Monday 26th March
I arrived just before lunch with a trailer containing 4 half filled builder's bags of leaves from a neighbour. It took a great deal of effort to drag them to the stack of similar bags awaiting room in my leafmould bins but eventually I got them stacked on top.
I really do need an old lawnmower to shred the leaves up to speed up composting and reduce the volume!
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​Then as I checked over the rest of the plot, I came across a sorry sight. On my last visit I had noticed a rat tap had been sprung but caught nothing. With some difficulty I reset it but was obviously distracted as I left it out on my rhubarb forcing tub. There I found it with a bird caught in it which I was later advised was a wren. The trap obviously works but the rats are clever enough to avoid getting caught. I buried the body, after taking a photo for identification, alongside my fruit trees where I bury any rats I catch.

That done I opted to get another row of seed potatoes planted. There was just enough room next to my Arran Pilot potatoes I had already planted for another row of earlies without disturbing my Brussels sprouts so, working from the boards,  I could just fit in another row and plant my Charlotte seed.

​I fitted in 11 tubers leaving 3 to plant in containers at home.

​I then set about weeding the rest of the onions. The damp soil and likelihood of rain meant that after hoeing the weeds between the rows I had to rake the weeds out to stop them rooting again. I had cut down an old rake, cutting a couple of tines from each side, so it fitted between the rows. I finished with a big heap of weeds to add to the compost. The groundsel was just about to flower so it was important to remove the tops to stop it seeding.

​The onion bed nice and clear of weeds - and the path swept clean. The boards helped me navigate between the rows without compressing the soil with my feet.

Sunday 25th March
After an Association committee meeting on-site to discuss several issues about the new cabin, I got on to the plot rather late. I had three tasks I wanted to get done so set about the first one of removing the huge pile of prunings from the blueberries and blackberry. I managed to squeeze them into a large builders bag being very careful with the thorns on the gooseberry twigs. As I finished I realised I had missed a couple of gooseberry bushes and they had started into growth so I spent a while pruning them so I could take all the  prunings to the tip in one go.
I then started the process of deploying the anti-mole bulbs I bought that arrived in the post yesterday. Following the instructions I planted three bulbs on a line across across the entrance, one by the path and one by each side boundary. They were only small bulbs but had to be planted 2-3 inches deep. I now need to wait a week before planting 3 more bulbs 6 or 7 metres further up the plot. I then finish by planting a further up the plot at 4 day intervals. The moles are supposed to be repelled by the slight smell given off by the bulbs so move away off my plot. My apologies to my neighbours!
I then decided to leave weeding another row of onions in favour of getting the first of my Arran Pilot potatoes planted before the shoots got too long. I planted a row of 11 tubers leaving a couple which I plan to plant in pots at home.
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The Brussel Sprouts are still cropping but I've managed to dig over part of the patch so I can plant the Early Potatoes.

​Finally I harvested a leek to go with the couple of small ones left from the last harvest, a large, very scabby, parsnip and a good picking of curly kale before going home for a late Sunday lunch.

Thursday 22nd March
A mistake in the date of an appointment meant I had a free morning to come down to the plot. I brought some broad bean plants that needed planting out after growing on in the greenhouse and hardened off in the frame.
Unfortunately the patch needed digging first. I had covered a strip with some corrugated plastic I have for cloches to warm the earth so I didn't want to move the soil around too much. However my back won't cope with using an ordinary spade and my Backsaver spade requires I start with a trench.



Having removed a barrowload of soil for the trench, it took only a short time to dig the patch and my back was not strained.




​Backsaver tools are extremely expensive but they do 'what's on the tin'. (Mine is an old pre-Backsaver label version given to me many years ago and now proving its worth!)
I was pleased that there was so little bindweed root in three patch, the biggest infestation being next to, and coming from under, the path. I was tempted to lift a slab to get at the source but being pressed for time decided to leave it until later. What roots I found went into the top of my incinerator to be dealt with another time.

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I then turned to the next most expensive tool in my collection, the Wolf Garten hoe/cultivator purchased some time ago with a birthday present Stewarts voucher. On a long handle it is excellent at breaking down soil into a fine filth and did a grand job on the lumpy patch. I only worked on half the strip, leaving the rest to break down naturally, as I only need a strip to plant the beans so the difference is clear in the photo.

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I then laid out boards along the strip and fetched the broad bean plants. I had sown 30 seeds in toilet roll tubes but only got 13 plants so I spaced them out along the row leaving quite a space between each and with extra compost from the blind tubes alongside.A new sowing of broad beans is already sprouting in the greenhouse at home.









​Once the beans were all planted I fetched a polythene tunnel cloche from the shed to protect the young plants from the elements until they get established.

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That done I turned to my part weeded onions and used the hoe to cut through the roots before hand weeding. I weeded one more row, just 3 more to go!



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​I then looked to harvesting. I already had Brussels waiting at home but a neighbour came by and I offered him some, at which he produced a lovely jar of honey he got from working with a friend. An excellent trade! I then dug up a few leeks and pulled some more forced rhubarb to take home.

​Tuesday 13th March
There's much to do on the plot so I had to prioritise. After emptying the kitchen waste and the first bag of grass cuttings of the year from a neighbour, I went straight to collect the canes from the shed. I first needed to hammer in the posts to firm them up so I fetched the thumper and installed all the posts I needed for blackberries and raspberries - and the runner beans. I then cut the bottoms of plastic bottles to be caps to these posts. However, I found I had left the stapler at home so had to collect them all to store in the shed until I can fix them on the posts so the wind won't blow them off.


 I fixed a few more screws to rest 3 canes on and wired them on between the posts and then tied the six remaining vines along them.




​There was a mountain of prunings that will have to be taken to the tip which can be seen in the foreground in front of the lovely tidy gooseberries and blackberries.

​Thank goodness they are thornless! - And I still need to dig out several shoots where the stems have touched the ground and rooted.
Finally I harvested some Brussels leaving enough for 3 or 4 more meals, though the end plant which was always rather weedy has started producing small buttons that are getting larger.  I then picked a tip from each of the curly kale plants giving enough for a meal of tender small leaves without any whitefly!

Sunday 4th March
After replenishing my stock of compost and lime at the Trading Hut and chatting quite a bit I went on to the plot with limited time.
I decided that I would be best just doing one task. I sorted out my thickest gloves and put them on over another thin set so I could work with the thorny branches of my gooseberries.
The bushes had got very congested because I had left them alone having transplanted them recently. I selected several outward pointing branches and cut out all those hanging down onto the ground aiming for a goblet shape. I then trimmed about a third off each twig ensuring all crossing twigs were sorted.
I finished with much tidier bushes and a great heap of thorny twigs that need dealing with, once I sort out how to carry them down to the tip.