That's shallot!

It was a dull day today, but not too cold. Managed to get to the plot in the afternoon, ventured into the greenhouse and noticed that loads more of the poundland shallots have sprouted - hoorah!

I filled up 2 of the grey crates with compost and planted out the lettuce (little Gem). The tubs are very deep & so next time will put some council compost into them first, then top them off with ordinary compost.

A art from pottering in the greenhouse, I got on with more digging on bed 3. The couch grass is very thick & it is hard work getting it all out - I think it is worse than the bind weed!

Rather than completely dig the beds in turn, I think I am going to get a bit of each of the ones I still have left to prepare so that I can get the seedlings out. My broad bean seedlings need to be put out ASAP, and as yet I have no where to put them.

Taking it easy

was off work today and it was a beautifully sunny day and at the plot it was nice & quiet, it seemed so peaceful after the business of yesterday. There was only me & one other person there - bliss! I was still recovering from rotorvating the plot so decided to take it easy today & give the greenhouse a spring clean. Took all the staging out and painted it with wood stain to try to preserve it a bit. Whilst the paint was drying I cleaned the glass inside & out and did any small repairs that were needed. I put up all the spare green house shelves that I had and then replaced the staging. I had a bit of a reshuffle in order to be able to make the most of the direction of the sun, and also to make space to use some big crates that I inherited.

The greenhouse looking much better

I bought some shallots from poundland and potted them up ages ago and thought that they would never grow, but they have decided to prove me wrong as the first one is now sprouting.

The view down the plot - looking much tidier. I also started constructing what will be the fruit cage & put in the four corner posts using wood that I salvaged from some old fence panels. I will need to buy some timber for the rest of the posts as I have now run out of suitable timber.

Another view down the plot

And the view from the other side.

Door swap

Well I made it back from the X Factor live & I must say that I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it & of course Matt Cardle was great! (I also have a photo of him to put up in my shed!)

I was slightly jaded today though after driving to London & back, then I had to be up early for music practice so managed to make it to the plot at about 2pm this afternoon. The bushes in the greenhouse are all putting on plenty of green growth, even the one I strimmed is trying it's hardest to reach for the skies!

Of course by the time I made it to the plot, the sun that had shown it's self in the morning had conveniently hidden & it was very cold - typical!

Decided to carry out the mammoth task of swapping the ends of the greenhouse round - This involves taking the whole of both ends out at the same time and then rebuilding them. There is always a bit of a dodgy moment when there are no ends at all & the greenhouse feels very rickety, but I managed to get it done & with only one broken pane of glass.

So now the door to the shed & the greenhouse will be able to lead off the same path, which means that I can make a proper 'entrance' to the plot & hopefully when there is an arch to walk under & flowers in the front bed it will look lovely!

It went from this end...

To this end!

Plot update

Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to get to the plot a few times even in the freezing ice & snow....

So far I have started digging one of the small beds in readiness for rhubarb which I want to move into it. I have covered the other small beds with black plastic to prevent further weed growth.

I have now moved everything off the other plot so it is now available to be re-let, apart for a very large pile of cut brambles and rotten wood which I will burn as soon as it is dry enough.

I have cleaned the greenhouse and replaced all the weed membrane under the gravel.

The green house looking much tidier..

Yesterday I started clering the brambles from the bottom of the plot, just cutting the top growth at present, leacing the roots in the ground with enough stumps so I can see them when I come to dig them up. Luckily 1 bed had carpet covering it and the other had black plastic on it so hopefully once the brambles are cleared it should not be too difficult to prepare as I want to put soft fruit in them.