Sunday 21 October 2012

3 days weeding, digging, preparing & planting Onions

I started this task on Friday, by pulling up all the weeds which included Dock, Nettles, Bindweed, Mares Tales, Comfrey and various other unmentionables.
But as you can see by Saturday it was much clearer. The 1st early Potatoes 'Rocket' were growing here and it wasn't until I had cleared all the weeds I realised there was a full row I had over looked along with 2 part rows that we had started to harvest from.
So I dug up all the 'Rocket' Potatoes, turned over the soil to get all the weed roots out, well as many as I could!

Then tidied up the edges that were overgrown with grass from the path, I also pulled up some self seeded Artichokes that were growing very tall by the fence. We have a well established Blackberry growing along the fence, so I trimmed that by cutting out all the old wood too.

So from the area cleared I dug up all these 'Rocket' Potatoes.
As I said we had started to harvest these since about June/July and only dug up what we needed, so these are the last.
What you can see here is about 18lb, so I estimate the total yield this year to be about 36-40lbs. The row I had missed along the edge nearest the path didn't yield very many, I suppose they were suppressed by the grass from the path.  
So this morning, using a rake I leveled off the soil, walked all over it to firm it, because digging it over yesterday made it very light and fluffy. 

I then measured the area to calculate how many Onions I could fit into this space, knowing they need to be 4"- 6" apart.
So my calculations allowed me to plant 10 rows, 12" apart, with 10 Onions per row 6" apart. The variety I have planted this year is 'Red Cross' a red Onion.

I should be lifting them around May next year.

Another job done this weekend I put my Potato order in for next year. But I have been warned that due to the bad weather there will be a shortage of seed Potatoes, so I might not get all I ordered. 

So here's what I requested:
Anya (salad) 
Foremost (1st early)
Charlotte (2nd early)
Picasso & Valour (main) 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian



3 comments:

  1. Wow! You've done so much! A great weekend for it though. This time of year makes me feel quite sad but despite clearing things down there will always be plenty of stuff to do at the allotment!

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  2. I'm impressed with the neatness of your onion patch, you've inspired me not to scrimp on digging and raking ours over! Will you be digging/hoeing small trenchs for your onion sets, or do you just pop them in? Also, any fertiliser? We've dug in some fish, bone and blood; hoping that gets them off to a good start. Just hoping for some reasonable weather this weekend...

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    1. No need for a trench just make a small hole with a dibber or your finger, if soil is light enough, then pop the Onion set in the hole (roots down, pointy end up) We had Potatoes there so no need for anymore fertilizer, they dont like freshly mixed in muck anyway.

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