To the Moon and Back

The year is moving swiftly on. March has passed and the clocks have moved forward; the lighter evenings are welcome especially when we had sunshine on a couple of warm, dry days.

I was very excited to spot this morel (probably Common) mushroom in one of the communal flower beds! We’ve never found one in the wild before. They’re a highly prized fungus though this one looked passed its best so I wasn’t tempted to sample it - they always look like they’d be rather gritty but I’m assured that they are delicious. It would be great if we could get them to cultivate somewhere on site but they’re renowned for being tricksy; this spore/mycelia must have been imported with the compost or wood chips.

The daffodils and tulips are still looking good and our little pear tree has some lovely white blossom - I wonder if we’ll harvest our first pears this year…

We’ve visited the plots most days and made some progress. All the seeds, apart from carrots, have begun to germinate in the polytunnel and the California Wonder peppers have germinated at home. I dug a big hole for the pumpkin on Plot3. It doesn’t look that impressive but the earth was very compacted and full of tree roots so it was really hard work. I was ready to give up a couple of times but Jamie was directing and I’m glad it was completed in one visit. We filled it with well-rotted manure, some chicken manure pellets and the compost from last year’s cucumber pot before piling the original earth, minus the roots, back on top.

First stage when I wanted to give up!

Plot3 has provided us with another harvest of purple sprouting broccoli - this lovely lot was delicious in a cheese sauce with Arley’s plant-based pancetta.

We also enjoyed a few sticks from our rhubarb - the plant has flowered so I chopped the two flowerheads off to stop the plant being weakened.

I spent a bit of time splitting and potting on Rudbeckia plants. I know where one is going but the others will probably be saved for a HAHA plant sale. I’ve also done some Vinca Minor (Periwinkle) cuttings at home - they’re in water at the moment so I’ll pot them up when they grow roots.

Most of the perennial plug plants are ok in the polytunnel though some have died - unfortunately the Sharpie labels were less waterproof than I expected … 🙄 so it’s all guesswork now!

The wildflowers (I’ll call them that as they’re not all growing on our plots) are providing for the masses of bees and ladybirds (mostly 7-spots so far) and I was pleased to see a blue butterfly flitting along the hedgerow on the warmest day.

Speedwell, viola, daisy, ground ivy, dandelion and purple & white dead nettle

I did a bit of tidying around the garlic and onions - the onions are a bit weak, but hopefully they’ll produce something. I need to add a little Epsom Salts to the garlic as the leaves are yellowing - the addition of magnesium and sulphur aid photosynthesis. Storm Dave chased us away from site yesterday - it was extremely windy and we’re nowhere near getting the full force of it. I hope it blew itself out completely overnight as we’re meant to be having a picnic later.

Yesterday marked the 18th anniversary of my kidney transplant - forever grateful to the donor family and the NHS 💜

The (beautiful) song is provided by Savage Garden. Thinking of the Artemis 2 crew on their mission around the Moon which will lead on to further space exploration, but also prospecting the Moon, which seems like a bad move especially with the wrong people in charge.