Rhubarb 'n' Raspberries

Once I had had enough of studying I went to the plot and dug the ground where the other half of the rhubarb bed is going to be. It was not too bad to dig, although full of bindweed. All I need to do is to get two more gravel boards from B&Q and put the edging round, even up the soil, add some manure and relocate some of the rhubarb plants, as they are too close together at the moment.

The only thing is that currently the bed looks like a recently dug grave......Now where did I put my Husband?

Whilst I was there I went scouting for raspberry canes on the overgrown plot next to mine, found about 5 canes which I think are autumn ones as they appear to be sprouting from the bottom, and 8 which I think are summer canes as they seemed to be sprouting from the along the cane. I might be totally wrong of course, but will be able to see once they actually produce something. Transplanting them might not work, but I thought it was worth a go as it will save me some money. These, if they grow on OK, along with the ones Rachel gave me will give me enough cases to get going with, I can then add some more if needs be.

I heeled these into the strawberry bed temporarily until I can put them into their correct place.

By the time I had finished all that it was almost dark, so called it a day & went home & made a crumble with some of the Rhubarb a fellow plot holder gave me.

It was delicious!

Rhubarb rhubarb...

I could not go to the plot this morning as I was out, but decided to go at lunchtime thinking that I might be able to catch a little of the sunny weather - well of course it started sitting as soon as I left the house! Carried on anyway. The site was pretty much deserted, but when I took Buddy for a walk round the site I bumped into Dominic & Andy, started chatting about their new plot, which they are making great progress with. and was offered two Rhubarb plants that they did not want - they have loads at the other end of their plot. This was a result and I hot footed it back to mine to collect the wheelbarrow & a spade and here it is....

I was then left with dilemma of where to put it......Of course that required a complete rearrangement of the area in front of the shed, so now the plan is to move the muck area to the bottom of the plot where the compost area is and make a long bed for the rhubarb. The bed that you can see will eventually be the same length again and there will be an arch way between the two front beds, making a nice entrance to the plot. Of course, this will also need me to change the entrance to the greenhouse, which will consist of me taking both ends out and switching them round, so that the shed and the greenhouse are accessible from the same path.

Once I had split the rhubarb I ended up with 10 plants, so there will be 9 in the long bed and the other one I have planted into the other rhubarb bed to replace the one that was dug up.

When I got home I decided to have a go at making spiced apple wine. First assemble all ingredients.....

Then plonk into a sterilised bucket with pectolase, leave for 24 hours, add yeast & nutrient, cover & leave in airing cupboard, stirring daily for 5 days....

This smells gorgeous! Mmmmmm

I also strained the elderflower wine into a demi-john, which is now fizzing away nicely.

Dig that!

Today, although much colder than last week, after a murky start, turned into a lovely sunny day. So I donned the wellies & headed off to the plot, laden with my camping stove that I had unearthed from the camper, replenished stocks of tea, coffee & biscuits and my freshly scrubbed out kettle.

I used to have the stove at the plot, but took it home to use when camping, and have since taken a flask with me, but last week I heard my plot neighbour's kettle whistling, which reignited my pleasure for making coffee & tea in my shed. The great advantage of this is you can always make cups of tea for allotment friends & neighbours, which is a great way of getting to know people & improving the community atmosphere, which our site could do with.

So tea making facilities installed, I got on with the main task of the day, which was to dig the next bed. Again this bed had been covered for over a year and all the grass had died off. The only thing with this one is that I don't think I weed killed before I covered it with cardboard then compost & black plastic & the couch grass roots were rampant, although fairly near the surface, whereas the previous bed had far fewer roots left. This is as far as I got, as I was trying to be careful about taking as many of the roots out as I could.

I was going to use this bed as a salad bed & nursery bed, but I am now thinking of putting more strawberries in here instead & intercropping the other main beds with salads etc. I start most thing off in pots & modules, so the need for a nursery bed is minimal. Once I have finished digging it I will put some more compost & manure in & plant up with strawberries.

My garlic plants seem to be doing well. They have grown loads since I planted them out, They have had a fleece shelter but I have now opened the ends up to harden them off more.
The Rubarb I bought from the garden centre, which was already potted up appears to have taken and is now putting out shoots.
As you can see, the sweet peas have now started to send out shoots from lower down the stems, which was the reason for pinching out the growing tips - I like it when a plan actually works!

The lettuce seedings I have had in the greenhouse are coming along and I will transplant them soon into a bigger tray - to carry on growing as indoor plants.

The broad beans I sowed in december are finally showing their faces - there are a few gaps, but I have some I sowed indoors that hopefully I will be able to slot in once they have germinated.

This is the other rhubarb plant that I bought. These plants were already potted up when I bought them, however I also bought 2 that were roots in bags & neither of these have done very well at all. In fact both went squishy, then they seemed to recover & I planted them out, and now they look very sorry for themselves. One has been dug up by something - probably the fox, and the rhubarb plants both looked chewed, strange that they went for the plants that came in bags rather than the ones that came in pots, which have not been disturbed at all.

Plotting on

These are the leeks and onions I sowed and germinated on the windowsill at home. They need potting up so that is what I got on with today.

In the picture above they look quite perky, however once I had transplanted them they looked decidedly bedraggled - hopefully they will perk up a bit!

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I planted up the rhubarb that I bought a few weeks ago. One of the plants was looking a bit dodgy in that it was a bit slimy on top, pulled off the slimy bits & found a decent bud so hopefully it will be ok.

Sweet peas - all a bit leggy but I have pinched out the tops and apparently if you do that then they bush out a bit more.

These are the fruit bushes I bought from homebase - 3 for 10 pounds

one red gooseberry, 1 redcurrant and one blackcurrant. I potted them up because I will not be able to plant them out for a while as I need to get the ground rotorvated first.