What a difference a day makes

Conscious of the work that I needed to do and that time was moving on, yesterday I took the day off and spent it on the allotment getting those important jobs I really wanted to get done.....and what a pleasant day to choose. Not sure it turned out to be the warmest day this year, but it was warm and sunny, particularly in the afternoon, but thankfully I didn't get burnt.

My plan was to finally dig the area to the bottom of the plot, next to the compost bins, double dig it, get rid of all the roots and level it off a bit so that I could use it for planting this year. Well, finally after 4-5 hours of hard work, I managed to get it done...phhheeewwwww. My back is killing me now!



I'm so glad to get this done, as in my first year, I cleared the majority of the plot and this area was where all the turf, roots and rubbish was piled up in a mound and I now have a few bags to take to the tip. Great news.

Having got this done, I then cleared away the leftover cabbages and started my seed planting for this year. Yesterday, I planted the following;-

Peas (around the wire mesh, much like last year)
1 row of dwarf french beans ( we like those, so will plant more)
1/2 row each of Broccoli, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Savoy Cabbage
1 Row of All Year Round Lettuce
1 row of Cos Lettuce
1 row of Tetona Spinach
1 row of Spinach Beet

I have plenty of room now and as I mentioned before, my Dad is busy growing a number of plants too, so if these seeds come on then they can supplement those I get from my Dad.

I repaired the Sweet Pea frame and was going to plant them too, but then realised I didn't have any....oooopps.

You can see all the planting in the following photo's.




Finally, I cut some of the grass and positioned my new blue water barrel, so thanks Dad, yet again, next to the shed and as you can see the strawberries are flowering nicely and the raspberries are shooting up. Excellent. Next job is to build the frames and get the netting to protect the fruit, so we can actually enjoy it this year!




So along with the frame, I'll continue planting and weeding, try to find some guttering for the water collection and stain the shed too. It's amazing when I look at the plot now to how it was at the start and the photo on the blog just makes me appreciate how much I've done, along with help from my family, so thank you. The last 2 photo's just show the plot from the top looking down. Oh, it's going to be a great year this year....I hope.

Planting in the sunshine

It has certainly been a fairly hectic few weeks, but I have managed to visit the plot and continue with some of the jobs I'm trying to get completed before the real growing season begins.

As you can see below, I have finally reached the bottom of the pile and am now building up the barriers to hold the weeds/soil back and then I'll dig this over and level it off as best I can. I've moved some of the soil to the raised bed by the shed and as you can see it's nicely full.






The potatoes have been chitting happily and I planted a few rows 2 weeks ago. To finish them off, I planted the rest and now have 12 (and a bit) rows with a mixture of Earlies and Mains. I did have the fleece on the first lot, but with the weather having warmed up, I have taken that off and we'll see how they get on. Not much to see form the photo, but they are there!




I'd also weeded around the strawberry plants and raspberry canes and as you can see they are starting to look healthy and the raspberries are showing nice signs of growth. One of my jobs is to sort out the frame and netting to protect the crop this year, so the search for suitable wood is on.





I'm planning on trying to sort out a day off shortly to make a little more progress and having been to my parents at the weekend, there are some great looking plants in my Dad's greenhouse, so I need to be ready. Also, I want to start with some of the seeds and the children want to plant some stuff too. Not to mention staining the shed...and more......

As long as the sun keeps showing it's face, we'll all be happy.