At Long Last!

Spring in now in the air - the temperatures are now finally up there in double figures, and frost does not feature on the forecasts for the first time since about November. Hurrah!

That means that all systems are go, and I had a list of jobs that I wanted to get done this weekend at the Hill, and at home.  First up at home was mending the mini greenhouse - the covers don't last forever, and mine developed a rip in Autumn which has steadily got worse over winter.  The new cover looks very smart, and now I can get the trays of peas and broad beans out and off the kitchen windowsills.

Up off to the Hill yesterday morning, I wanted to make the most of the improved weather and get the potatoes in.

I started by digging over the final part of the potato beds, more weeds for the compost daleks - then emptying more of the hideous compost bins onto this year's potato beds.  The bins seem to be like the magic porridge pot - however much I take out they are still half bloody full.

The less rotted can be charitably described as 'a bit twiggy', but further in, it's better stuff.  It all went on the beds anyway - I'm sure that the potatoes are up to barging their way past some minor obstacles!

I put all the potatoes in using a stick to make an 8-10" hole for each one.  I'm growing Lady Cristl and Winston as first earlies; International Kidney and Kestrel as second earlies; and Picasso and King Edwards as main crops.

I had my eye on the clock because at lunchtime in the clubhouse, Allan R gave a talk on fuchsia growing - he's put this together because one of the categories in the Show in August will be 'best fuchsia from supplied plant', and I'm glad he did - I don't know much about growing pot plants, and my coleus a couple of years ago was - er - a bit of an embarrassment.

I really enjoyed the talk along with a couple of dozen other plotholders, and we all went off with our chosen small plants to cherish and nurture. The sandwiches and beer were welcome too!

Having done the hard digging earlier, and then an hour's sit down, my back told me that I'd done enough at that point - so a quick tidy up, and off home for a soak in the bath, and to make plans for Sunday...