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During the festive month, I don’t get quite so much time to make it down the allotment with so much to do at home but the days I do spend on the plot are very precious and so enjoyable. Yes, even in the cold! I don’t mind wrapping up warm, taking a hot cup of nettle and fennel tea with me and getting stuck in. The one thing I really love about having my Rhino Greenhouse is that when the weather is horrible outside and I am gardening in the shelter of the greenhouse, it makes me feel like I am completely defying the elements!
The greenhouse is home to my tender herbs plus some micro-greens and as the weather has been so wet, I planted some onion sets in modules and they are still inside. I really do need to get on with that, at least they will have established good roots to stop the pigeons claiming them.
I wasn't planning on adding to my cut flower patch, but the bulb catalogues were just too much to resist and I ended up choosing two new varieties - Black Satin and Fire Wings. I am especially looking forward to the latter. I know that many people rush to get their new Tulips planted from October, but they actually can be planted up until Christmas as long as the soil isn't waterlogged or frozen and mine will go in over the next week or so.
Apart from that, the plot will be covered in a good mulch ready for the nutrients to be absorbed in the soil ready for the growing season next Spring and a winter job will be to build a new compost bin at the back of the plot - perhaps one the rats can’t access! The joys of allotment keeping.
My winter vegetables look simply stunning with a slight frost on the leaves, especially Kale which have thankfully been saved from whitefly after the early frosts and I am eating it in abundance. There is nothing like serving up Christmas dinner with homegrown vegetables.
But, for now, the allotment is being tucked up for January and February, as I head overseas. When I return in March, I know those early signs of Spring will be popping up everywhere.
Happy Christmas!
To read more about Ellen Mary, you can find her on social media and on her website - https://www.ellenmarygardening.co.uk/
