Shaping up

The old compost heap is no longer! Despite the husband's hernia, he has managed to sieve all of the old compost into our new compost bin. He's very chuffed with himself. And I'm very chuffed with his hard work. It now means that once we move the tool box back about 3 foot I'll have space for another bed. It will be long and thin, the same length as the soft fruit cage bed, but not as wide. Thinking I might try some parsnips in it this year if we get it built in time.

I managed to get another bed of spuds in, this time it was Lady Balfour which are second earlies. My King Edwards are still chitting, and I got my first earlies in about 2 weeks ago. I'm not that keen on all the digging required for getting potatoes in the ground. Its damn hard work.

Seamus gave me 4 (very heavy) bags of compost last weekend, I nearly had my own hernia after lifting them out of the back of the car and getting them to the plot. I've been digging it in to the beds, its gorgeous stuff.

It's Easter this coming weekend, if the weather stays dry we'll try and get 2 full days in at the allotment. We'll move the tool box back and then make a new cage for the sweetcorn.

That'shallot

Went to the allotment yesterday and it was so warm I was nearly in a t-shirt...yes, it looks like spring might finally be here, hoooray! It was really mild and sunny, glorious. Makes such a change from the sub zero temperatures we've been experiencing.

I spent 4 hours there and enjoyed every second. I dug over and made a bed for my onions and shallots and to be honest I was expecting it to be really hard work. But the soil was light and easy to dig, maybe because we had potatoes in that area last year so they'd done most of the hard work for me. I actually dug up a few that we'd missed, it always amazes me how difficult it is to get them all out when you want them!

I also dug over a couple of other beds and generally tidied up, its looking good up there, am really looking forward to a busy and fruitful year. Bring on Spring.

Back at home today I sowed lots of peas, some to keep at home on the terrace and some to bring to the allotment. I also sowed some spinach and radishes to keep me going at home. And started the first of my sweetcorn, two types - Honeydew and Swift. My chillies have germinated which is a relief, the seeds are right at the end of their use by date.

Anyway, here's a picture of my new onion bed:

Hard frost

I went to the allotment yesterday, the weather was glorious, clear blue sky but with a biting wind. There had been a hard frost overnight, the top 2 inches of soil was rock hard which made digging hard work. And that's all I was really there to do so I ended up with a sore back. I brought 2 buckets of the compost I extracted from my wormery the day before with me and spent about half an hour preparing the bed I'm going to put peas in this year. I first removed 3 large comfrey roots and moved them to another area on the plot. Then I dug out several shallow trenches in the bed and put in a layer of shredded paper followed by a chunky layer of wormery compost, and covered it all back up with soil. Hopefully when I sow lots of rows of peas they'll benefit massively from the rich compost and layer of moisture retaining shredded paper. Well, that's the plan anyway!

What else did I do...I discovered to my horror that the horseradish roots had broken through the bottom of the plastic pot that they're in and were happily spreading a million roots through the ground underneath....noooooo! That wasn't supposed to happen! I suppose I'll be digging out horseradish root for the next 20 years! The bit I dug out was brought home and pickled ready for the next time I make roast beef for sunday lunch.

I gave the rhubarb and blackberry plant some feed and tidied up a bit and then legged it home to rest my back and get warm.

Here's a couple of pics of the plot, one of the whole plot and the other of the old compost heap that James has been tackling recently.

Worms

Its been way too long since I wrote anything on this blog. Must do better!

The allotment is looking great, I'll take some photos when I'm there tomorrow. Have had some handy husband help recently, he's got to the bottom of the old compost heap which is something we've been wanting and trying to do since we took on the plot 2 years ago. He also made a massive sieve which sits on top of the new compost bin and we've sieved most of the old compost to get rid of stones but more importantly, all the nasty weed roots that have been lurking in there for years.

Today's job was to empty my wormery at home. Not a pleasant job and a bit back breaking. I don't know what the best way to empty a wormery is, the only way I think it can be done is by literally picking over every bit to separate each worm from the gorgeous rich compost. I started by emptying the top layers of uncomposted kitchen waste in to buckets. Then I spent the best part of an hour and a half picking worms from 4 buckets worth of compost. It was quite therapeutic and at least the sun was shining. It was bitterly cold though, I had loads of layers on and my hat pulled right down over my ears. I always find it fascinating picking through the compost, it always amazes me that we eat so many eggs and avocados! But I guess its that they take the longest to break down. I'll bring 3 of the buckets of compost to the allotment to dig in to the beds.