A Cool Week



No rain for a week, lovely. At the weekend I managed to completely tidy my back garden, clearing away all the dead vegetation & debri after the Winter, hoed all the beds & borders & cleaned my greenhouse. Even the lawn got mowed, (the 1st time it's ever been cut in January). All looks tidy now, giving me time to concentrate on working "down the plot".

Went down the plot all day on Tuesday and prepared 2 more large barrels ready for sowing Carrot seeds into later. I added 50% manure & 50% soil to each barrel. After this was done I cleared the storage area behind my shed, plastic trays, plant pots and other bits & pieces were checked for slugs & snails, cleaned & put back in accessible order. 250 plastic milk bottles were washed out & will be used as cloches for my Sweetcorn & Cucumbers later. The bottles have capacity markings on the side of them, so I figured out that my last years Cucumbers were 2 litres tall when I removed the bottles from over the top of them in April. I don't rinse out the newer empty ones as the smell of sour milk confuses some insects.

The weather was a little chilly but pleasant enough when the sunshine penetrated the clouds.

Rhubarb arriving unforced

Wednesday was a little warmer with some weak sunshine & the slight breeze of late had dropped. The soil is starting to dry out & if raked over, the top couple of inches is drying out rapidly. I spent the morning helping one of my friends who is moving to another plot with a few "lifting & shifting" jobs.

Onion sets & Parsnips protected from cats.

In the afternoon I planted some Onion sets & sowed some Parsnip seeds into last years Brassica bed in keeping with my 4 year crop rotation, although this years potatoes will be planted in my other plot. I potted up, Peas (Hurst Greenshaft), Runner beans (Enorma & Scarlet Emperor), Cucumbers (my own seed) and Tomatoes (Gardeners Delight), & Brussel Sprouts (Evesham). Loaded the trays & pots into my car for moving them to my greenhouse.

Thursday morning was warmish again with some sunshine as I arrived at the plot. It clouded over about half an hour later & the air temperature dropped a little. I planted some daffodil bulbs, (& 2 Blackcurrant bushes I was kindly given by Roger one of the other plot holders).

 I then cleared some dead foliage from my Strawberry plants & transfered 3 of the plants to my other plots' Strawberry bed. I potted up some more peas (100), cleaned out my cold frame and decided to call it a day. I loaded up my car with rubbish & certain things I don't put on the compost heap from the plot & garden. These will be taken to our re-cycling centre in the morning.

Friday the 13th, was a lovely sunny day with bright sunshine after a heavy frost last night. I ventured down to the plot in the early afternoon just to check on the effects of the overnight frost, had a chat with a few of my fellow plot holders then toddled off home.

Derek & Mickey (2 of my fellow plot holders) working hard as usual

There's always tomorrow.







A Little Ray of Sunshine



Decorate Your Compost Heap for Christmas

New Years Eve morning surprised me with some sunshine. The air temperature had risen considerable the night before and the rain held off until the evening so I spent the afternoon down the plot. The soil was fairly wet but "workable" enough on my Raspberry bed to clear the weeds and dead leaves away.

I took all the Christmas wrapping paper & cardboard with me and deposited it onto the compost heap, covering it with the weeds etc, from the Raspberry bed.

Raspberry Bed Before Weeding

Raspberry Bed After Weeding

No rain again on New Years Day so I was back down the plot, late morning but just after I arrived the rain started again and the temperature dropped. I spent some time filling seed trays with compost for later use. I thought the compost would warm better in trays, than if it was left in a 60litre bag in the corner of my shed?

HOOKS & PEGS

When you re-cycle your Christmas Tree try using some of it for hooks/pegs.

Saw the main stem just below each set of side branchs, (they are usually growing in threes or fours at the same height around the stem). Leave one part of the stem longer than the other and sharpen it. Ideal for pegging down netting or using as hooks in your shed. They last a long time.

Christmas Tree Pegs

The Bluebells were making an appearance underneath my fruit trees on the drainage ditch bank.


Bluebells Pushing Through

I took the following photograph of the other plot I was working on in 2011. At the beginning of 2011 it was smothered in Bindweed. I spent many hours trying to eradicate it by hand. Although a few weeds are growing I coudn't see any Bindweed at the moment, so fingers crossed. Two full plots to cultivate this year. Bring it on.

Bind weed Free Hopefully?