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| St Ives Cornwall Allotment - January |
Dry and fairly mild weather in West Cornwall today - so I headed out happily to my plot. As last week I was determined to get on with preparations for Spring. A nice walk out along the St Ives - Zennor road, then up the lane to Trowan. As usual I poured myself a cup of tea, lit a cigarette and had a quick look round the plot. All looking fairly good. The I got down to work.
My first task for the day was harvesting the last of the leeks. I've been growing these through Summer and Autumn and digging them up as needed. Really satisfying to think that I sowed the seeds way back in Spring 2017. Leeks are a crop that need to be sown early but will usually grow on and stand on the plot right through Winter. If you haven't grown Leeks before take a look a my blog post:
Spring - Sowing Leeks In Pots
Once the leeks were out I continued preparing the bed for Spring planting. I hoed it over to remove a few weeds and tidied up the edges. Then I added a layer of my own compost, made on the plot.
This bed is earmarked for Sweetcorn and Squash this season, so probably won't be planted up until early June. What I'll probably due in the meantime, once the weather warms up a bit, is sow some Green Manure to keep the ground covered.
I was really happy to be digging out my own compost. I "topped out" this bin way back in October 2016. At the time it felt like it would be ages before it was ready to use - but now here I am adding it back to my plot - and its broken down beautifully into fine crumbly black stuff. Classic recycling - the plants took nutrients out of the soil in Summer 2016, the green waste from the crops went into the compost bin, now all that goodness is going back into the ground.
So - the end result - another growing bed ready for Spring planting.
Another very enjoyable and productive morning on my little plot!
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