Sunny May Bank Holiday weekend.

I've had these tyres a while, been deciding what to do with them, so I painted them, lined them with old compost bags, as you don't want rubber solvents leaking into the soil. 
Then I filled the bags with a mix of compost, manure & soil. 
Then planted in each one 2 Yellow Scallop Squashes. 

Planted out a row of Sprouts, a row and a half of Broccoli & half a row of Cauliflower, all under mesh to protect from the birds! 
I added lime to the soil 1st as Brassicas like that. 

Crop updates: 
Broad Beans, on the right, doing well

A row of Carrots (on the left). 

In the middle, a row of Parsnips. 
All planted by Jo, my clever wife.

Main crop potatoes, Cara doing well, and a few rows of Harlequin also doing well. Have earthed up quite a few times now.

Time to plant Leeks. 
Got my measure, Dibber (home-made) and string line.
And of course a tray of Leeks, these are Mammoth type;

I pushed my Dibber into firmed soil about 4" deep, popped a leek with roots trimmed into each hole 6" apart. 
I planted 48 Mammoth.  

I also had a tray of 'Oarsman' Leeks, so planted 80 of these the same way as above. 
I then watered them well, doing this helps the holes to fill back up with soil, so the leeks stay long and straight (hopefully).

Other jobs done this weekend: 

Jo put straw under the Strawberries

She used crushed egg shells, in the hope it will stop the slugs/snails munching her Sunflowers! 
This should work with other crops slugs & snails like.

We now have Peas podding.

Round yellow Courgettes forming.

Gooseberry bush laden with fruit, we've been waiting 2 years for a good crop. 

Rhubarb update:
We have so far harvested 28lb (12.7 kg) of Stockbridge Arrow. 
In this picture is the first harvest of Victoria, 6.5lb (2.9kg) I plan to make a batch of wine with this, already started a batch with the Stockbridge Arrow. Jo has made many Rhubarb crumbles, cakes & pies and has just made some jam too

So what a busy, productive Bank Holiday weekend we've had, lots of weeding & watering done too, our rain barrels are now empty, so using the well. 
Hope it rains soon!

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo.