Potato planting and other stuff

Jamie did all the work today. I've got a cold so just flitted about and mostly sat down enjoying the sunshine. It's definitely April - we've had some torrential showers over the last few days but managed to avoid them all this morning.

That meant that Jamie was able to plant the two remaining rows of potatoes - both about 6" deep with grass/paper at the bottom of the trench and then the usual bag of farmyard manure. These two rows have Kestrel, Orla and the last Duke of York Red (which we intend to leave in as a maincrop).

We were joined by a lot of robins and blue tits on the plot today - the robins are getting very cocky and are willing to pinch worms from a couple of feet away from us now. I spotted the kestrel and he sat on the telegraph wires long enough for me to get this pic of him. It's a bit blurred as I had to zoom in but his lovely pinky plumage really stands out when he's flying over the site.

Kestrel

Most of our seeds are emerging now, including some silverskin onions, beets, cabbages, sprouts, sweet peas, salad crops. No sign of the parsnips, leeks or spring onions but we've found them to be quite slow to germinate previously.
We need to work out our sowing plan for the rest of these busy weeks now, then we can sit back and wait for food :-)