The rain has stopped!

I've popped down the plot a few times to the odd job like maintain the cameras and on the plot. I have managed to tie in all the canes of the berries to the wires along the boundary. At last I have tidied them all up apart from the newly planted blackberry. I just need to mulch along the fence to limit the growth of the bindweed that is sure to appear.

Today, however, the rain has abated and I got down for a normal Sunday morning's work. On arrival it was obvious the wind had ripped open the netting round some of my brassicas and it took some time to rearrange everything and peg it down.



​I then set up my Ghillie kettle and boiled up for a lovely cup of fresh brewed coffee using one of my 'cafetiere' insulated mugs. One of my little luxuries I enjoy!

Afterwards I wanted to prepare the patch to plant out the spring batch of garlic and shallots. That meant I had to weed the asparagus so I could barrow the leafmould heap that was in the way over onto the bed. Then I could spread the composted woodchip over the patch ready for planting.

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Woodchip mulch newly spread over onion/garlic patch & in the background heaps of leafmould on the asparagus bed.

Before I went home I set out a row of 9 shallots, Escallote Grise, in the new patch, planted through the mulch using a dibber so just the tip showed through the surface. They are a special variety of hard skinned shallots (supposedly a chef's choice!) that I use to dice over a summer salad. I hope the birds don't tug at them looking for worms - that is the whole of last year's crop I had saved.

Checking over the brassicas I see the Aureo F1 cauliflower plants have not survived the cold and wet and the stems have rotted through. The lonely 2 year old cauliflower plant that looked as though it might produce this winter has also collapsed though the single cauliflower left with it in the tunnel looks almost ready. The two 'perenial' cauliflower plants, however, are growing well and have just started to form a heart.
I found a folding pruning saw in my tools so tried to start pruning the crab apple on the plot but the saw was so blunt I gave up until I bring down a sharp saw to cut off the two branches I have marked for removing. There is a little more pruning of shoots to do and I will probably remove the fruits for composting before the delicate new shoots appear. The birds don't seem to appreciate them.
I finished off with a walk round to the bonfire site with a bundle of prunings from the berries. I did a full circle of tracks 2 & 3 just to see what others are doing. Someone had planted their shallots/onion sets etc in shallow furrows - a good idea to help with watering on our sandy soil. I should do so! - and not just with shallots and onions! I also stopped to chat with a couple of new tenants at the far corner of the site, at the end of track 3 where I had planned,some time ago, a couple of new bins for woodchip and stable litter. I need to get that idea realised!

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