There is an online Flash video that my husband used to find amusing, and that I was reminded of last night when I thought back at what had happened. The relentless pace of the season’s rhythms, and the sudden, unexpected (both good and bad, although it feels mostly bad) popping up here & there when you deal with nature.

A bit annoyed that I lost in the ether the post on mushrooms I was writing on the train, but still glowing with the success of my new crop, I arrived at the allotment last night and had an exchange of pleasantries with Paul.

One step back. On Monday I had picked my first four mushrooms: an easy crop this time round, I was already planning to grow more at home in the garden, as allotment space is running out, even though the space/yield ratio for mushroom is excellent – unlike asparagus, as I was writing in my lost post. Eureka! Now that I am writing about it again, I have had a great idea: could grow them on top of the beasties’ hotel, behind the shed!

Anyway, back to last night, I come to the plot and HORROR! The asparagus bed was smashed to pieces and trampled on. I got duly upset, as I do nowadays with any act of pointless aggression. The rat cage was thrown on the path. My boundary line on the other side of the bed had snapped. No other damage around, I checked with Paul as well. First thing, I thought: humans, but there is a possibility it might have been an animal, trying to open the cage to get at the bait, and going on a rampage in the process. However, damage is so localised that it seems unlikely, unless the animal was very intelligent and careful, taking the cage from the top of the allotment, dragging it halfway through it without leaving any traces, just to go berserk on my asparagus bed. However, some digging of the soil suggested animal. Badger, fox, dog, cat?!?

Not happy with cats either this week, as neighbour’s has taken to sitting next to my pond at home, with the result that all the damselflies and frogs have disappeared suddenly. I sincerely hope they were not harassed and killed…

Anyway, I pulled together, fixed what could be fixed, and proceeded to dig up some space for the sweetcorn, which must be planted in blocks rather than lines as it is wind-pollinated, and clustering is useful to get the pollen from the tassels falling onto the silks.

In the process of digging, I found two sage seedlings, self-seeded: a nice surprise, the first happy note of the evening.

— Post From My iPhone

If I thought it was time to store away the March & April sowing seeds I was in for a surprise.

Arriving at the allotment yeasterday I saw the leaves of some self- seeded potatoes were dark green, dehydrated and flat on the ground: my brain started computing on such new evidence: herbicide maybe? A disease? Yesterday everything was ok! Only when I saw the tomatoes the reality dawned upon me: frost!

I had no idea that just one night of low temperatures could kill my plants in the tent, just because I left the flap open. Some smaller seedlings seem to have come out better than the bigger plants. The beans in the open went as well but the peas are ok. And the basil in the greenhouse also looks a bit damaged.

Let’s get sowing all over again (it’s my fault, I was actually less disappointed than when slugs ate all my seedlings).

— Post From My iPhone

… that I am in desperate need of a massive sowing session, but instead I spent my time today clearing out weeds and any overgrown grass, so that the allotment looks spotless. I haven’t even had time to plant my newly arrived organic plants (the ones I ordered when I decided to support organic growers more).

So, nothing particularly exciting to say today; however, I thought I would pick up some loose ends in this post:

• the ducks have not been seen for a while. Some of us do miss them, some others I’m sure are pretty happy. I am still divided on their usefulness v potential risks. What is certain is that soon after the mating episode they stopped visiting my pond (maybe it’s the fact that I planted some water crowfoot), although they spent some time on someone’s plastic sheeting after that. The last time I saw a male alone, he landed on the main path and – very dignified – he walked away, out of the site, through the gate.
• cropwise, as I said yesterday the celery is gone, but the tomatoes, strawberry spinach and the artichokes I planted out are ok. Peas and beans are doing fine and today I picked my first radishes, which went to add some piquancy to a carrot salad. Rhubarb is also growing, and I picked my third batch: 400gr, not bad at all. However, the agretti were unfortunately just a mirage: no sign whatsoever of any growing. My brassicas, the ones that Jean said would never grow, did not grow much, but are preparing to bolt, so they put on a bit of weight: I will pick them before it’s too late but at least will have enough to make a stir-fry. The cardoons are growing healthily, after a slow recovery.
• one of the elders, chopped down roughly, has recovered and is bearing flowers now. Still two tree stumps in the path (with me still getting rid of branches in the path as they grow), and nobody has taken up the plot yet: that bit of land has been without “practising” owners for most of the time I’ve been there now, but the (now-ex) allotment rep said the council is on the case.
• I have sown the Garden Organic experiments 10 days ago and the lettuce is almost ready to plant out. There are seedlings in the tree spinach tray but I am not sure it is the tree spinach – sometimes some tiny weeds manage to grow in the trays as well. I have not seen any butterflies though after my report and similar viewing the weekend after that. 

I was sure I had written of clearing the herbs bed and how I had decided to split the bronze fennel root clump as it was too big, realising soon afterwards that I shouldn’t have. However, it seems one at least of the transplants has survived, and the original plant is growing nicely. I also seemed to remember telling you about the wasp that wanted to nest in my greenhouse, but that too was only in my mind. Anyway, it seems I have managed to distract her by taking away her half-built nest when she was not there (she kept coming back, looking for it on the ground and around, but luckily I had thrown it out altogether) and replacing it with a piece of cardboard egg box (I hoped she would think it was someone else’s nest). She did not come back.

That’s enough for today.
I am planning to do a spring photo special as I did with the frost one, as soon as I have a little bit more time.

I am back after a week or so and all the celery that I planted out is gone, all but one (ONE) seedling – no remains whatsoever so it was slugs, the mean slimy creatures – regret saying that their activity was less than usual… I have also lost all my tomatillos in the greenhouse to some or other hungry invertebrate, but all the rest was fine – thanks mainly to Carol who offered to keep an eye on them.

Outside, the growth was generally lush – including the weeds – with gooseberries and currants well under development; strawberries, blueberries and broad beans in flower, my first ever radishes ready and I also got the first vestiges of mushrooms!!!

A major sowing session is required to catch up now.
By the way, I renew my offer for borage seedlings and raspberry shoots if anyone is interested. I also have some periwinkle Vinca major, mint, hazels, a little maple, St John’s wort, rosemary and tiny beech all grown from seed or cuttings and all looking for a welcoming home.

As I am not very good at potting on, and I have a bit of time pressure, I went for the planting out option.

I started with celery, possibly the tiniest seedlings. It feels like yesterday that I was doing this before, but it is actually over a year: it did work – except that I got a ridiculous crop from leaving the celery thirsty over the summer – then I left it in the soil over winter as I had no time to pick it… but three plants are still alive now so I will give it another go.

Transplanting tens of tiny celery seedlings gives you plenty of time for thinking (I think it took me a good couple of hours) – read: it is quite boring, so to make it more interesting, I mentally registered all the steps to write about it. Here you go, my…

Step by step planting out process

Seedlings are ready to transplant when the first couple of true leaves are out; these may come after the cotyledons or seed leaves, which in several species is the first pair to emerge out of the compost (they look different from the others). Celery was ready.

I waited until later in the afternoon as the sun was too strong and I would have risked wilting and/or scorching. Overcast days are said to be best, but I usually do it in the early evenings (because that’s when I am around). This is not ideal, however, I suppose because overnight the plants do not do photosynthesis, which by and large is the main way water moves through the plant. Moreover, you unnecessarily expose your seedlings to slugs. Anyway, the pre-transplant soak seems to sort them, and I use a little ferric phosphate for the slugs – which incidentally seem to have been less active lately (I hope I will not come to regret saying this :)).

When the sky got hazed, I first did something that might sound obvious but that I have forgotten endless times: give a good soak to the seedlings and let them absorb the water: it is stressful enough to go through a change of temperature and soil – possibly after some bruising of your tiny stem and leaves and with some of your roots ripped – without being starved for water.

I grow my seedlings in cardboard punnets, easy to rip apart to get to the block of compost from which delicately to extract the seedlings – possibly without even touching them, just handling the compost around the roots. However when that does not work, I pick seedlings by the leaves – I read one should leave the stem alone.

Having digged some trenches at a suitable depth and distance from each other (the seed packet often specifies), I planted the seedlings with as much as possible of the original compost and pushed the soil around them.

Then, I re-writed the label in felt pen (they tend to discolour and I forget which species I have grown in a particular place!), and with my watering can with a fine rose I watered around the seedlings: any one seedling that was knocked down or sideways needed the soil firmed around them. Roots absorb both oxigen and water from the soil – compaction and waterlogging prevent them to breathe, but air pockets may cause them to dry out as there is no contact between the soil water and the root hairs in charge of absorption.

I finished by covering with fleece, to minimise temperature variation from the greenhouse and to prevent direct sun that might scorch them at this stage.

Finger crossed, and I will now keep an eye on them for the next few days. I have overplanted anyway, so if any casualty occurs, I should feel it less painfully.

P.S. Warning – I read that same night that the potting on process and gradually hardening off the new plants – by putting them out in the day, not in direct sun, and bringing them back in at night – ensures they keep the head start you gave them by sowing in the greenhouse environment. Planting out too early can stunt growth – apparently some seedlings don’t recover until as late as July! Anyway, I do the best I can given my circumstances…