Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th and Wednesday 12th May 2010 - weather: changeable



Well, can you believe it? Three days in a row on the allotment. Granted, they weren't full days, but I worked like a dog whilst there and achieved a lot.



Monday - I had to visit a client for her to tell me what plants she wanted me to buy for her garden, but then I hot footed it to the plot. The deer doesn't seem to be munching my uncovered lettuces, but I am making the plot a bit of a maze with planting, and bits of chicken wire here and there, so maybe that, and the fact that I am on the plot a lot at the moment, has put it off. However, lots of tell tale footprints on Jacks plot. My main objective of today was to get some more seeds planted, plants in, weeding done and finish off laying the weed suppressing membrane down for the squash/corn bed. Got the lot done, and planted 2 last rows of spuds!! Seeds in, beetroot, carrots and parsnips. Plantlets in, broadbeans, runner beans, peas and sweetpeas. Shifted 6 barrows full of manure and spread it around the squash area, then put down the membrane and pegged it in place. Knackering work, but if it helps with the weed control, it will have been worth every stinky minute. Finished the day weeding - bloody weeds don't care about the dry soil or the hard crust in places. No, they grow regardless where as my poor carrots struggle to break through. :(

Tuesday - a flying visit. Worked nearly all day and had just an hour to go before collecting the kids, so, as the mower was in the car, the paths received a very short hair cut. I also had the strimmer, with just a little charge left in it, so I was able to edge also. A productive hour.

Wednesday - a couple of hours spare. I worked until 1.30 and didn't have to be at school until 4, so the job I planned was laying more membrane down on plot number 2 at the bottom end, the end where the cabbages were going. Firstly I had to weed the area. Actually, it wasn't in to bad a state, but those darn creeping buttercups come up from the centre of the earth! Anyhow, once cleared, I spread over a few handfulls of lime, raked it in a little, then got busy laying the membrane. I wonder if the deer will be put off walking on it?? Of course, I cut it short so had to do a bit of a jigsaw, but that was okay. And the bonus prize, enough left to do the tomato area. I could hear the weeds shaking in their tap root boots. It is a faf, but it will be worth it.
Caroline, my lottie neighbour, popped up, and she told me that the deer had munched her raspberry plants to the ground. AAGGHH! Glad mine are safely tucked away in the fruit cage. Of course, this means I am going to have to spend more time putting up net fences when I should be sowing, planting and weeding. Anyhow, in the last hour of the day, I pulled a huge armful of rhubarb and set about weeding the onion bed. I must remember not to bother growing red onions as they just don't grow on our soil. We do have white rot, but the red ones don't even get started, they just sit there, whither, and die. The whites however, begining to bulb up nicely. The shallots are also really growing fast now which is very satisfying. I am growing the garlic at home this year as an experiment as it always grows well on the plot, but when I come to dig it up, all the bulbs are rotten in the ground. If we get decent garlic at home, I shall continue to grow it there.

No photos, forgot the camera every day- useless bird. I shall take it next visit, promise. Hopefully next visit, netting will be erected and the brassicas will all get in the ground, then the visit after that, beans and squash, if any have survived the couple of frosts we have had this week.