Saturday morning rewarded this allotment gardener with some respite from what has seemed like the persistent stormy weather of late. The sunshine and breeze were a welcome tonic after another working week in the warehouse.
My fellow workers have not been confined so much as me this week - for there have been calmer sunny spells for them to get out of the hives and forage on the early spring blossom. Above, you can see them foraging on almond and wild plum blossom.
One of the main tasks of the day was to complete the apiary enclosure. The enclosure is 3-sided, consists of wire fence panels, supporting scaffolding netting. The reasons for setting up an enclosure like this are many and complicated, and not without some accompanying ill-feeling and tension regarding boundaries and communal responsibilities. One of the reasons for installing the screens is to make the bees enter and leave the apiary at above-average head height to minimize the risk of bees and people colliding with each other. Let us hope.
Seed sowing continued in the polytunnel. This included the propagation of yacon (Peruvian Ground Apple). Is this what is called a 'crown', the crown here being part of a dormant rhizome?
I have propagated yacon twice now - this involves cutting away small pieces of the subsurface crown and putting them in pots of compost in a cold frame.
This year I am also trying to grow yacon that has been left in the beds over-winter.
An excellent website for in-depth information about growing yacon can be found here
Here are some pictures of the yacon I grew in 2019.
October 2019 - B7a - 4 plants grown from root/crown tips started in February 2019.
3rd November 2019 - harvesting a yacon plant.
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