17 March

Managed a couple of hours this morning - went up on my bike!
Concentrated on bottom allotment, weeded bed 3 (this years brassica bed), tidied up the brassicas in bed 4 (the remainder will have to come out soon ready for more seed potatoes) and sorted out all the strawberries. Quite a few of the strawbs are about 5 or 6 years old and are getting a bit woody so I'm going to bring a load of the new plants in the greenhouse and refresh my plants.

I also cleaned up some of the paths, needed a spade to scrape off some of the strawberry runners, etc.

Finished off with some watering and tidied the shed as there wasn't room to swing a hamster never mind a cat!

In the conservatory at home everything seems to be doing well like the peppers and cucumber

the cabbages have lost a few of the lower leaves but the ones in the greenhouse look better, the sunflowers are getting quite tall, the marigolds, corn flowers and lobelia have germinated quite quickly, the celeriac looks good (never done it before, OH fancied it)

I'm pleased with the sungold tomatoes, they look ready to prick out (I haven't bothered to do any other kind, they are just soooo good and we have a great tomato swapping scheme at work!)

11 March

2 trips this weekend, Friday put 20 First Early potatoes in raised bed no.7 in bottom allotment and covered with glass.
The broad beans look like they have taken ok.

Also put 3 rows of Early Nantes carrots in Bed no.8 and half a row of shallots and sowed two rows of parsnips on top allotment.

On Saturday in the greenhouse at home I gave it a good wash inside and out and potted on loads of peppers and sowed some organic cucumber, marigold, lobelia and some more sweet peas. The conservatory is quite full of seedlings now!

Sunday morning spent some more time on top allotment putting in a row and a half of onions seeds (first time I've tried seed!), a row of chioggia pink beetroot (loved this last year) and another row of carrots - half Yellowstone and half Early Nantes.
Put some sunflowers in on top allotment and in daughter's patch on bottom allotment.

Dug up 3 more parsnips - they're quite a good size now and got a bag of rocket leaves.
It was a lovely morning, a much better weekend than last Sunday's washout!

I really need to prunt the fruit trees but I hope it's not too late....

2 March

Popped up this afternoon with OH and puppy.
Put the broad beans in raised bed in bottom allotment as they were getting a bit floppy.

27 February

Started off the Sungold Tomatoes in my electric propogator in the conservatory.
Been meaning to do it for weeks!

26 February

Biked up to allotment at 08:00 - no-one there!
Concentrated on the bottom allotment this morning.
Chopped down the hungarian grazing rye and dug it in on the bed for the broad and french/dwarf beans (third bed back in photo), also weeded the carrot bed (front bed). The broad beans will be going in next weekend as there are quite tall now:

Weeded the sweetcorn and butternut squash bed (front bed) and the onion bed (rear):

Then I spent a bit of time weeding my daughter's area - quite a few docks starting here and the roots from the raspberries where everywhere! The glass has warmed up the soil nicely for the first early potatoes which will be going in next weekend.

Couldn't leave without a bag of salad for my sandwiches, mainly rocket, lambs lettuce and a few other leaves which had been protected from the frost.

A good couple of hours work!

Back home, I potted on the cabbages and some of the bell peppers and moved the sprouted peas and mangetout to the greenhouse. The rest of the peppers need potting too - time....

18 February

Went up this aftenoon for a couple of hours with youngest daughter. Picked some more sald for my sandwiches next week!

Managed to dig in all the green manure on the top allotment and also the remaining salad which was past it's best. It rained half way through and we saw another lovely rainbow but I just carried on digging with my waterproof jacket on and my daughter took shelter in the shed until it had nearly stopped.

Put some more kitchen waste in the bean trench and filled it in. Left it mounded up as I'm sure it'll rot down over next couple of months:

Top allotment looking fairly tidy now, next visit I'll have to dig in the green manure on the bottom allotment.

Looking forward to getting my first early potatoes under glass in 2 weeks time!

13 February

Went up on my bike for an hour to see what how it was doing after all the snow.
I've missed going gor the last couple of weeks but couldn't do much as the soil was realy soggy!
Dug up a few parsnips and leeks, got the last of the beetroot and some salad.

Started raining and there was a lovely full double rainbow which my pictures don't do justice too as I couldn't get it all in the frame!

Picked some salad as well - amazed it survived being under snow for days.