30 January 2011 - Shaping up

Today we did some good preparation for the season ahead. 2 good hours - the longest we have spent on the plot for what seems like months! Very invigorating and good to reconnect with our little patch of earth

The beds with green manure have all now been dug over and extra manure added if appropriate. The carrot bed had all our left over growbags dumped in it. We hope this will give our roots the conditions they need. Note - parsnips too, as they fork if the ground is too rich. Another bed doomed to grow brassicas was limed and similarly dug through. Two beds are now covered in plastic to warm them up.

N did his pruning thang with the apple trees (note - we shall wrap them up once they start budding to avoid the disaster of late frost last year). After pondering he left the plum and cherry just in case this is not the right time of year for them. He dug up two very invasive raspberries to donate to our new allotmenteers, Chris and Dave, and cut down the remaining plants to the ground.

Our potatoes, purchased in Ayletts, are starting to chit. This year we are growing Sarpo Mira x 10, Sante x 10 and King Edward x 10 (maincrop), Anya x 5 (second early) and Arran Pilot again x 5, Rocket x 10 (first early). I shall post a picture of them chitting for your viewing pleasure.

The mousetraps continue to trap the pesky vermin and - sadly - we suspect one robin.

No sign yet of the garlic we planted recently and the strange old garlic is looking good.

Weather note: cool and cloudy, not unpleasant. Not anywhere near Spring-like that. We hunker down and hope.

2 January 2011 - Happy New Year y'all

Happy New Year - and here's to another great year of growing (some) fab produce.

This is by way of a Note for the Archive really rather than a genuine Blog. It is to record that we planted the garlic today - 56 Solent White (Bed 9), 13 Elephant (stalking along on the bank) and 18 Large Solent White (Bed 5). And the strange mutant garlic from yesteryear is still going. We are a little afraid of what it might become.

Weather note: somewhat less cold (a balmy 3 degrees) and cloudy.

Kill record: 3 more stiff little bodies to collect - yay!