Allotments 4 All

Nearly finished hedge hacking over the weekend. A few more yards, and I'll have neat hedges again, and won't be picking thorns out of my hands every week. Just in time before nesting season as well.

my work was much more genteel - sowed scorzonera, burdock, lemon grass and salsify and debated whether to fix the broken glass in the greenhouse or wait until the march winds have been and gone  :-\

nothing yet, had a sore throat so went back to sleep for a couple of hours!!

ray and phil put the cover on phil's polytunnel, I transplanted poppies, flower seedlings, basil and celeriac seedlings and uncovered the bed for peas, raked it so's the early ones can go out under plastic at the weekend  ;D

Finished hedge chopping at last, with much relief, moved the cardoon, which is now three cardoons, and planted a Victoria plum to replace the one I lost two years ago. I've had a cold all week, and didn't have the energy to do any more than that.

transplanted melons, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, sowed lettuce, cabbage, red and greyhound, planted up some of deb's peanuts in pots, can't wait to see what happens  ;D
on the plot, planted out the sturon onions at last, will wait another week to plant the red ones, transplanted a gutterfull of early peas into a trench  :)

sowed 12 rows of broad beans, prepared the first bed for peas that are waiting to go in, sowed some beetroot, picked some girl thingy willows to bring home and muttered a humble wish for the gales to go away  :(

In the middle of the week I had a delivery of my soft fruit order (T&M) - and today was the first opportunity to plant out 12 'Autumn Bliss' raspberry canes and 3 Invicta goosebrry bushes. You can see I'm trying soft fruit in a big way this year!

The rasps went into a manured bed, the gooses (geese?) into holes dug into a grassed area - with the soil replaced by a blend of rotted manure and compost sieved from my 'ready to be used' heap. if the d**n things fail I will be gutted!

A.

mulched the raspberries and tied in the summer fruiting ones.  Dug a trench for the spuds and added manure at the bottom, spuds in tomorrow.

Worried about the polytunnel - will it still be standing on Monday but not sure what I can do to secure it even more. :-\

nothing today! very windy and rainy here too so no point in trying to go digging  :(

sowed some flower seeds indoors instead and contemplated transplanting my chillis - the compost is outside though so I didn't  ::)

then spent the rest of the day sanding my bedroom floor ready for some varnish. I also sanded my fingers in the process; I have no fingerprints left!  ;D ah well I'm sure it'll be worth it!

Took some compost to the lottie and mixed the bins, filled two daleks with manure, was going to sow some carrot seeds but it was far to windy. The wind was getting worse and could feel the rain in the air so called it a day.  ;D ;D ;D

Did a load more seed sowing in modules....first lot of brassicas are in... ;D

Yesterday hubby joined me about 3pm at the lottie to make a start on the first of five raised beds. I had stained the boards during the week to save some time. We managed to complete one raised bed yesterday (Friday).
Got up early today and made a great start on the remaining four raised beds. Had to stop for a short while as it rained quite heavily. We managed to excavate for four more raised beds and now that project is complete. \0/.
All I have to do now is remove way too much soil out of each bed and find some place for it in other areas. Will deffo wait now to start on the paths. Weed suppressant fabric topped with chippings.
Lauren  :)

Been hastily putting the finishing touches to the chicken coup before the OH arrived home with 15 ex-battery hens we are re-homing. Spent the rest of the afternoon just watching them finding their way around.

Weent to th eoffice >:(

Cleared out three of my beds, cultivated them again ready for my spuds. I was going to put spuds in tomorrow but it is forecast gales so will have to wait  2 weeks. (away next weekend)

Cleared out perpetual spinach bed yesterday and loaded in the cattle manure ready for the beans - sowed my sunflower and marigolds today in the greenhouse.

just wished I was outside sowing rather than inside sewing ::) ;D

Sowed Little Gem lettuce, Marketmore cucumber, Ziena F1 cucumber, Gypsy F1 pepper.

Mended the compost bin, then filled it up with horse manure ready to rot down for the autumn or next year. Then weeded the asparagus bed - some shoots coming up already, so mulched it again!