April Come She Will

And bring showers she will (ok, enough Yoda-speak!). The threatening sky was so dramatic much of the afternoon and eventually we did get some raindrops. We didn't stay very long, we only had hot water to drink - we forgot to take the coffee sachets!

Most of the time Jamie was clearing the patch for potatoes and I was doing a bit of sowing in the greenhouse. We now have Rainbow chard, Boltardy beetroot and some salad leaf on the shelving alongside the broad beans and sweetpeas.

I also sowed a short row of radish in the garlic raised bed. I'll, yet again, try to sow successive pickings, but so often lose the plot within a month or so...

Jamie planted 50 (yes, 50!) onion sets during the week. They're netted to prevent the birds pecking them out. We're growing Santero onions again, which we've been pleased with before; they're mould resistant.

Simon and Garfunkle sing us into the new month - I like April, things really start happening in April, but we still have a lot to tidy up and dig :-)

Clocks

The clocks changed this weekend - we're now on British Summer Time. An hour less in bed but, lighter evenings mean plot-time after work -Yay!

Tortoiseshell

It really was a lovely warm and sunny weekend. The butterflies emerged for the sunshine: tortoiseshells, peacocks and brimstones. And the birdsong! Such a pleasure to sit, watch and listen with the sun on your face, in between weeding/tidying/digging of course.

The only clouds were contrails left by high-flying planes

I showed a newcomer to his new 'mini-plot', which we'd just finished the paths on. We're leaving them under weed suppressant for grass-sowing in the Autumn. Our other newcomers were enjoying seeing so many plotholders on the site - probably the busiest weekend of the year so far - certainly the warmest...

Even I was down to my tee-shirt

We spent about 10 hours on the plot over both days - no wonder my arms and legs are aching so much today (and I'm writing this blogpost on Monday lunchtime rather than Sunday evening).

We were pleased to see some of the broad beans and sweet peas have germinated. My tomato seedlings at work still look like straggly cress - I wonder whether they'll ever become plants. Coldplay provide the music for the clocks springing forward to BST.

Daydream in Blue

So close to Spring, but it wasn't feeling like it this weekend. I've been reading blogs from warmer climates - Ki Si in Spain with such amazing blue skies and hot temperatures which mean she's harvesting already and Endah in Indonesia with her interesting fruits and beautiful flowers.

Not that we don't have beautiful flowers and our fruit and veg will grow eventually... it's just so tempting to wish the months away...

But there are many signs now that Spring is on its way and not just in all the UK blogposts.

It's a good job time isn't moving too quickly though we have managed to do more preparation on Plot 7 this weekend, in the cool breeze with grey skies.

Jamie's dug most of the quarter where the onions are going, they're due to be delivered any day now - I wouldn't let him dig up the last of the carrots as I want to use them in cooking during the week.

I cleared out one of the strawberry beds - there were so many snails and spiders hiding in there! That should make the plants happier, along with the plant food we watered them with afterwards.

So there was time for daydreaming, but time for working too. I Monster provide the music..

Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm

Look what we had for tea last night...

Believe me, we haven't returned to our carnivorous past.

I know, it looks just like bacon (more than salmon to me) but it's an amazing marinaded carrot recipe, which Shaheen shared on A2K on her lovely veggie food blog and she found it on Olives for Dinner, another veggie food blog.

There, see, CARROTS

It involves liquid smoke - that's interesting enough in its own right. Most things I cook will now have a vaguely smokey flavour. Probably could have added a bit more to the marinade we made for the carrot bagels and I doubt we'd use this much salt in future, but I guess that's what makes it fishy-similar(?)

It's even made me less afraid of using the mandolin.

So, yum yum, nom nom and mmm mmm mmm mmm provided by Crash Test Dummies.

What Ive Done

On Thursday I sowed some Tigerella tomato seeds in a tray - they're on my windowsill at work because it's such a light window without full sun. And, as an aside, that lovely orchid has been in flower since the Christmas holidays!

Yesterday we spent 6 hours on the plot - exhausting work, but great to have cleared and dug such a large area of Plot3. This is how it looked initially...

And, after Jamie dug a huge trench and we added three of last years spent tomato bags plus 3 bags of lovely home-made compost...

We could then rake it over and it now it looks like this.

And to stop the annoying weeds returning before we've even planted the broad and runner beans, we've covered the whole lot in weed fabric.

Today I sowed 25 sweet peas in the greenhouse - protected by 'giant crumpet' packages, which happen to be a perfect fit for those pots!

Surprisingly we managed to miss any rain all weekend - though today certainly threatened.

Another thing I missed (pretty much) was the steam train that went past while we were working yesterday...

Today's song is by Linkin Park - such a great song and video. It should be 'what we've done' of course!