Ready..get sets…and wait a bit…

In between the autumnal deluges (and occasionally, because we really don’t have the sense to come in out of the rain, through them) we have been working at getting ready to put in over-wintering onions and shallots. We grew them in a very limited way in our back garden last winter, and the results were very tasty and extremely useful – most of our favourite things to eat of an evening these days seem to start with “chop an onion”. The shallots got pickled and then scoffed in very short order too, so upscaling production now that we have plot 11A seemed to be the way to go! We have weeded, dug over and added leaf mould – which our allotment site has available for whoever wants to use it.

I knew the wheelbarrow would come in handy!

That was the “ready” bit. Unfortunately the “get sets” is where we have met a bit of a technical hitch. We like to buy locally wherever possible, but our favourite nursery where we bought last year’s sets hasn’t got them in yet, and don’t know when they will. Having looked at the prices of online suppliers and said “goodness gracious me, HOW much???” and furthermore “FOR HOW MANY???” we have decided to wait and see if our local supplier can come good…

Mulch mulch mulch…

In the meantime, rather than watching the weeds sprouting on the onion patch (which seems to happen before we’ve even put the fork down from digging it…) we have decided to mulch the bed with more leaf mould. If the onion and shallot sets do materialise, we can make little channels through the mulch to plant them. At least that’s the plan. If they don’t, then the worms can work on the mulch ready for next year…

Oh yes, and the yellow flowering shrub (which we probably ought to know the name of but don’t) has had what Sally’s Dad calls “an Andy pruning.” It’s still there – look! That little array of sticks about an inch tall….

a sticky end.