Sunday 23rd April
I was at the Trading Hut checking on the details of a plotholder wanting some rotavating done when my son arrived wanting some supplies. After giving him a conducted tour of the plot and having a chinwag it was time to go to the cafe for coffee!
Having refuelled I returned to the plot and started the process of sowing a row of peas. Having the bed mulched complicates things as it takes quite a while to clear a strip before digging a trench. However the soil was nice and moist under the mulch (in contrast to the soil I dug for the potatoes on my last visit). I soon had scattered the 3 packets of old seed, cheap from InExcess (Douce Provence), and added a light sprinkling of paraffin before covering and firming the soil over the seeds.
Leaving the watering until later I moved to my roots patch and prepared a seed bed for some turnips, only to find I hadn't got the seed packet in the batch of seeds I had with me. I'll sow them next time.
That left just the tunnels to anchor down with stakes. The old stakes, the bottoms of Dahlia stakes bought from the Trading Hut, were still in good condition and were soon bashed in with my club hammer. Some of the securing screws were missing but fortunately I had remembered to bring a box of new screws. I had to cut 4 stakes to locate the doorway bar as I used scrap timber for them last year and they had all rotted away. The top end of the stakes will cut down nicely to make at least two row markers each.
Over coffee it had been mentioned that it will turn cold next week and that potato shoots would need protecting. As mine are already earthed up, I used two lengths of fleece I had stored in bags hanging in the shed/greenhouse. The shoots are safe for the week and then I will move the fleece onto the carrots to protect them from carrot fly.
Finally I watered all my seeds and seedlings and cut two more fat asparagus spears to take home for lunch and my weekly session listening to Gardeners' Question Time.
I was at the Trading Hut checking on the details of a plotholder wanting some rotavating done when my son arrived wanting some supplies. After giving him a conducted tour of the plot and having a chinwag it was time to go to the cafe for coffee!
Having refuelled I returned to the plot and started the process of sowing a row of peas. Having the bed mulched complicates things as it takes quite a while to clear a strip before digging a trench. However the soil was nice and moist under the mulch (in contrast to the soil I dug for the potatoes on my last visit). I soon had scattered the 3 packets of old seed, cheap from InExcess (Douce Provence), and added a light sprinkling of paraffin before covering and firming the soil over the seeds.
Leaving the watering until later I moved to my roots patch and prepared a seed bed for some turnips, only to find I hadn't got the seed packet in the batch of seeds I had with me. I'll sow them next time.
That left just the tunnels to anchor down with stakes. The old stakes, the bottoms of Dahlia stakes bought from the Trading Hut, were still in good condition and were soon bashed in with my club hammer. Some of the securing screws were missing but fortunately I had remembered to bring a box of new screws. I had to cut 4 stakes to locate the doorway bar as I used scrap timber for them last year and they had all rotted away. The top end of the stakes will cut down nicely to make at least two row markers each.
Over coffee it had been mentioned that it will turn cold next week and that potato shoots would need protecting. As mine are already earthed up, I used two lengths of fleece I had stored in bags hanging in the shed/greenhouse. The shoots are safe for the week and then I will move the fleece onto the carrots to protect them from carrot fly.
Finally I watered all my seeds and seedlings and cut two more fat asparagus spears to take home for lunch and my weekly session listening to Gardeners' Question Time.
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