More raised beds made, clearing & fencing too

Finally got this corner sorted with two extra raised beds, we will plant some more Gooseberry bushes in these. 
Two new ones, red dessert type & a sucker that came from our other Gooseberry bush, a green type. 

Our daughter got some free (a donation was given) 'Seeds for Bees' from the 38 Degrees organisation, so we have scattered them over a spare patch, see below.

We thought it was time to remove the fleece cover from the Broad Beans, as you can see they have benefited from the fleece as they have grown well. 

The dark patch, just beyond, is where we scattered the 'Seeds for Bees' we have Lavender in the path boxes (on the right) Bees love that too. 

We could not find any frog spawn in our pond, but a fellow plot holder who had a pond full of tadpoles let us have some, so now our pond has life in it (apart from the water bugs). 

Rhubarb update: 

Well its grown a lot since I last looked, I expect we will be picking a few stalks in a day or two. 
Love the first Rhubarb crumble of the season

Another job done today, I put up some trellis above the tin fence, our neighbour had some they didn't need, so I took it. 

While I did that my wife dug over the narrow bed ready for planting soon, some flowers & climbers for the trellis will go in there.

So despite the forecast of rain all morning, we did get a lot done and the sun came out in the afternoon, no rain though, which was lucky.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Allotmenting in the Sunshine

1st stop the greenhouse:
Potted up some Courgettes, did someone say don't plant too many?
I think it was me LoL

On the staging lots of seedlings coming on well, some flowers, Leeks, Peas, Chard, Kale & Salads.

In the raised bed along side the green house, we sowed some Beetroot & Carrot seed.

The Asparagus has started, I swear this one grew while we were there.

In this patch, freshly cleared & dug over, we sowed some Parsnips & more Carrot seed along side the Garlic, in the hope the root fly will be put off.

This corner is still awaiting attention, I've started digging over a small area, where I will construct a raised bed for some Gooseberry bushes to go in, the rest will need weeding & digging over!

This patch has been dug over & I've also done a bit of dry brick walling. Its where the main Potatoes will go in soon.

So as the title says 'Allotmenting in the sunshine' it's been a lovely day and the sun certainly did shine all day. 
No wonder we stayed for 5 hours.


Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

April sunshine at last

This patch needed weeding and digging over. 

So I started top right:

Worked down the right side and across. 

Then I stopped for lunch:

After lunch I continued, so 2/3 now done, will finish it next time.

I did stay on my plot for 6 1/2 hours today!

As mentioned last week, the Charlotte potatoes are ready to go in, you can see the short stubby green shoots that are produced from chitting in a light but cool place.

So now I've planted the Charlotte's we now have 6 rows of early potatoes in the ground. As they grow I'll earth them up, watch this space.

While clearing another patch I remembered we still had a few Kerrs Pink in the ground, so I dug them up before they started to grow again.

As the title suggests it was a nice sunny day, still a little chilly, but no rain for a change. 

Might get a chance to return tomorrow.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Another busy day on the plot & chicken news

We decided to re-do these Strawberry beds, as we still had some runners from last years plants, a bit of a mix but we don't mind. 

Looks a lot better and we conditioned the soil before putting new mulch fabric down.

I've used chipped laylandaii wood (the tree we cut down) to cover this Victoria Rhubarb bed, hopefully will suppress the weeds better, there is mulch fabric beneath the chippings. 

I sorted out some rotten wood recently, dried it and got a bonfire going, put all the weeds on it too! 
I will dig in the ash from the fire into the soil, when its burnt down and cooled.

I've been wanting to tackle this corner for a while, it's behind the pond & Apple trees, we have a couple of Gooseberry bushes to put in so I'm making room for them here. So still a work in progress.

Chicken News:
When we got home from the Allotment we checked the hen house & 3 eggs were in the nest box, our Chickens have been busy too :) 

So it was a lovely day today, we arrived at 10am and left at 4pm :)

So glad we did a lot today, because we are away next week. But I'll be back on my plot on Sunday, as I need to plant the Charlotte 2nd early Potatoes.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian