week ending 26 March

Tuesday afternoon. 21st March
​​I need space to sow some early root veg, carrots, beetroot, turnip - and I must get some parsnips sown as well. However, I first needed to clear the spent woodchip I had used for last year's potatoes. I used the rake and my bent prong fork to pull the woodchip into a heap by the path then barrowed it to this year's potato plot. This was a much slower join than I expected because a large amount of bindweed was revealed. It pulled out fairly easily in long lengths but I filled my bucket more than twice and dumped the roots to drown in the adapted water butt I plan to use to generate liquid fertilizer using comfrey leaves. I let them go to waste last year!
I left a small amount of well rotted woodchip to use as my mulch but mixed with homemade compost from the bin.
To get at the bindweed roots I removed the netting over the gooseberries but that just reminded me that the bushes still needed pruning and they have started into growth!
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That done I turned to the supports for the summer raspberries.

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​Having brought the screws and cordless screwdriver down I needed to fix the bracing bar along the top of the posts. Unfortunately the 3 metre length of timber was a few inches short so I had to cut it in two and insert a short extension in the middle, fixed to the centre post.
Now I just need to transfer the cross pieces from the old posts and rewire them. The bracing bar stops the wire pulling the end posts inwards and the plastic shrink wrapping at the bottom will delay the post rotting off at ground level - I hope!




Finally, after consulting my wife, the chef, by telephone, I harvested, as instructed, some forced rhubarb, some leeks and some spring greens and went home after a good afternoons work.

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