Plot 36 - first herbs going in and a visitor

It was so so sunny at the allotment today, absolutely gorgeous weather that shows that spring is really truly finally here. The tiddlers and I were there for nearly 3 hours, exploring and playing. I'm so pleased that the children are enjoying the allotment what with their being just 2 and 4. I think it helped that the water has been turned on on site now and they could get watering can happy!

Today's job was to find the place for these three lovely herbs. There is a sweet little chive that was given to me last spring by my pal Sue, it overwintered in a grow-bag in my garden and was I really happy to see it strong and flourishing there this spring.

The other two plants are Rosemary and Mint, gifted to me by a lovely lass called Linda along with a selection of seeds and the coolest looking runner bean seeds form her own allotment.

Following some great advice from Linda about planting the Mint where it can be contained, I have decided to turn this narrow trench of a bed that runs along the back of plot 36 in to a herb bed. It will give the mint room to spread but not to take over.

The trench bed was full of bramble roots and nettles so I needed to turn the whole lot over and chase out all of the roots first, a full carrier bag full it turned out!

When I dug out the trench bed the plank that separates it from my early potato bed collapsed inwards so I shored it up with some wooden stakes before filling it back up with lovely root free earth mixed with some compost. I hope my special herbs like their new home.

I want to show you a stunning little visitor that fluttered over to see us today. I've never seen a butterfly like this before so I uploaded my photograph in to google image search and found out that it is called a Peacock butterfly (Inachis io). It is pretty common in the UK and lays it's eggs on the underside of nettle leaves in the spring. I think it is just beautiful.

Hope it is all hot and sunny where you are too,
Jolene x

Plot 36, researching herbs for companion planting

While waiting to get my hands on my very own allotment access key I have  been doing some more research on companion planting. I'm looking particularly for herbs that are known to work well with the veg choices I have already made and which veg combos are known to work well together or best to avoid. Writing this blog post is going to help me decide what to plant together in the first beds that I dig, the results of my research today is:
 



Veg - Companion herbs - Avoid

Potatoes - any aromatic herbs - Avoid tomatoes
Kohlrabi - Mint, Chives - Avoid tomatoes
Leeks - ? - Avoid legumes, beets
Carrots - Mint - Avoid dill, parsnip, radish
Tomatoes - Basil, Chives - Avoid brassicas, potatoes
Broccoli - Chives - Avoid tomatoes

Marigolds are attributed with attract snails away from many types of plant, especially brassicas and tomatoes so I'll deffo be planting some in my mixed beds. Nastertium attract predatory insects and taste nice in leaf salads too.

So, looking at the above I think I will plant out my first bed with
Potatoes, Marigolds, Rosemary

Second bed with
Broccoli, Kohlrabi, Marigolds, Chives

Third bed with
Leeks, Carrots, Mint

Fourth bed
Tomatoes, Basil and Nastertiums.

I traded in some Tesco vouchers for Thompson and Morgan gift vouchers yesterday, off to have a look now and order some herb seeds.

have a lovely week, Jolene x

references -
http://www.howtogardenadvice.com/garden_info/companion_planting_chart.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companion_plants#Flowers