First Sowing of 2008

Took a deep breath ,wrapped up warm and spent a hour in the greenhouse!
I hade sown some kelsae onion seeds on January 1st in root-trainers which I put in a electric propagator so I was pleased to see the little green hooks appearing

my potatoes arrived from thompson and morgan last week so I set the accent (1sts) to chit. I am keeping them in a cool spare bedroom

also sowed Red FuegoF1 cabbage and Cauliflower F1 Nessie in moduls. have decided to sow seeds in small batches instead of en-block,so if one lot goes wrong another might succeed

It,s Wet, Very, Very Wet

Finally made it to my patch or should I say patches as I have one and a half plots
a short walk apart.I have been concerned about the winter brassicas which I had mulched with "soil improver" from a local composting site,I worried that they didn,t look as happy as before, so I bought a kit in case I had put a lot of acid soil on them, it didn,t show the actual PH but showed up dark green not orange which put my mind to rest. however I vowed to test first before I put unknown stuff on them
well they didn,t look too bad today the kale was sending out new leaves and sprouts and PSB werelooking OK. The nets had stood up to the storms but everywhere was slushy with standing water.I dug up parsnip and carrots,picked kale and some sprouts
then noticed the sky was darkening again, the few hours of sunshine between storms was over, took this pic as I left

Trust Nature To Lift Depression

Yes there I was feeling headachy and flat as I looked out of my front window at the sparrows and starlings eating sunflower oil and bread, what a pity I don,t see greenfinches any more I thought, mourning their absence seemed to suit my mood, then a flash of red caught my eye, I raced up stairs for the binoculars ( which I had only found the day before)and saw to my delight a pair of goldfinches feasting on
the teazles. I managed to get some pics through the (not very clean)window


I love the starlings and sparrows we mostly get in the garden joined by bluetits and more recently a robin but I have only saw a goldfinch once before in my life so my special visitor made a dark dreary day a bit brighter

It.s Winter I,m hibernating

Havn,t done much at the allotment just popping up for parsnip, swede, carrots and kale which seems to be going over a bit sprouts and PSB are almost ready. here is my favourite e-mail funny
GONNA BE A BEAR
In this life I,m a woman. in the next life I would like to come back as a bear
When your a bear , you get to hibernate,you do nothing but sleep for six months
I could deal with that!
Before you hibernate, your supposed to eat yourself stupid.
I could deal with that too!
When your a girl bear, you birth your children( who are the size of walnuts)while you are sleeping and wake to partially grown ,cute ,cuddly cubs.
I could definitely deal with that
IF you are a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business
You swot anyone who bothers your cubs and if your cubs get out of line you swot them too
I could deal with that!
If your a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling.
He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat
YEP,GOING TO BE A BEAR

Champion Muck Spreader

Well didn,t need a champian to spread that! It only streched over the bare bits of the full plot but anyway its done.was asked will I dig it in? it seems the modern way is to let the worms take it down, time will tell

Nothing much has been happening. Harvesting carrots,swede,parsnips,sprouts,red cabbage,kale still eating beetroot,onion,potatoes from store also eating sweet pepper and lettuce from greenhouse which I have cleaned but not got around to insulating yet.

Talking Dirty (and smelly)

Well it arrived!! a big pile of cow poo! truck driver didn,t want to reverse down grass path and when he did, wouldn,t go off it to dump on adrians plot so the lot went on the grass path, we did put some plastic down which helped but it took Ian and I app 1 hour to move about 4ton of manure here is my share

I went back up in the afternoon to begin spreading it. just enough for the full plot could have used the lot. know better next time if I am barmey enough for there to be a next time
also have ordered next years potatoes. wow I am thinking ahead. thought I would go for some really good ones this time so I ordered from Thompson and Morgan if these don,t do well nothing will. I am trying blight resistant main crop here is my list
Accent 1st for new potatoes these usually crop before blight appears £3.69 for 20
Romano 2nds B+ slug resistant these are red skinned £3.69 for 20
Sarpo Axona late maincrop B is around bad when these are ready £4.49 for 20
Sarpo Mira late maincrop again these are B busters £4.49 for 20

It Does Not Feel Like October

Just digging the rest of the plot to be ready for the manure which should be delivered on Tuesday and I get the feeling the season is all mixed up as the sun is shining the sky is blue and feels warmer then it was in July! the Buzzards are calling above I managed to get a picy of one

not very good but it showsthe mood of the day!!
strawbs are still trying to fruit even tho we are getting quite hard frosts some nights

and the jerusalem artichokes are determined they are going to be the tallest thing around