​Moving compost and sowing parsnips

Tuesday 4th April
Having dug all the grass (green manure) out of a strip of the 'Roots' bed, I set about sowing a row of 'Tender and True' parsnips. This is the hybrid that a neighbour had grown and had harvested so many perfect roots that he was happy to give me one of them. I hardly ever get nicely tapered roots so I am trying this hybrid.



I am also trying seed tapes. A set of tapes is the same price as a packet and, with 6 metres of tape, there is enough for a double row on my plot. Fortunately there was no wind as I think laying out a tape would be difficult in a breeze. However I found it easy to stretch the tape down the drill, fixing the end by digging it in with the tip of a trowel. I spaced the rows at the minimum of 10 inches. The tape already spaces the seeds 2 inches apart of course.
When I had covered the seed tapes with soil and tamped it down with the back of the rake, there was just a small groove that concentrated the water, slug bait and fertiliser to finish.

---

I then turned my attention to the half empty compost bin. It took some effort to shovel the compost from the bottom of one up to the top of its neighbour until one was nearly empty and the other was full to the brim and heaped some more.

​The remaining compost will make a good base for the runner bean trench I need to dig out next time.

​​​What I didn't manage to do was finish clearing out my shed. This is rather important as I need to begin preparing the greenhouse for my tomatoes etc and that means returning the good stuff back to where it belongs - in the shed.
​I also need to deal with the rats that I think have returned to the far end under the rubbish! I set my new rat trap inside the door baited with some old biscuits I found lurking at the bottom of my tool bucket and went home.