap between rows to keep it simple.


27th January 2014 - even more planning ahead.
Found this site the other day:- http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/main/weather1.asp
What's good about it is that it will tell you when your last frost of Spring is  (Early May for Derby) and when your first frost of Autumn is (Mid October for Derby) so the reason this is good is that it means you can plan when to plant things for transplanting outdoors if they're not very frost-tolerant.  So Tomatoes for example would be planted around second week of March for planting out mid-May.