December 2017 *back dated, sorry!*

A few days ago, I recieved the most exciting delevery of December...........two fruit trees from Orange Pippin fruit tress. They were a delightful company to purchase from so I am hopeful that means we have some great quality trees.

I went for a 'Scrumptious' apple on an mm106 rootstock  and a 'confrence' pear on a quince A rootstock. They are both maiden whips because both will be espalier trained. I spent weeks researching before ordering so I am hoping I have chosen the correct root stocks after feeling so confused with the conflicting advice online! 

I took the trees to the plot today and planted then both, and did the first cuts, hopefully I did it all correctly, it is terrifying taking secateurs to a nearly purchased tree! We still haven't purchased the post and wires (grrrrrr) but we are hoping to buy reclaimed wooden posts from a nearby city, lets hope we manage to get the job ticked off by the end of January, so for now they are just staked.

I also had the delightful job of retrieving thewaspnest from the compost bin. Which meant lifting and relocating the darlic, refilling with the uncomposted material, collecting and spreading the useable stuff, and excavating the rather delicate structure! It took hours of work, it was worth it though for a look at the amazing thing, I have a new found respect for the insects.

The bin has left a handy gap to build the first on a row of home made pallet compost bins. We will slowly replace each compost bin as they empty. It should make it much easier to turn the heaps and mean we can compost much more material too. I am hoping to grab some pallets from the reclaimed wood yard when we get the posts.

After a hard days work I headed home for a cuppa, with a fantastic harvest of parsnips. Perfect.

Onions, Garlic and Beans.

I have really put in some work this week, my muscles are feeling it and I am now trying to ignore the six, yes SIX mozzie bites on various parts of my body that are driving me crazy.......but looking around before I left this evening made my heart leap with pride. It is pretty much weed free and very tidy. Yes we still have lots to do before the plot is 'to plan' but when it comes to the normal running of the plot, it is feeling very natural now. I am finding the jobs are running smoothly. I have a great routine and i'm getting the hang of clearing and planting a bed in one go, tidying up as I go and staying organised as I work. I guess that has come with time but reflecting on that today makes me feel like a proper gardener haha!
It was time to take down 2 of the 4 bean typees and pull out the courgette plants that grew undeneath to make room for 4 x10ft rows if garlic. The other typees will be cleared once all the beans have dried enough to harvest. The Cara la Virgen de la Baneza Leon beans have only just started to dry out. I am sure they will be ready before the first frosts but they are certainly cutting it fine. Maybe it is the rainy weather or the low temperatures through September but I really thought they would be ready by now! It will be interesting to see if they are this late again next season. Still, i'm sure it won't kill me to wait another couple of weeks to try them, (it might, I can't wait)

Some over winter onion sets went in to, I am sure they are Radar but will have to check. I haven't managed to grow onions successfully do far so it would be great if they actually grow bigger than a marble..........

The Wizard beans are ticked off the list too. I decided to sow direct rather than start them at home. I have covered them with a net tunnel to keep the birds off so hopefully they will be fine.

I did notice that all the swedes have been massacred by the slimmies as has most of the brassica's. I am hoping the slug numbers will decrease now most of the plastic covers have gone, and the toad I found today may help me out too. But next season I need to put a bit more focus onto the slug problem........ hmmmmmmm, just what to try first?

There is still a lot of clearing to do from the summer crops but by the end of October that should up be done. Then it will be all ahout the fruit area of the plot. And re establishing the borders of the beds. I'm sure my to do list will grow some more as thewinter approaches. I just hope I get to put in the same amount of time as I have this week in the coming weeks....... that would be fab!

Autumn, harvesting and getting through some jobs.

Autumn is officially here and I love it. It has always been my favourite time of the year (possibly because it is my birthday in October haha!) even though I will miss the summer, crisp mornings, snuggly evenings, and the smell of bomb fires beats all that heat and blue skies hands down. Having an allotment hasn't changed my mind on that like I thought it might. The fact it now includes squashes and pumpkins, dried beans, apples and seed catalogues just makes it even more wonderful as does the brief spell of sowing and planting to look forward to. Of course it inevitably leads to winter, but we won't think about that just yet....
So what has been happening on the plot as the new season arrived?
We harvested 5 big pumkins and 8 butternut squashes which I am more than happy with. 2 huge carrier bags of dried beans are harvested and stored for the winter. The children enjoyed helping me with the podding so the task I was dreading was a breeze! I also harvested all the maincrop cartots and most of the beetroot to avoid too much slug damage. Both have been a great success. I am hoping they will store ok, although we will probably get through them fairly quickly anyway.

The tip run has finally been done so no more piles of rubbish, yay! We have layed cardboard down in the fruit cage as a final battle against any bindweed. Hopefully we will manage to plant some raspberries and a gooseberry in there this winter and we need it as ready as possible.

We also uncovered the area behind the fruit cage  which is where the fruit trees will go, I have been having some thoughts about this area of the plot but will get back to you on that in another post.........

I have recieved an email to let me know my garlic and over winter onions have been dispatched and it isn't long before I will start sowing the field beans.
Infact, looking at the jobs list, the plot is going to keep us pretty busy until Christmas, I can't wait to see how it looks in the new year.

Wrapping up the summer!

The children and I managed a good few hours on the plot today. Possibly their last visit before school starts up again. Despite the muggy weather, there is definitely  an air of 'wrapping up the summer' on the plot. Some plants are beginning to yellow, bean pods are really fat and the pile of spent plants, is too big to fit into the compost bins!

After far to much chit chat with our lovely neighbours, an exchange of plants and a nice bowl of raspberries to keep the children happy, we got down to some work.The main focus today was all about planting (albeit a little late) the remainder of the winter/spring brassica plants. They are all tucked up safetly in their new beds and thankfully we had enough netting for them all, now other crops are finished. 

I made a small dent in the weeding but as the plot is still not up to our usual standards I will declare the war on weeds lost for now!!

I need to start thinking about mulching, a few beds are empty now and will remain thag way until spring. At least with the no-dig I am not faced with the grueling task of digging them over.

The list of jobs for autumn are now looming, I just hope we have enough time and funds to get them sorted. But, as it is a marathon, and not a sprint and all that..........

A plot visit!

I finally felt well enough to have some time at the plot!
I knew the sweetcorn must be ready to harvest, so after clearing a feezer draw and getting the children excited about hotdogs and sweetcorn for dinner, we all headed off together, knowing we had a big battle with the weeds ahead of us.

Unfortunately this is what we arrived to..........

It seems thst badgers paid a visit and wiped out almost everybodys corn this year. After a brilliant harvest last season it was quite a shock and I have to be honest I felt completely gutted at the sight if this!

Not really sure if this will now be a problem every year, the thought of not growing corn is rubbish, it is one if my favourites.  Maybe I can squeeze some into the fruit cage.....

The plot is also in a bit of a sorry state. But it could be worse. It really made me evaluate how I am using the plot though. I really need to plan the amount of plants to sow as I am not filling it up as much as I can. I also need to be doing more to combat the slimmies, beer traps at least. There are lots of jobs that really need getting on with, it is going to be a busy autumn/winter that is for sure!

Sorry for the lack of bloggin!

So, I seem to be a bit rubbish at keeping this updated-sorry! I will try harder! I will try and give you a sweeping update for July and August!
Firstly, I have not been on the plot for most of August. A dose of Glandular Fever has kept me in bed for weeks and a visit to the allotment is not achievable at the moment. Basic harvesting and grass maintenance is being done by the husband and children but they are unsure about what is weeds etc, so unfortunately that will have to wait until I am up on my feet again! 

So to update:

The Wizard beans gave a great crop over all. Enough for fresh eating,  some for the feezer and seed for next season. I am really pleased with them, although I will not be doing as many plants next season as I would rather use the space for more peas, so I will just do half the amount as this year.

The early carrots and beetroot did fantasticly. Covering the beetroot seems to do the trick, last season I couldn't grow any at all!

The spring cauliflowers we okish. Nothing to shout about but will do them again next season. The calabrese just bolted after one very small head. It may have been weather related, I am tempted to try a different variety next season.

Runners/climbing beans. Dwarf french beans &Young leeks

The runners and climbing beans seem to be doing well.  The french beans are doing ok but really suffering slug and snail damage. I will plant lots more next season as so far we have only had enough to eat fresh rather than freeze!

Cucumber arch, squshes and pumpkins.

The pumkins and squashes are doing great.  Especially the cucumbers, although nobody seems to like the green ones (Wautoma) so next season I will look into something different. The Bothby Blonde's are perfect though, they will definitely be on next seasons seed list!

We had a month of really great mixed salad leaves and grew some fantastic Windermere lettuce. (like iceberg) I just need to define the art of sowing at the right time for a constant supply.

The peas are done, I have saved lots of seed and have written out a detailed sowing and growing plan for next season in the hope of bumper crops.

Potatoes were really dissappointing. Next season I need to be earthing them up, or in no-dig fashion, putting lots of mulch on top of them as they grow!  I will also just do two rows of earlies rather than squeezing in three, I just won't bother with maincrop.

Parsnips are looking fab, can't wait to see what we get.

Strawberry patch

Maincrop carrots and beetroot are doing great, although the carrots only germinated at about 70% so there are a few gaps, despite re-sowing several times! If I were feeling better I would be looking at pickling the beetroot and making chutney, but I can look forward to that when I am back on my feet.

Sweetcorn

The garlic did ok, despite suffering from rust, I am going to try and buy a variety called Wight Cristo, which is supposed to do well in clay soils, and plant double the amount.

Both the onion sets and the onions I grew from seed are really rubbish. I possibly didn't water them enough. The foliage just dissappeared, I did find slugs on them a few times, maybe that was the problem. I will give them another go next season but if they still don't do well, with some extra tlc I will put the space to better use!

The tomatoes got blight before they ripened, just like last season, even though I had bought an earlier ripening variety (Aurara from real seeds). I won't bother with them again on the plot. Only one of my children like raw tomatoes out of all of us, so I will just do a couple of plants in the garden instead and use the space for other crops. Maybe peppers and fennel.

What a mess!

I gave the strawberry patch a real good tidy up and the apple tree is full fruit. I bought a red gooseberry bush and an autumn raspberry plant from Aldi, they are sat in the garden for now.  The fruit cage and tree area will really be the jobs I will be focused on from autumn, so I have been spending the time in my sick bed planning away ready. My birthday is in October, so the wooden posts I need are the top of my birthday list.

Apples

I can't wait to get back to the plot, I have missed it so much,  let's hope I can update the blog a little more regularly too!

First two weeks of June 2017

Cucumber arch

They survived! This week saw the cucumbers graduate from the kitchen, to the plot, and they are still alive 3 days later hehe. It was definitely worth bringing them inside to recover. I am unsure how behind they are now but time will tell. They have been planted at the foot of the arch we used for the pumpkins last year. Although there were some cucumbers on the arch last year too, they just got shaded out and couldn't compete with the pumpkins. The squashes and pumpkins are growing on the ground this year instead, eek! Two melon plants were in amongst the ITC plants so they also graduated to a spot on the plot. I have popped them in on plot A near the composting area. They will (hopefully) trail over the tarpaulin that is still covering the back half of the plot. It will remain there until we are ready to plant the fruit trees in the winter. Hopefully the heat from the tarp will benefit the plant. They are both really tiny though so I am not expecting miracles! 

Leeks

I popped the leeks in today too, earlier than I had written in my planning but there was a gap so I popped them in anyway. I knew my plans would change as I learned true timings and spacing rather than relying on info from books. But I think I am going to have to do some really big rethinks next season. I had originally planned to pop the leeks in when the peas started to come out, but the peas are a huge mass/jungle so there is no way that would be doable. It will make more sense for the leeks to follow the broad beans but that means re jigging lots of other crops. It is the same with covering with netting, I have ended up covering crops like onions because they are planted beetween the brassicas and it was easier to cover the lot. Trouble is I don't have enough netting to cover unnessacarily.......it looks like I will be starting the plan from scratch really but hey, this is half the fun right? The planning.......... 

On a positive note the sweetcorn is looking really great, I was very worried when we had really strong winds for days after planting out, but it seems to have survived with no scars.

I am very excited about the harvesting that is now happening, the Bijou mange tout are amazing, so tasty and a heavy cropper, infact I return home with a bowl full of sugar snaps, mange tout and peas on every visit. I have also harvested  masses of Wizard beans. I was so wrong about them and I will 100% sow this variety next year, I have decides to only do over winter ones though,  it will be plenty for the amount we eat and it will free up 4ft that I plan to use to grow peas just for seed saving.

We also have PARSNIPS, phew, I was really unsure if we would ended up with any, but after resowing every week or so, we have plenty, a long way off harvest but I can already taste them!

Parsnip

We had our first ever beetroot harvest, something I was very much looking forward to as I failed miserably last year. I thought they kept getting munched by slugs but after a little research it turns out they are a favourite target for sparrows! This years crop was undercover and hey presto, we have beets. They taste divine and the boys (who hate beetroot) can't get enough of it grated raw with carrot! Speaking of which, a small bunch of baby carrots came home today too. They were probably too small to harvest really but we each had one with dinner. I felt like a real kitchen gardener harvesting my carrots. I enjoyed pulling them and seeing what was hiding underground, some woohoo-ing may have happened and these were just small Chantenay, so goodness knows what I will be like with the big old maincrops haha! I will be doubling the space for both of these crops if I can next season. I think they are my favourite early summer harvest actually!  Two cauliflower heads came home with me too and most is now in the freezer, I am chuffed as cauliflower is known to be tricky so I wasn't expecting it to actually produce heads! It shows we should always give it a go. There is only one crop that is rubbish actually and that is the radish. I could not grow it last year and this year seems no better. I have no idea what is going wrong, they just don't bulk up. Maybe it is the amount of flea beetle damage but as it is one of my favourite veg it is getting rather frustrating. Maybe I ought to try  growing them in a planter and see if that helps........
We are now finally starting to properly look at the fruit area of the plot. Spurred on by the Mr putting up netting to protect our blackcurrants, the next step will be putting cardboard and compost down in the fruit cage before errecting support structures for fruit canes inside and the fruit trees behind. Now to decide what we actually want to plant there hehe.

Bijou 

Planting out sweetcorn, it must be summer!

It feels very summery to be planting out the sweetcorn, which was mine and my 7yr old sons main job this evening (alongside weeding of course!) Sweetcorn was one of our favourite crops last year, we could have eaten double what we grew and still have wanted more, so we have about 30 this year. It will feel like a very long wait 'til harvest now haha... we popped some in the childrens beds too, they will love harvesting their very own cobs, especially if they can eat it there and then!

Sweetcorn 

We also planted out some dill and checked on all the seedling popping up at the plot.
Lots of the carrots, parsnip and beetroot are showing, although there are definately gaps, mainly the beetroot so I may have to resow in places.
The beans all seem to be sprouting nicely and I popped a few more seeds in where there were gaps, so we should have lovely full teepees very soon.  The module sown ones here should be ready to plant out by the end of the week, it will be interesting to see if the end up behind the direct sowing or not.
The squashes are having a bit of a sulk after being planted out. Hopefully they cheer up soon, we want lots of lovely squashes to see us through winter! I do wish I had sowed cucumbers in the kitchen much earlier, I don't want them to be unsuccessful as it is one of the only things we grow that the children love! I will make a note and do my best to remember next year.
The best part of our visit of course was the harvesting. As the garlic is suffering with rust we pulled up the handful that had dropped over, and we have cloves, yay. I cannot tell you how exciting this seem. We popped them in the shed to dry out and I am sure the rest of the crop won't be far behind. We picked a few more strawberries, although it seems the birds and slugs are nibbling (we really must sort out proper covers and lay straw to help) a huge bunch of sweet peas, they are so plentiful, we get a bunch every few days! Some more curly kale, probably to go straight in the freezer and our first harvest of mange tout peas. The Golden Sweet are ready to start picking.

Golden Sweet.

We may have also picked a pod of the Havel early peas,  and eaten them straight from the pod. They were heavenly but shhhhhhh don't tell any one..........

Pretty flowers on Giant Bijou.

Charity Seeds.

Back in January a fantastic blogger Beryl from https://mudandgluts.com did a charity fund raiser for the Samaritans. She offered packs of rare or interesting varieties of seed, many of which she saved herself, for  £1.75 a pack. We were able to purchase 4 packets each. I really hope she does the same again next year, it was great and she raised a whooping £320.50!

So, what did I choose? I went for 2 peas and 2 beans. I can not wait to see them grow, have a taste and save more seed for the future! Here is the splurge....... (info from mudandgluts.com and realseeds.)

Magnolia Blossom Tendril Pea – a new hyper-tendril tall sugarsnap with beautiful pink flowers. Not available for sale in the UK. (15 seeds)

An innovative hypertendril snap pea bred by Dr. Alan Kapular PhD. Hypertendril plants make enlarged tendrils in place of some leaves. The tendrils make for a more open habit, allowing better air flow and reducing diseases. And they are also great to eat! They are wonderful in salads or as a garnish, and they taste just like peas! Sturdy 5-6’ plants are very productive. The plants yield deliciously sweet snap peas for weeks. Vigorous vines produce bi-color flowers. Flavor peaks just before the string turn red.

Kent Blue Pea – a heritage mangetout with pink flowers changing to pale blue and navy. Only available from the Heritage Seed Library in the UK. (15 seeds)

Donor Mr J Hadow’s grandfather of Sevenoaks, Kent was given this pea in the 1940s and the family have grown it ever since. Its attractive bicoloured flowers start off maroon/pink, turning blue on maturing, followed by small, crisp, sweet pods, perfect for eating as mangetout, or allowing to develop a little more and using as sweet fresh peas. Garden Organic's Pauline Pears says, “The best pea I have ever grown.” Guardian Jean Goldberry adds, “Divine in bloom and the bees love it. Non-stop production, no plant could do more.”

The exact origins of this pea are unknown, but it has apparently been saved as a family heirloom since the 1940s in Sevenoaks, Kent.

Cherokee Trail of Tears beans - climbing French beans which can be eaten as green beans or when maturevas dried black beans. This bean was originally from the native North American Cherokee people. In 1838 they were driven out of their homelands in the state of Georgia by the US government to make room for more European, a forced march known as the 'trail of Tears' . This bean is one of the heirlooms thet managed to keep with them and has been passed on from generation to generation ever since.

Cara la Virgen de la Banera Leon climbing bean-  Gorgeous round beans with a brown pattern round the hilum. Needs a long season but climbs to 10-12ft and gives masses of dried beans. Not available in the UK. )

What a sorry looking lot!

These are the sorry looking bunch that didn't fare to well against the slimmies residing in the back garden. Rumour has it that a handful may have met a rather gruesome end once discovered, but who am I to gossip......

Anyway I have moved these to intensive care aka: the kitchen window ledge. We have here 4 cucumber plants and 2 melons. I have re-sowed a melon and 2 cucumbers as I am sure they are done for, but the other 3 seem to have new growth so fingers crossed. They will stay here during the night until they reach the 2 leaf stage and I will just pop them outside during they day to avoid having to do to much hardening off when the time comes to plant out. I wasn't very successful with cucumbers last year so I hope I can turn these around for a great harvest this time!

Last week of May 2017

Well although the weather can't seem to decide between autumn, spring or summer the plants still seem to be doing their thing and most crops seem to be growing well on the plot.

Peas growing well, lots of pods beginning to form

The slugs and snails have been far to active for my liking though and the rainbow carrots the children sowed on their beds didn't survive the 'all you can eat' buffet. I am worried that the parsnips are meeting the same fate as they germinate so I have sown more to be on the safe side! In this first year I have learned that growing your own is a piece of cake, it is stopping the local wildlife from munching our hard work that is the tricky part. A good amount our time is spent making covers to keep crops safe from the birds and butterflies. (Shame they don't keep the slimmies off too!) I have found myself window shopping for cloche hoops and cages but the price tag is eye watering so if we can bodge our own we will for now at least.

Makeshift cover for carrots and beetroot.

I have directly sown most of the beans, carrots, parsnip, radish and beetroot at the plot and planted out the lettuce, squashes, courgettes, pumpkins, and globe artichokes and the  Aurora tomotoes. I am interested to see how early they crop in the hope they will beat the blight.

At home I have module sown swedes and calabrese as well as a few herbs,  the slugs found most of them and I had to re-sow. They also ate all the cucumber plants so I will be re-sowing them too, but keeping them on the kitchen window ledge until they are big enough to survive a nibble or two. Hopefully I haven't left it to late for that.. The sweetcorn had a 100% germination rate which was great, although I will now need to find space for about 32 plants, the more the merrier though, they were a favourite crop with the children last year, they are growing well and should be ready to plant out soon the climbing beans I module sown at home are just poking through now too. I have sown both crops in root trainers which turned out to be a great investment. I would definitely recommend them for sweet peas, peas, beans and sweetcorn.

I was very excited to see the asparagus has sprouted, we have 7 out if 12 so far and I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed that the rest will make it. It certainly made that frustrating day of planting them worth while.
I am not having much luck with the broad beans this year. Blackfly have covered the whole crop despite nipping the tops off. I am wiping them off everytime I visit (yuck) but I am not holding out much hope of a bountiful harvest,  the pods just aren't getting any bigger! I tried the variety Wizard beans from Real Seeds (They are actually field beans). I still have about 10 seeds left so next season I will sow them alongside another variety to see if I can do better! They take up to much room to produce a small harvest but I love them to much to give up at the first hurdle.
The most magical moment though, the one I dreamed about before even going on the list for an allotment..... the first strawberry harvest. It was only a small handful from our unknown variety but it was AMAZING! I can't wait for the rest to turn red,  they may not make it home..........

Bean Teepee's!

2 of the 3 teepee's.

Today was the day I finally got to put up the bean teepee's, yay. Half way through the job was a really rubbish time to realise I will only fit 3 of the 4 planned teepees on the bed, meaning 20 less bean plants, eeek! It is even more annoying to realise I also need another 20-40 bean poles......... ah well, I will spent the next few days mulling over finding somewhere else to squeeze in 20 bean plants, or come to terms with the fact that 30 will do! I directly sowed 10 Czar seeds and 10 White lady seeds so fingers crossed they survive the birds and mice long enough to germinate, then grow quick enough to escape the slugs. The climbing french beans will get sown later in the month, apart from a few special ones that will be sown in root trainers and mollycoddled here at home beford planting out once they are nice and strong. I will try and remeber to post about them seperately. (Here it is http://strawberriesandcreamplot.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/charity-seeds.html )

I made a start on clearing the old brassica beds from last year, most of the plants have flowered and even though the bees are loving them, the time has come to start getting the beds ready for their next crop. I will have to buy a few more bags of compost to cover the ground. These areas never got covered earlier this year and the ground is like cement.

I also managed to have a real good tidy up today (because I snuck back down to the plot this evening, hurray for it being lighter again)I was so pleased to see lots of the flowers are starting to, errr, well, flower haha! And I seem to be winning the war of weeds for now. I will leave you with some pictures of the plot..........

First sweetpea flowering, these were sown from seed in October and over wintered in the little plastic greenhouse.

Pea's coming along nicely.

Wizard field beans, Flowering nicely and attracting many bee's. I can't wait to harvest these beauties.

Overview of plot 1

Overview of plot 2.

Flower bed next to the shed.

Close-up of Foxgloves beginning to flower. These were sown from seed last year!

April Update 2017

Sorry for the lack of updates. As there has been a lack of posts this month you are getting the whole lot all at once!

April is one of the busiest months in the gardeners calandar, unlike this time last year we have been able to concentrate on the growing rather than the digging, yay! It has also been unseasonably dry, adding watering to my already long job's listl

The module sown peas, beetroot, turnip, brussel sprouts, cauliflowers and onions seedlings I have been growing at home the past couple of months have all been planted out on the plot and seem to be doing well, nothing has been demolished by slugs and snails thankfully and they are all hardy enough not to be bothered to much by the frosts this week.

I was also thrilled to see that the early carrots have germinated as well as the rainbow carrots the children sowed on their beds. Although the carrots germinated last year, every single one got munched by slimmies. They were sown very late though so I am hopeful this year that as we are on time with the sowings we should get better results.

I have also directly sown half of the maincrop carrots and the parsnips as well as the onion sets. I am really enjoying sowing directly into all that lovely compost, it was tough trying to make drills in the dry clay last year, I am hoping to see a difference in the germination rate with the no-dig approach.

The potatoes are in but did get a little frost damage, we ran out of compost to earth them up any more, something to remember next year and make sure we have a few bags ready. The plants should recover though, it will possibly just set them back a few weeks.

The asparagus crowns I ordered back in winter arrived this week. There is 4 'Guelph Millenium' and 8 'Gijnlim'. I broke all of the no dig rules and dug a trench for them in the traditional way. I just didn't have enough compost to bury them. It all turned into a bit of a disaster actually. The company I purchased them from hadn't paid enough postage meaning they sat at the post office for a week before I could collect them. They were looking a little worse for wear so I hurried to get them planted and possibly rushed the job a little (oops.) I was using two wheelbarrows but possibly forgot to make sure they were level. After slogging away for a while digging the trench one fell over and tipped it's load straight back into the trench. I may have gotten a little huffy and the husband stepped in to help. Ten minutes later the other one fell and also tipped it's load straight back into the trench. I actually properly lost my temper, for the first time EVER at the plot and had to have a cuppa to calm down. Oh well I won't do that again in a hurry and the asparagus is now in, yay. Shame we won't get a harvest for 3 years!

Apsaragus crowns being planted.

We also welcomed some new strawberry plant additions, 10 'Honeoye' an early cropper (this featured in James Wong Grow for Flavour book so I am expecting a great taste from these) and 10 'Florence' a late cropper. Obviously we won't get a harvest til next year but I am so excited, stawberries are the childrens absolute favourite fruit- I will only buy them in season much to their frustration. But strawberries in January? Not in this house haha!

Mr Husband is looking at the stawberry patch as one of his next projects actually, he had decided that some permanent mini fruit cages will be much better than canes and netting, watch this space.

New strawberry patch extension. 

Speaking of fruit cages, he also finished fixing up the fruit cage! It is standing proud,  has a roof that won't fall on my head and the door opens without doing Hudini tricks, hurray. We just need to empty it of rubbish before marking out beds and preparing it for lots of fruit in the winter.

Fruit cage close up!

The sowing at home has been super busy too, with most of the squashes, courgettes and cucumbers freshly germinated and tomatoes, peppers, dill, sunflowers, leeks, kallets and calabrese growing nicely and waiting for their turn to be planted out.

I cannot wait for May to arrive with it's hopefully warmer temperature's and a bit of rain. Then I get to play with, what has turned out to be my favourite veg to grow- beans, I am already dreaming about the teepee's full of pods! 

Plot overview end of April.