Multi tasking

Now I know why I am an advocate for the no-dig system.... I hate digging & any one who says that they like digging can come & do mine any time! I have tried to get the dog interested in digging but he just went to sleep instead.

As my back has been through alot over the past few days I decided to do 3 things in turn, so I dug a strip of bed, painted a section of fruit cage & set out & planted the potatoes. The theory was that I would be able to give my back a regular break from digging and be able to stretch it by reaching up in order to paint. this worked quite well and I have now managed to dig about 3/4 of the bed.

The potato bed with all the potatoes set out ready for planting.

Potato bed on the right, bed 5 on the left and behind, the fruit cage half painted. As you can see, I only have blue paint!

All the seedlings that I have been hardening off ready for planting outside.

Andy & Dominic's plot with weed membrane down for paths

Today I have been mostly....

Digging.....

Still carrying on with bed 5 & it seems to be taking an eternity. It was cold & dull today which was a bit of a let down after the past few days of gorgeous sunshine & I soon got cold & had to take refuge in the greenhouse. Sowed some more cosmos, stocks, marigolds and nasturtium. I also sowed some gladioli & triteleia into the front flower bed. Once I had done this I had to go home to defrost.

Yesterday I was mostly.......

Getting on with the fruit cage

I have put in the corner braces and finished off the top rails. It feels much more sturdy and not about to fall over!

I also did a little more digging of bed 5

This is my neighbour Wayne's plot

Roots - the remake

I think I am coming down with a cold as I feel absolutely awful, but I made my self go to the plot today as I think this will be the last fine day we have for a while, as the forecast is for rain for the next few days. I managed to finish the second bed for strawberries, taking out a load more couch grass roots. There were 8 buckets like the one below full of roots from this bed, compared to 3 from the other strawberry bed & it was much harder work!

I put the last of the manure onto the beds, and now they are ready to be planted up.

I now have 5 of my long beds left to dig.

I also had a bit of a rearrange of my shed, which is now better organised and it is easier to get at things, it also means that there is more space to sit and have a cuppa!

And from the other angle - you can see my refreshment preparation area - Vitally important!

1 done 9 to go!

Spent a couple of hours at the 'gym' to day - managed to dig half of this bed over.

The other half has comfrey growing in it which I cut & use on the compost heap and for making the smelliest plant feed ever!

I put some compost in it and then whacked it down with the back of the spade, & will put the rhubarb in here once it has settled a bit.

Weeded round the comfrey with my 'garden claw' and put a mulch of compost round each plant.

Filled 3 of these with bind weed & bramble roots from only 1/2 a bed!
I bought a couple of rhubarb plants from B&Q - don't know if they will be any good but they do have buds on them and because I need to wait until the soil has settled before I plant them I have put them into pots to get them going.

Also put these shelves up by the window in the shed, which I will chit my potatoes on.