Eggs from the hens - the lightest (top) is from Edwina, the brown one is from Florentine and the darker cream on is from Pepper. We are now getting three eggs per day, Tracey and Caramel still aren't laying. 

And the top of the DVD player makes a great heated propogator! 

The patio window make a great place to start seedlings! 

The first radish out of the greenhouse - small but very tasty! 

Chloe's sunflowers just staring to grow 

The left hand plot from the bottom 

The left hand plot from the top 

A view of the three plots 

Asparagus spears - unfortunately we cannot eat any for the next 2 years 

Asparagus beds - all done 

Anit bird netting over the new water pipe hoops 

Under Gardeneer hoeing the paths. 

Something is eating my broad beans 

A few pictures I took - now I have discovered how to do picture collages on picasa! 

Rhubarb and garlic bed, once the garlic is harvested I shall move the other rhubarab that I found and will have the whole bed as rhubarb, as we love it! 

second sowing of pea seedlings on their way 

I laid the asparagus crowns over a ridge, then covered them with soil 

First harvest off the plot - Purple sprouting broccoli and slim leeks. 

We burnt off a load of the brambles and are slowly going along cutting even more down to clear the right hand plot 

Hooray! It's mine, all mine - at least the next door plot is mine (I might share it with the rest of the family as long as they do the digging!) At least I now have somewhere to put all the strawberries I ordered!, plus the polytunnel, raspberries and blackcurrants! 

Blustery day

At the plot today it was warm but very blowy, which meant that my new water butt attempted to fly, luckily it's abilities are about as good as mine and it got about 5 foot, and then resorted to rolling away.

Did some more digging - "ooooh me back!", sowed some more seeds in the greenhouse, inside which it was very warm - a nice place to retreat to when it threw it down with rain! and installed the said water butt. I am surprised at the amount of water that the greenhouse collects - just as well as they have not turned on the water at the plots yet, although they said that it would be turned on in April.

Have not heard about the next door plot and the Guy who oversees the site appears to be avoiding me - probably because I ask about it every time I see him!

I am off work this week so hopefully will be able to make massive inroads into all the things that need doing - well maybe!

Et voila!

I had a peek under the three layers of fleece and this is what I found:
Carrott seedling above and onion sprout below.

Francis' Bed

Francis dug his bed yesterday - it was very hard going. I will re-dig it breaking up the clods and adding manure & compost - aren't I nice?

Compost bin.

Last week I turned compost bin number 1 and constructed another. I will probably make another so there is one for filling, one for rotting down and one for using. That's the theory anyway. I will also construct an enclosure for muck and somewhere for chicken manure.

Very hard work

This is the bed I have been digging, into which I will plant more carrotts, onions, shallots, parsnips (with radishes in same drills) and beetroot.

This is one of my 'onions and roots' beds, which had brassicas in it last year, not that they grew to much, but the chickens liked them!

Broccoli is sprouting

Purple Sprouting Broccoli - ready to start picking. It feels nice to have a crop that I can now start harvesting, this will be the first thing we will eat off the plot this year.

The Spring cabbage that the birds had munched seems to have recovered and is growing fast, as are the leeks that I planted very late last year.

Rhubarb rhubarb

Rhubarb - on it's way - a vast improvement from a week ago. I have also discovered some more Rhubarb, one clump I am forcing by putting a bin over it and the other I have fed it with some pelleted chicken manure.

Water water everywhere...

Newly installed water butt. This is one of the barrells I salvaged from the post office in Thetford - The barrells had previously had apple juice in them. I drilled a hole and put a tap in it then raised it on salvaged bricks then had to add some water out of the previous rain water receptical to stop it blowing away!

Beetroot

Beetroot seedlings.

Carrotts

The carrott seedlings that I sowed in the greenhouse have germinated before those I sowed outside under three layers of fleece!

Spring onions

Spring onion seedlings which are just coming through.

Radish

Radish sown on 19th March which has germinated and should be ready in about 2 weeks time.

Aren't gutters great!

The seeds I have grown in gutters so far are from the top:

Lettuce salad bowl, Mixed salad leaves, Felthams first peas (first sowing) and felthams first peas second sowing, Have also sown into gutters, Mizuna, Mustard Red Giant, lettuce Can Can and spinach Reddy.

Gutter peas

Sowed Felthams first early peas into gutter, this is the second sowing for hopefully continuous supply.

Spring is sprung!

Went to the plot briefly today - in the greenhouse nearly everything has germinated - peas, salad leaves, spring onions, beetroot, hearting lettuce and radishes, I am just waiting for the carrots to sprout. Dug some more of the 'roots and onions bed' and Francis came up and finished digging his bed over, which was hard work for him as it was quite compacted - I don't think I dug it at all last year - just made holes and planted into those!

Tomorrow I plan to sow more peas into guttering, sow more carrotts inter planted with onions and plant shallotts. Plus dig some more. I need to get the beds finished for the asparagus and put the potatoes in very soon also.

So much to do so little time!

Survivors

Globe artichoke - Romanesco and green globe which appear to have survived their ordeal - don't know which variety is which though!

More seedlings

Tomato at the back, brussels sprouts on the right and calabrese on the left

Tomato seedlings

Tomato seedlings which I started off in the house then put out into the mini greenhouse. They include Sungold, Gartenperle, Marmande, Big boy and San Marzano.

Beans means...

Sowed some Climbing French beans into newspaper pots - Borlotti and Corona D'ora