Bit by bit

You'd think that a couple of days off for the Easter break would mean I'd have plenty of time at the Hill, but not so - where does the time go?

I went down late afternoon with the intention of planting the potatoes (still!) but got side tracked with the front border.  Invasive grass is creeping in from the raspberry bed; and the three lavender bushes are leggy and straggly.

The plan is to replace the lavender, and I have half a dozen sturdy little plants at home ready to plant out - and to clear out the grass and its spaghetti roots once and for all.  I got to work with the fork and spent a satisfying hour or so loosening the soil and chasing the roots and picking out these and any  other weeds.  Plenty more to do, but the result looks good.

I rough dug the miscellaneous bed, so that's another one ticket off - and dug a few potatoes, a few leeks and pulled some rhubarb.

The pink stalks to the back of the pic for mum, the thicker ones to the front will form the basis of the first batch of rhubarb wine of the year.  Marvelous.

Half a Job

The clocks went forward last weekend (which gives us more daylight in the evenings), so with that and the better weather, it does feel like Spring is well and truly upon us.
I wish someone would tell the tomato seeds I sowed a couple of weeks ago - not a hint of them coming up, so I'll have to have another go with different seed.  They were pretty elderly, so it's not a complete surprise.  The brassicas all up and running, and lettuce and sweet peas too.

I went to the Hill today with the intention of at least getting the spuds planted.  I got sidetracked, however, and made a thorough and comprehensive job of weeding the front bed, ready for carrots on parsnips.

Then I took the bean frame down and moved it to it's new position (that is, chucked the two end supports onto the bed that they need to be fixed to).

I dug up some leeks - we could be charitable and call them trendy 'baby leeks' to make them feel better about themselves.  Then I dug a couple of the picasso potatoes - they haven't fared quite as well as the carolus, and have some slug damage, but not too bad.

Finally, I pulled the first few stalks of rhubarb, and came home.  Never did get those potatoes planted....

Plant Sale, Poor Service and Planting Out

The weekend was very busy with activity at the Hill - we had our Spring plant sale on Saturday and Sunday lunchtimes (the clubhouse open for beer and sandwiches both days too - hurrah!).  The idea was that if you sow a few more that you usually do, the extras could be sold with the proceeds going to allotment funds.

With this in mind, when I did my big sow-fest in April, I also went through all of the outrageously out-of-date seed packets from the seed swap, and sowed 12 types of brassicas thickly in strips of modules (8 of these germinated, 4 types were duds), and half a dozen trays of 'everything else' including herb seeds to make up mixed 'living salad' tubs.

I took those along the the sale which was well attended on both days, and couldn't resist a cherry tomato, cucumber (I must have overlooked these and haven't sown any this year) and a tray of dianthus which I plan to plant out at the front of the plot.

With so many people around I didn't get as much done as I had hoped to on the plot on Saturday just pulling this armful of rhubarb, and a meal of asparagus - not least because on a return visit to the Hill at tea time the car broke down.

Vantage Toyota World had the car in for a recall in the week and managed to release it back to me with the alternator unplugged.  The car was jump-started easily enough (thank you, nice man in Sainsbury's car park), but of course the battery was not recharging as I drove and indeed became more and more flat until an excitement-filled few minutes when the battery was so out of juice that the power steering failed as I was driving.

Ten points to the RAC who had the world's easiest car fix by plugging the alternator back in; minus several hundred points to Vantage Toyota whose slapdash actions could easily have been far more catastrophic than the cross customer with a wasted evening.

I went back on Sunday to put up the pea wigwams, plant out peas, sweetpeas and broad beans, which look fantastic - instant allotment!  However, I couldn't take photos as my phone ran out of juice.

Not a good weekend for batteries, all in all!

Normal Service Has Resumed

Yes, I was so organised.  Yes, I was so on top of everything.  Yes, I went away on holiday.  And yes, I now harbour the National Collection of dandelions on my plot at the Hill. Boo.

However, apart from the weeds, the rhubarb is also flourishing; the strawberries have flowers and I have cut half a dozen asparagus spears. Hurrah!

I set about whacking it all back into shape on Saturday late afternoon, and made some headway with weeding dandelions and the willowherb out of the paths, and trying to end up with all the cleavers in the compost bin and not wearing it home.  Not for nothing is is called the Velcro plant.

I saw Reg-next-plot at the clubhouse when I nipped in for a beer afterwards, and he offered me some onion seedlings, if I would like to go round and pick them up.

Once I'd collected the 30 seedlings in little pots on Sunday morning, I went straight to the Hill to plant them out.  They look robust and fizzing with life whilst standing proud in the pots; and like weedy slips of grass when planted out.  I do hope that they survive!

The good news is that all the seeds that I put in during my sow-fest before I went away are all up and raring to go - apart from a complete absence of tomatoes. Not sure why that is, and given that two of the varieties are from my trail of Marshall's seeds, I am a bit concerned as I have no spare seed.

I'll get the broad beans and peas of the bench at home and planted out at the weekend, something that will please Domino cat no end.

He says that it's a bit of a squash at the far right of the bench - look closely - and he would prefer not to have to share!