Life on The Weald - March 2025
and sundry distractions
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| Spring at The Weald 2025 - My neighbour's plot |
1 March
The first day of (Meteorological) Spring and St David's Day, but none of our daffodils were flowering yet! But my neighbour's were! It was a fairly warm day and, at home, I risked planting some Echinacea. I had bought a bare root plant ("Rainbow Marcella") from a garden supplier. I added some compost and gravel to the planting hole and applied some organic mulch to protect from the cold. The flowers are popular with pollinators and I'm hoping that by the summer this will become a buzzing social club for bees and butterflies.
2 March
Visitors staying for the weekend, to celebrate a family birthday, so no time for the allotment! But a stroll along the Prom and a trip to Marrocco's with my granddaughter were obligatory.
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| Hove Promenade with Tilly |
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| The best pistachio ice cream |
3 March
A very frosty morning with clear skies but I managed a brief trip to the allotment and replanted a gooseberry bush I had lifted a few days previously. I spent some time removing bindweed and couch grass roots from the ground where it had been growing and think I managed to remove any bindweed and couchgrass tangled among the bush's roots. The bush is quite old and woody and has not produced much fruit in the past but I'll give it one more chance before deciding whether to remove or replace it. This was one of four, so three more to tackle.
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| 3 March - the transplanted gooseberry |
A rare sight! A bramble growing over the shed had fruited but the blackberry had not been picked, or eaten by the birds, had gone to seed and was rather beautiful.
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| Blackberry gone to seed |
The sun was shining and the temperature around 10C in the afternoon - but it felt much warmer, so , at home, I planted some Gladiolus ("Red Ruby") corms in the back garden close to the Echinacea. I have also marked out an area, on an extended flower bed, to plant some Dahlias once the warmer weather arrives.
4 March
There was a heavy morning frost but this soon disappeared and it was a fine sunny day. Unusually for me I was out in my shirtsleeves, listening to a loud chorus from Blue Tits, Great Tits, Wrens, a Robin and some rather noisy Magpies. There doesn't appear to be any frog spawn in the pond, and I know that purists suggest you shouldn't introduce it - a fellow allotmenteer says I should make my pond conducive to frogs and let them decide whether to come. But another plotholder had a plentiful supply in her garden pond, not too far from the allotment, and I succumbed and introduced some.
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| 4 March - arrival of frog spawn |
5 March
Another dry day and the Hellebores in the garden were wilting, but happily they revived after a good drenching, but the soil is so dry despite having a lot of organic material. Our problem is that we are overlooked by large trees - cherry, yew and bay laurel whose roots extend into our garden on the north side.
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| 5 March - Hellebores |
Thursday 6 March
It was a glorious sunny day everywhere in Brighton and Hove - except for the end of our road and the sea-front which was experiencing a very localised sea fog known as fret (advection fog) which results from warm air passing over a cold sea surface.
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| 6 March - the coastal road at the bottom of our street |
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| 6 March - kids on the BMX track |
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| 6 March - a lone skater on the roller rink |
I took advantage of the sunny weather inland and sowed some radishes and Boltardy beetroot and dug a shallow trench for planting some First Early potatoes.
Saturday 7 March
The trench dug the previous day was ready for my first early Red Duke of York potatoes.
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| 7 March - trench for potatoes |
Before planting, I laid pieces of torn up egg boxes at the bottom of the trench, watered well and covered with a light layer of compost. The egg boxes will rot down, aided by the worms and help to retain moisture which will be essential if we have a dry period. The trench was now ready to receive the chitted Red Duke of York.
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| 7 March - 1st Early potatoes planted |
The temperature reached around 13C but there was no wind, despite the weather forecast, and in the sunshine it felt much hotter. I created a new temporary, decomposable seed bed from an old cardboard supermarket vegetable tray and I repotted one of blueberries in some fresh ericaceous compost. I laid cardboard and woodchip mulch either side of the asparagus (which was yet to appear) and picked some of the forced rhubarb.
Sunday 8 March
It was another dry sunny day and there was the first sign of the broccoli sprouting.
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| 8 March - first sign of purple sprouting broccoli |
We also picked some more forced rhubarb which had been grown under an inverted recycling box.
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| 8 March - forced rhubarb |
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| 8 March -cover removed from rhubarb |
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| 8 March - a compostible seed bed |
Sylvi continued work on the greenhouse, removing brambles and plum suckers on the south side. I sowed wild flower seeds that had been given out at Peter Gorbach's funeral in my recently created cardboard seed bed.
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| 8 March - seeds sown In memory of Peter |
At home the crocuses were still flowering and providing food for bees.
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| 8 March - tomato and chilli seedlings |
Monday 9 March
There were self sown aquilegia plants appearing in the newly dug patch for the dhalias which would be disturbed when I plant the dhalias, so I dug these up and put them in pots ready to be replanted later. Otherwise known as Columbine or Granny's bonnet they are a short-lived perennial but usually appear through self seeding.
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| 9 March - Columbine |
There was still a good supply of kalettes to be picked.
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| 9 March - Kalettes |
I planted a row of 2nd Early Nicola potatoes alongside the Duke of York and some Gladiolus corms in large pot. I had bought a few plants for around the edge of the pond, Saxifrage, sedum and woolly thyme and planted these,
13 March
The tomato seedlings had all acquired true leaves and they were a bit congested in the seed trays so I began potting up the Beefsteak, Ruby Falls and Sungold.
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| 13 March - Ruby Falls tomatoes |
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| 13 March - Beefsteak and Sungold tomatoes |
The following day we set off for Staffordshire for a family birthday weekend, travelling up in our campervan and had a leisurely drive home stopping off in the Cotswolds for a couple of nights.
19 March - River Windrush at Witney
Thursday 20 March
The seedlings at home and the plants on the allotment had survived our absence but everyting was very dry as there had been no rain. We picked some purple sprouting broccoli and rhubarb...
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| 20 March - purple sprouting broccoli |
...and there was much more yet to be harvested.
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| 20 March - purple sprouting broccoli |
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| 20 March - forced rhubarb |
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| 20 March - Buff-tailed bumblebee on crocuses |
Friday 21 March
At home I sowed Kalettes and Summer purple sprouting broccoli. Summer broccoli was a first for me - I usually sow early purple sprouting broccoli which is usually harvested late winter and early spring. The seed packet for the summer broccoli says I should get a crop in August/September - we shall wait and see!
I also potted on some of the remaining tomatoes and some of the chillies - Aji Limon, purple jalapeño, Santa Fe and early jalapeño.
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| 21 March - chillies ready for potting on |
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| 21 March - chillies potted on |
Saturday 22 March
We spent an interesting morning on an organised foraging session at Whitehawk.
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| 22 March Whitehawk Hill and Brighton Racecourse |
We made a variety of infusions, herb vinegar, flower infused honey and pesto, mostly using freshly picked wild herbs and flowers.
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| 21 March - Burdock, Dandelion & ginger tea |
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| 22 March - Flower infused honey |
Sunday 23 March
There was no real rain, just a persistent drizzle and it was very cold! We should have been celebrating the spring equinox with the Organic Gardening Group but they decided to postpone the event. We did make a brief visit to the plot and picked some Purple Sprouting Broccoil, Kalettes and Chard.
Sunday 24 March
I planted two rows of 2nd early Charlotte Potatoes.
Tuesday 25 March
On Tuesday there were signs that the summer purple sprouting broccoli seeds, sown at home on 21 March were already germinating.
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| 25 March - summer sprouting broccoli |
Wednesday 26 March
A day later and the Kalettes had germinated.
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| 26 March - kalettes |
This put me in sowing mood and a sowed some seed trays with Calendula and Pansy, both plants having edible flowers. I also sowed some Early purple sprouting broccoli and Cavolo Nero
Thursday 27 March
The sowing continued with some Boltardy beetroot directly in a bed with the radishes and I cleared all the existing crop of Cavolo nero as it was going to seed.
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| 27 March - Boltardy beetroot sown between the radishes |
Saturday 29 March
I sowed some Meteor peas and sweetcorn in trays inddors at home.
Sunday 30 March
Up on the plot the Duke of York potatoes were sprouting and I gave them a light mulch of straw.
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| 30 March - 1st early Red Duke of York potatoes |
There was more couchgrass to be cleared from around the pond.
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| 30 March - tidying around the pond |
At home, the Cavolo nero, purple sprouting broccoli and calendula which had been sown on Wednesday had already germinated but there was no sign of pansies yet!
I sowed Achocha seeds that I had saved from fruits given to me by a neighbour last year. Achocha is native to Peru and is in the cucumber/courgette family. It has a climbing habit and the fruits taste a bit like cucumber and a bit like green pepper.
March had been a very dry month with little or no rain and my water butts are now very low. Thankfully the mains water is due to be turned on in a few days time.
Monday 31 March
Another excuse not to visit the plot as my granddaughter is moving to Brighton and was collecting the key for her new flat in Kemptown - another DFL! (down from London).
