First Seeds

Another grey February day, but there are different kinds of colour around every corner at this time of the year.

Snowdrops pushing up through the winter ground make a welcome sight.

The first seeds are planted at the new plot. Spring Onion (Crimson Forest). Tucked them up nice and warm for safekeeping in their cloche.

New Beds

Paul has built us some new beds from an old pallet. It is actually starting to look like a proper allotment now. We need more wood now so like a tramp I will be scouring the local skips.

Hurrah the mammoth rhubarb plant seems to have survived. There are a few shoots about to uncurl so it mustn't have been too upset with my rough treatment of it. Crumble here we come! The fork has snapped again now and given up. It is working its way towards just becoming a stick.

I planted my garlic and put on some of the organic fertiliser that I got over the web. It was eye wateringly strong so it has got to do some good. I dug some into the onion and garlic patch and sprinkled some on top of the soil where the salad is set to go. These are the only beds ready for planting at the moment.

The children did some digging on their patch ready to make a little pond.

Real Snow

The snow came! It is the first proper snow that the children have actually seen although Sam missed it because he had a stomach bug, Mary managed to go sledging with Paul.

Had a week of frenzied digging in the previous week to get ahead before the predicted snow came. The weather men were right for once. Managed to get everything moved from the old plot that we wanted to keep so there was no need to face any blizzards to move netting or equipment.

Before. Lots of weeds including the dreaded couch grass.

After. Mostly gone. Had a good crack at it anyway before the bad weather. Managed to start thinking about the shape of things and starting marking out some paths. Found a huge rhubarb plant in the middle of the plot and moved it out of the way. Hopefully it will survive the move. It was in the wrong place anyway. Managed to snap the handle off my spade and fork in the process but they were only a few pounds each.

So far this month I have planted in the greenhouse; spring onion, (Crimson Forest), lettuce (Suzan) and some broad beans (The Sutton). They have been planted in wrapping paper tubes from Christmas that have been cut down to size instead of toilet rolls so hopefully they won't rot.

Inside I've planted cosmos (Dwarf Wonder), cabbage (Greyhound), Some chilli (Chilli Shake), parsley (French), campion (Rose and White), phlox (Cecily), tagetes (Starfire), brussel sprout (Trafalgar) and delphinium (Pacific Giant). This year I've added sharp sand and vermiculite to some multi purpose compost, we'll see if this helps my seedlings. My seedlings are now all beautifully organised in my new filing cabinet drawer, thanks Chris!