Potatoes are In

As the tiltle says, the seed potatoes are in! Although we have a few winter crops growing, as well as garlic and broads beans, there is something about planting the potatoes that really feels like the start of the year at the plot.
I had my 4 year old helper with me today, on a rather windy but bright Sunday morning. Together we worked out how to plant the seed potoatoes with the least amount of soil disruption in line with the no-dig ethos. It seemed to work best if I put a trowel in to lift the dirt, whilst she darted in with her teeny hands and a spud, being careful not to knock off the chits hehe. It worked well enough,(I hope) I guess we will know for sure in a few months!
We planted Javelin, Kestel and Anya. There is 10 of each, so not a massive amount for the 6 of us, but enough not to have to buy new potatoes this year, and a couple of meals from home grown maincrops. Obviously we wont be doing the traditional earthing up, so I am probably going to have to raid the compost bins and earth up with that instead.
We also cut out a 3x9 foot bed from the plastic that covers the back part of the plot next to the compost area. This will became our asparagus bed. I have ordered 12 crowns which should be with us within the next month-exciting! Once the plastic was removed we covered it in an inch or two of compost, just to feed the soil a little before they arrive.
The next job of the day was a good tidy of the strawberry patch. This is having a slight change thus spring , or in actual fact, doubling in size. The 6 foot wide bed was far to wide and it needed a path down the centre to make harvesting/weeding/ general dealing with the plants much easier. It meant moving a few plants out of the way, so the children have inherited a few on their beds. I will have to be careful not to ket grass grow in the new path. I will just keeo it weed free, but bare earth. The grass paths are taking a lot of time to maintain, especuall as it tries to creep back over the beds. It would taje over the patch in no time!
Once the plants had a trim of runners and dead leaves my helper and I gave it a nice mulch of compost. The 2nd half of the patch will be uncovered soon, ready for some different varieties. I will make that a later post once they arrive.
When stopping for a cuppa today, I couldn't help but noticed all the digging going on around us. It made me feel very relieved we are going no-dig. I am really interested to see how we do compared to some of the hardy plotters who have been reslly grafting thus week and I imagine the next few weeks whilst we potter about with the mulching.
The plot is really coming together now, when I look back at this month last year, I really feel proud of our achievements!