Today has been the warmest day of the year so far, with beautiful Spring sunshine - it certainly brought the plotholders out at the Hill.
As I arrived I saw Reg-next-plot, & went straight over to say thank you for planting the raspberry canes. I also asked him about supports for the canes & he gave me some advice about the height of the uprights at each end, & about how many & how high the cross wires should be, & I busied myself with sorting that out.The ladies from the stable arrived with a trailer-ful of bags of manure, so I broke off to give them a hand with unloading, & once they had gone, Reg & I emptied about half of the bags into the skip.
I kept a few bags back and topped off the front compost bin, squished it all down a bit then covered it with a black plastic sack (rather inadequately) & that can now magic itself into compost over the next three months or so.
I went up to the store shed to pay my money for the '3 spuds in a sack' competition & collect compost, bag, potatoes & instructions - John Badger (from the bottom) was in charge of the shed this morning doing brisk business with so many plotholders on site. Back to the plot to plant out a tray of PEAS (latvian) - the broad beans planted out a couple of weeks ago look really good, the sweetpeas slightly less so, but I think that they will come on. In contrast, another of the lettuce has shrivelled up, & the other two don't look great - I'll definitely let them grow bigger before planting out the next lot.
Big sister Helen is up for the weekend, and arrived with mum to see what's going on - she said (rather kindly) that the plot looks better 'in the flesh' than in my photos on here, and was suitably impressed on being given The Grand Tour.We had a look round all the plots - said hello to Rhubarb Brian (mum got him to promise us more tayberries this year) & saw returning-allotmenteer-Christine's new Salad Bar - her wonderful looking young lettuce contrasting greatly with mine, I must say.
Tour over, it was all off to the garden centre for a cup of tea & a toasted teacake. A good day!
It all looks great - who else but us mad gardeners can see beauty in a muck heap?
ReplyDeleteHope you had factor-something-protective on today, that sun was surprisingly strong.
I've got a small shoot of a tayberry if it's any use to you (and you have room, of course) - it's pottd up but still small enough to post! You wouldn't get fruit this year - it fruits on old wood. It's from one of the long canes I hadn't spotted trying to root in the chicken manure mulch.
ReplyDeleteWould you believe it - the lettuce you spotted in my Salad Bar (will have to call it that from now on)are a good, fairly hardy variety called 'Babylon'. I was picking some of them just prior to Christmas. These little plants have actually overwintered under a bit of fleece, in a state of suspended animation. I was about to fling them, but thought they deserved a chance. They appear to be coming out of hibernation in their new home.
ReplyDeleteYes, the sun was strong, Bilbo & I forgot to think about suncream (maybe a bottle in the shed would be a good idea) but I did have long sleeves & trousers on - not quite shorts weather yet.
ReplyDeleteLooking at what a bunch of thugs tayberries can become, I think I'd better pass on the offer, Flum - but many thanks anyway.
I never think of lettuce as an overwintering crop, Chris, but I must give it a go - nearly fainted at the price of an iceberg lettuce in Tesco the other day!!
Bunch of thugs is right! There are 4 on my new plot. Mind you, the one in the garden is well behaved. It's kept in check by a whip and a chair!
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