Busy weekend, a very satisfied feeling.

On Saturday, I finished clearing this patch, by moving the Kale that was under the netting frame to another place, still under netting! 
The Cabbages are fine left on the right. I'm planting more spuds here, see below.

I've taken a photo of the Rhubarb again, you can see its getting bigger, we also got a Sweet Cecily (top of photo) which we found out is a good additive when cooking Rhubarb as it sweetens it.   

I've been clearing another corner of our plot, as we will need to make a parking space at the front of our plot, as some new tenants have taken plots on our lane & its becoming a bit of a traffic jam being a dead end. 
So lots of rotten wood needed burning, another collection of recycled timber I hoped to use one day, but 75% wasn't any good, but now its burnt the wood ash will make a good soil improver for most root crops & Cabbages etc. 

So here is the potato patch I prepared yesterday, I've planted 5 rows (55 seed spuds) of Sante (main crop), they have been 'chitting' since early Feb and ready to plant. So we get an earlier crop, I've still got Cara to plant next month, also Nadine & Charlotte (2nd earlies) to plant too.

So a very productive day (6 hours actually) and very satisfying too. 
Will return in the week to carry on clearing the corner, will need to make a new front fence & gate to accommodate the car space, so watch this space for news on that. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Very busy week as spring is here.

One job I've been waiting to do was this Pallet Fence, the old one, also made from pallets about 10yrs ago, was rotten and falling over after the strong winter winds! 
As you know I've been collecting Pallets for ages, so I nailed 2 together, making a 6ft panel, then suspended between posts, so the base is just above the soil so it wont rot away again, It's 31ft long & it took me 11 hours over 2 days to do! But only a third of the length of our plot, so more to do later in the season.

Anyway today I dug up the last of the Mammoth Leeks, not as big as they should be but they were in the way of where the Spuds will be going in. 
The spuds are 'chitting' well, at home and ready to go in, 4 more varieties, so that's another job for next few weekends.

I have been saying it for weeks now, but finally the 'Stockbridge Arrow' Rhubarb is growing, now its milder and sunny, had rain too, which is good for growing. Won't be long before we get the 1st harvest this year.

Hope you can see this, the Frog spawn in the pond is changing into tadpoles, they are moving and you can see the shape changing from a black dot to a tadpole. It's so exciting to see nature at work.

Anyway we only spent a few hours today, it was wet all morning and as I had been down in the week (fence building) there was plenty of weeding to do, but its all looking good. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Planting has started

This weekend has been busy, we dug, we planted, we burnt..........

Tell you what, watch the YouTube video it's all in there, including my Planting Potatoes tutorial, enjoy.

Thanks for visiting my Blog. Ian

Six hours and a lot done on the plot

Lots of work done today, as the sun was shining. 
First job was to put new felt on the shed roof as some had blown off in the Dec/Jan storms and the roof was leaking! 

Also wanted to make a cane store so I fixed a pallet to the shed, made dividers from waste wood so my canes can be stored in size order.

Started to give the shed a much needed fresh coat of stain, will need a second coat soon. 
Tidied it a bit inside too. But looking better anyway.

Got another old water header tank, (had been used in a school for storing garden equipment) so made it into another Strawberry Planter. Filled with our own compost & stocked with Strawberries from last years runners, so no cost to us at all.  

Managed to have a bonfire as we had lots of dry material to burn, in the foreground is my weed drying system, metal mesh on 2 breeze blocks, now ready for more weed drying!  

On arrival to our plot, first call was the pond and we got a lovely surprise, two lots of Frog Spawn.  
In the picture you can see a Frog guarding one of them. 
We are so excited as we will get Frogs again, looks like we will get loads :)

So as predicted it's been a lovely day and satisfied we got lots done including: 
Capped off two compost bins, to leave now for a year or two. Emptied all the compost from third bin (used in Strawberry planter) so we can start filling it up again and weeded the Asparagus bed, again.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Much to do in March

The Broad Beans I put in the Greenhouse have survived & taken, it's certainly worth starting them off at home, in toilet roll tubes, to get a good root system. 
They will stay here until the space is needed for Tomatoes.

Anyway, my reason for going to my Allotment today, was to spread out some muck onto the patches where the Potatoes will be going.

So now that its been done I've used up half of the Horse manure I collected recently. 
Next job is to rotovate it to incorporate the manure ready for Spud planting

So while there I decided to see how the Carrots had overwintered, don't they look good and not a mark on them.
The fleece cover was in shreds after the storms, so that had to go in the bin. But as there is no risk of Carrot Root Fly damage at the moment the rest will be OK.

So glad I went down, the place was busy with activity, lots of plot holders doing maintenance, digging & cultivating. I guess they all knew it would be raining later and it did!

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian