On Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:10:06 +0000, mogga wrote:

On 8 Mar 2013 18:00:49 GMT, "David.WE.Roberts"
wrote:

Just when we were thinking it was time to go and start doing stuff to
the allotment because it was no longer either under water or frozen
solid.

When have you last been on?

We've had plotholders not seen for months whilst others have been on and
have been preparing soil for planting in on and off for months.



Rain forecast continuously until Sunday evening when it turns to snow.

Long range forecast is for cold weather until April.

This may, of course, just be the East Coast because I think the major
problem is predicted cold air from the continent for the next couple of
weeks.

However it isn't encouraging us to get stuck in.

Could be a chance to get the sledge out, though.

Last on last Autumn.

Fully occupied with house extension and refurbishment.

Then the weather turned wet and the ground has been waterlogged ever since.

The farmers have ploughed their fields even though there is standing water
but then again they don't have much choice.

I have always understood that working wet soil compacts it and that you do
more harm than good.

I'm certainly not going up there at the moment - freezing cold and snow on
the ground.

My current plan is to wait until it is warmer and dryer(hopefully during
April) and then treat all the perennial weeds with glyphosphate to kill
them off, followed by a second treatment a few weeks later to catch the
next round of germination plus the really hardy and well established ones
which survived the first round.

Last year we started late (new plot for us) and rushed into digging a bit
and planting a bit.
We never caught up.
This year we will try the slow steady approach and concentrate on getting
the ground ready for future years.

Where we have good clear well worked ground we can put in whatever the
nurseries are currently offering.

Last year tomatoes were held back by the awful weather and then got blight.

The onions, garlic and leeks got rust.

We did get a couple of cabbages......

Cheers

Dave R