Blue Peter instruction required!

Although it has been lovely and Spring-like this week, the forecast for the next few days is back to winter with a vengeance, & true to form, it has been snowy/sleety here today & VERY blowy with a wickedly cold wind.

Sunny yesterday, though, but before I went to the Hill I had a job to do at home – to make a scarecrow! Not that I know whether that is useful to have at the Hill or not, but it’s the only thing that I could think of to do with the long handled feather duster that I’ve just replaced.

After attaching a heavy pole as arms (not well enough, and too heavy, as it turns out) & dressing him in an old polo shirt stuffed with bubble wrap & lengthening his leg with another heavy pole, he was ready to go.

He’s overseeing the broad beans at the moment, but because the feather duster handle doesn’t really give him enough backbone, I’ve had to tie his neck scarf to a stout stake so that he doesn’t keel over. This gives the unfortunate appearance of him hanging from a gibbet which may alarm the local youth, but – I suspect – not any pigeons.

I’ll have a go at Billy Scarecrow mkII next weekend – but on the plus side, when I took mum down to the Hill today & she saw him, I’ve never her laugh so much.

The weather forecast being as it was, I didn’t feel like putting much in the ground – just a short row of TURNIP (snowball) in Plot A (legumes). I had the Hill to myself – maybe because I was later than usual – so managed to stride about without looking too daft measuring by eye (do I not learn?) the number of rows of seed potatoes that we still need.

I had to rescue a black plastic path from the gooseberry where it had blown across to & snagged on the thorns – good to see that they do have a use after all! Replaced the path and put a brick at each end - on balance, the paths do seem to have a benefit, I think.

It’s lovely to see both batches of broad beans now in evidence, & the second sowing of peas are all popping their heads though – much more so than the first lot, which I suppose could be that the second lot are a different variety, new seed & went in a few weeks later.

No sign of any of the other seeds coming up, but with the cold snap forecast, that may be just as well! I’ll give up on the carrot seeds when the ones in the trough here have come up – no sign of them either yet.

Oh – I have changed my mind on the asparagus bed – it will now be up by the rhubarb & seedbed where I can construct a proper raised bed, & still leave room for a compost heap.

So assuming that the weather cheers up for the weekend, I’ll be putting in the second earlies (nadine) and – if I’ve managed to take custody of some pallets that I’ve been promised – I can make two compost bins – and then it really will look like an allotment!