A busy day on the site

After last night's hail,I went over to the allotments in bright sunshine this morning,only to get caught in a sharp shower within five minutes.But from then on it was mostly warm and sunny for the rest of the day. It's good to get proper April weather in April for a change!

I managed to finish assembling the communal manure bunker.Apart from £2 for the heavy duty wire, the pallets,metal and tree stakes were all for free.However it did signal the end for my trusty lump hammer.

 

Some photos of fellow allotmenteers busy on their plots and nice straight lines on Stephen's plot.

 

 

Good to see that the peas,shallots and garlic are all doing well on my own plot.The purple sprouting broccoli are now producing lots of spears.Much fresher than you can buy at the supermarket and very quick to cook.The first Orla potato shoots were just showing through and had slight frost damage so I gave the early rows an extra earthing up for protection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring garden flowers,shoots and seeds

Now that I've got the allotment ,I'm making my back garden beds fairly low maintenance with fruit bushes and shrubs interplanted with bulbs and flowers. I've also been establishing an asparagus bed that may even produce some decent spears this year.

This morning I sowed some containers with end of packet globe artichoke,borage and summer squash seeds (in toilet rolls) and also some mesclun and very mixed lettuce and put them in the cold frames after spring cleaning the glass panes.

Compared to this time last year the garden still looks rather bare but the small daffodils and other bulbs certainly help to brighten things up.

Potatoes planted

I got my potatoes planted out this week. Have been chitting four varieties in my unheated spare bedroom since February;Orla,Saxon,Belle de Fontenay and Harlequin.
Inspired by my trip to Madeira I then bought two more types,Salad Blue and Sharpe's Express on my return home.Oh, and Romano yesterday.

One of three sections planted with potatoes

Took some plot photos today.Lots of bare looking areas but as well as potatoes I've also sown peas,broad beans,chard,leaves and lettuce

Garlic doing well but shallots are still to show.

Last year the strawberries were parked in pots but now have their own place between the rows of raspberries.

I'm having to water as it's so dry!