Almost 2 years

I can see a trend here?! almost a year/almost 2 years kinda post.

Lots of things have changed but I'm going to focus on what my plans are for this year and what plants I have started.

Plan:
Have lots of sunflowers, beans, courgettes, peppers, chilli's, lettuces, potatoes, flowers.

I'm not sure what to put in each bed, I'll have to come up with a design plan. I've started to transplant some lettuces on the plot so I can see myself harvesting them in 3-4 weeks time. The weather has been pretty good this April, lots of nice sunshine but the temperature plummets to 0-2C.

I have some Dahlia's in the greenhouse, I'll transplant them at the start of June.

Garlic going strong, I had a fantastic harvest last year and I think I will have a good harvest this year as well...can't wait!

Heidi would like to have more purple sprouting broccoli for next year.

All in all going good so far, I could do more but I have a 4 month old baby and he's quite a handful! :-)

Almost a Year

Gosh, it's almost a year since I've updated my Blog!

Heidi and I have been busy preparing the plot, I will try to take some pictures next weekend as i will be away this weekend doing some Bushcraft.

I have started some of my seeds this Monday:
-Peas, Broad beans, Chilli's, Tomatoes, Leeks, Brussel Sprouts, Delphiniums and Alyssum.

We'll see how they do.

If we have time this Sunday, we will be doing some Toad rescuing!

Toad time

I came home the other night about 11pm and noticed the croaking of toads in the dark, manage to spot one and took a picture.


As you can see, it was not a very clear picture, and no I wasn't drunk.

Later this week working in the garden I spotted two toads mating, for those under 18 years of age please close your eyes!

I notice in the lake there were several spawns, I'm not sure whether they are forgs or toad spawns. I will try to take a picture of them.






I took the opportunity on the sunny days to plant my Dahlias in pots, my seedlings and planted the majority of my potatoes. I also planted the water plants I had been given by Heidi, below is a picture of the two type of water plants.


One is Black Iris and the other (I can't remember)

ladybird ladybird

I noticed there were 'loads' of ladybirds today, all crawling away especially in this plant (which I'm not sure what it is) it was lovely to see them.

I have not had anytime recently to update my Blog. I did some work on the 1st Match and took some pictures so here they are. Since my plot is full of clay, I decided to dig a trench and fill it with cow manure and plant my chitted potatoes. My plan is rather than dig the whole plot and incorporate manure on the plot (which is a lot!) to use trenches and plant potatoes to mix the soil and improve the soil structure. Having gardened in clay for 3 years now, it is a nightmare.

The picture here are 'charlottes' an early variety. I have other varieties of potatoe to plant and I hope to do them when I have time.









While I was working away digging the trench a robin was singing away on a tree. I manage to get a picture though you can't see him clearly.

Later I heard these 'honking' noises and to my surprise a skein of geeese flew by and landed in the pond.

It was a lovely day to work and I hope to get more done this month.

Snowdrops

One of the best thing about this time of year is snowdrops, their beautiful white flowers reminds me of the song Heidi keeps singing, snow drops is falling on my head! If you have never been to Haddon Hall to look at the snowdrops, it is worth visiting at this time of year.










We did a lot of work on Heidi's plot trying to get rid of bindweed (horrible stuff), I'll try to get some picture of the bindweed root next time so those who don't know what it looks like might be able to better identify it. We found lots of lovely earth worms while digging (yummy!).
I am going to experiment with putting my potatoes out at the beginning of March this year and see how well they do, I've been warned about late frost (even as late as May and June) killing them but I think I will give it a try and see what happens.

Snowy mid February

Did some work on my plot on Sunday, the temperature outside was warm and had melted the majority of the snow. I tidied round my plot and thought about what I'm going to do this year e.g how I'm going to design my plot, what to plant etc....lots of tihngs to think about.

I need to get my soil tested in order to know what pH it is and the amount of NPK (nitrogen Phosphorus & Potassium). I thought I would do it properly this year rather than putting seedlings and plants in and hope they would do well. My soil structure is clay so I need to think of ways to improve my soil gradually and be able to get a good crop of vegetables this year.

Here's a picture of my plot.