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Friday:
I made a start on this patch, digging out weeds, roots & un-wanted plants.
Took me a few hours, but very satisfying.
While I was busy, Jo dug out this raised bed.
It was a herb & strawberry bed.
So once re-lined & filled, we will plant just herbs again.
Saturday:
I carried on digging over this patch, only spent a few hours in the afternoon, as it was getting cooler.
Sunday: We noticed that the Gooseberry bush is full of buds, looks like a bumper harvest again, so the hard pruning we did over winter has worked.
We also noticed that the Rhubarb is getting bigger & lots more leaf buds are poking through.
I carried on digging over the patch I started on Friday, only a small bit left to do.
It generated a lot to burn, so I had a bonfire too.
While having a coffee break, we heard a commotion and looked up to see three Great Tits flying around from tree to tree, almost chasing each other.
If you look close all three are in this tree.
Looking in our bird book it said they are more agressive than their Blue cousins.
It was like summer over the last few days, today I even took of my fleece and was walking around in a t-shirt!
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
But first a quick check around our plot & I see the Rhubarb is poking through, it wont be long until the 1st harvest.
Back to the digging & I have now turned over 2/3rds of this patch where I will be planting most of our Potatoes that are 'chitting' nicely.
But all that digging creates lots of roots & weeds, so yes I had to have a bonfire to burn it all!
At least the ash from the fire gets dug back into the soil.
Anyway I did a few hours of digging and could feel a few spots of rain and the sky went very grey. So called it a day.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
Garlic planting:
These I was told are Large White garlic.
Not grown them before so we will see how they do over the coming months.
But first, remove the outer papery covering and you will find a cluster of cloves, break each one off carefully from the centre stalk.
And you will have lots of individual cloves ready to plant into cells, or if the ground is warm enough, outside into a prepared patch.
I got 20 cloves from these 2 bulbs so if each clove produces 10 thats a lot of Garlic!
It's most important to plant them the right way up, the flat bottom is the root end and the pointed tip is the top, this one has already started to sprout.
I filled a cell tray with compost, moistened it well and using a dibber made a hole in each cell and pushed a clove firmly into each hole. I have left these in the greenhouse to get established and when its warm enough I will plant out into a patch on our allotment.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
The ground was still covered in ice/snow and far too hard to dig.
But this raised bed had mulch fabric on it, from when we had strawberries growing, so once removed the soil was workable.
So after a good dig over we removed plenty of weeds, roots & old plants.
We will put new Strawberries in here and net them.
But for now the Robins can get busy foraging for grubs
Took this photo on our arrival, as you can see still a layer of snow, but beneath it was ice, frozen solid! Even the pond had a thick layer of ice on it.
Also picked up our seed potatoes and got them into egg trays immediately to 'chit' them, on a light but cool shelf near a window for light.
1st early Foremost & Pentland Javelin also 2nd early/salad Charlotte potatoes.
This year I'm also growing Picasso & Cara main crops, wont 'chit' them just yet, so watch this space.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
