Growing season

The 'Self-Sown' Garlic bed about a month ago, it is very different now.

Well, it was a lovely Bank Holiday but as normal I woke up this morning and wasn’t sure which day it was. What day it isn’t doesn’t really matter when I’m at home, animals still need taking care of, wood still needs collecting and ‘bigger’ house jobs depend more on the weather than what day of the week it is and so they all just roll nicely into one with time out at work just getting in the way of getting on with living. I never use to feel like that about work though…

Any way, the weather was really nice all weekend, I’ve even started to catch the sun on my face. We have now signed all the deeds to our allotment, so we have started work on them. It’s very exciting and I’m been having dreams about what is going to be growing in which bed… I know, very sad and unfortunately I think both mother middle-sister have been having the same sort of dreams.

The site is on old grazing land and was only plougheda few weeks ago so the soil is only really turned with the turf on the underside, not very easy to dig. We’ve been told by a local farmer that the land is very hungery so we’ve been taking lots of manure (we FINALLY have a use for it!) up there, three car loads later and we’ve only really just covered one bed with it, but really that bed is going to need a few more sacks before it can be called ‘completely’ covered.  On the second bed me and Rhys have mostly dug it over and sown peas down the middle, then carrots on one side and beetroot down the other and then covered it in the very large sheet of bubble wrap that work’s new photocopier was delivered in (they all said I was just like a child, more please with the wrapping then the item within) to keep the warmth and moister in while the seeds get going.

At home all but one verity of the early potatoes have been planted, unfortunately one of the cats, Tit-tat, knocked over the trays of chitting poatoes so I have no idea which are which anymore, I do know however that the ones lef to sow aren’t Shetland Blacks like the label says so they must have already been planted. I spent a very pleasant evening sitting outside round a campfire chatting with mother while she tried to dye some wool and I made paper pots and sowed the first dwarf french bean seeds. I also managed to sow leeks, half a dozen early courgettes, a dozen green curly kale and a dozen cauliflowers. 

And with that, I am proud to announce the growing season officially started in our house! (tough cookies Mother, I got there first!)