Sail Away

Friday was a beautiful day and I was off work - hooray - so we spent a few hours on the plot.

I collected two bagfuls of grounds from the coffee lounge at work - we get through a lot of coffee each day! I added some to the compost bins which are still housing rats because I still need to mix them up a bit. Apparently rats don't like coffee, though they like everything else I put in the bins.

Jamie cleared the plot where the potatoes will be planted.

Then he dug in some 6x and the coffee grounds - hopefully a slug deterrent and a bit of acidity to prevent scab...

Voila! A lovely dug plot and a painful Jamie - it's hard on the back/knees/arms/hands for these first few plot visits of the year!

While Jamie did that, I worked on the raised bed. Lots of weeding.

And now it's ready to become a salad bed.

No sign of the broad beans yet, but the marigold and salad seedlings are on their way, in the greenhouse.

Look at the temperature range in there!

On Saturday we arrived on the plot just in time for a little lunchtime soiree with David and Ivan and some of Ivan's home-made wine. The blackberry and apple was delicious with some crisps and olives. We did manage to do a bit of allotmenting afterwards - I planted up 5 tubs with Summer bulbs - hopefully they'll be in full flower for our fete on July 7th. And I also planted the five Chinese Lantern plants by the greenhouse. Hoping all these can survive the chilly nights.

No frogspawn has arrived (I may bring some in from elsewhere), so Alfie provided us with some cheer for our little pond.. unfortunately the little boat didn't float so I had to balance it against the edge :-)

And that is the reason for the song title <ahem - poetic licence>

Cold Cold Cold

Well the north wind did blow and we did get a dusting of snow (although some may call it sleet). It wasn't enough to have fun in but it made the rooftops look pretty.

The old Hungerford Fire Station - 'Hungerford Volunteer Fire Brigade' from 1910.

We avoided being outside too much today by going to Wantage to buy our seed potatoes - Charlton Park Garden Centre is great because they sell individual tubers for 17p each. And there are so many varieties to choose from...

We opted for Orla, Kestrel, Chopin, Desiree and Burgundy Red - most will be grown in bags. We don't grow masses nowadays. When we first took on the allotment we grew 2 full rows, but we don't store them and there were far too many.

Yesterday we stayed on the plot for a little while so Jamie cleaned the bird bath and I cleared old pots in the greenhouse. This is a little video of a bird singing - well, it's the sound of a great tit but I couldn't actually spot the bird and had to look up the song when I got home - you can see the snow though :-)

The bulbs are making their way up through the soil. The garlic I planted last month are being pulled up by birds so each visit I have to push them back into the ground. They'll be fine though once the roots get a grip in the ground.

We visited the plot twice this weekend - to feed the birds and pick some veg. We've taken the netting off the sprouts now, so the pigeons will probably clear the plants off and the blackbirds and thrushes can clear away any under the plants to clear any pests that the cold temperatures haven't killed off. (Fingers crossed)

Today's song title is very apt and is provided by 'Cage the Elephant'.