Full Metal Wheelbarrow

A couple of gardening pictures for a change :)

( “Veg!” )

Today’s harvest from the allotment, including the first of the purple climbing beans (thank you, sammason !) which we had for tea this evening, and very nice they were too.



Female gatekeeper butterfly, spotted on the way back from running an errand this afternoon.
Almost made up for falling over and skinning my knee like a five-year old (although I did manage not to wail like one, at least).

Things are getting busy on the allotment, so here are some pictures…

( “Green )

 Yesterday I spent the morning at the allotment, got my potatoes in and planted the first few feet of a successional row of carrots, as well as hoe-ing the newly transplanted strawberry plants, potting on the celery seedlings (of which there were many) and trying to reduce the dandelion population.

 Spent a couple of hours on the allotment today - cleared out last year's sweet peas which left me space to rotovate a fair-sized area in front of the apple trees. Part of that is going to be the new strawberry area, and on the other side I planted out my first batch of greenhouse-sown peas. A bit early perhaps, but it's been such a mild winter I feel I can risk it.

Next job is to clear and rotovate an area to plant out the vcabbage seedlings which are growing apace.

A few days ago the year's first seedlings emerged - cabbage "Greyhound" (thank you Sam :)) and Pansy "Black Moon". Now they've been joined by Heliotrope "Cherry Pie" and Celery "Red Giant".

I need to plant several more varieties this month, but I have run out of compost and before I can get more, I need a new wheelbarrow, for the Eponymous one is sadly dilapidated, or at least its wheel is.

I could possibly get a new tyre for it, but I'm not sure I'd be able to remove the wheel in order to fit same - the fastenings look to be well rusted in place. So I'm contemplating solid wheel barrows.

B&Q have one at £40 but it looks rather heftier than I really want.

Meanwhile, yesterday my seed potatoes arrived.

3.5kg of potatoes in a box approximately the size of Tamworth.

Well, a Tamworth :)

Rather better was the Mystery Parcel we got from Wiggly Wigglers which had some nice stuff in it, including a new bird feeder and some seed to put in it, an Opinel gardening knife and a solar charger doobrie. And another pair of goat socks to keep Rob's toesies nice and warm :)

Now I just need to get all the vardboard to the recycling bin in the village - there's too much of it to fit in the caddy in our green bin, even if it wasn't already full....

Seed orders done :)

8 items from Thompson and Morgan, for a total of just under £10, 15 items from vegetableseeds.net for just under £12 - plus they have free postage and two free surprise seed packets for orders over £10. (No, I don't work for them - but I do like a bargain - and surprise gifts :)).

This year I'm attempting two new things - aubergines and romanesco broccoli, alias "Spiky green aliens" :) And I'm having another go at courgettes. Not keen on them as a vegetable, but thinly sliced, marinated in soy sauce and dried in the dehydrator they make a pleasant snack.

New tomato varieties - "Tigerella" for ordinary sized toms and "Sweet Baby" for little ones.

I've also ordered some Heliotrope seeds because the flowers smell so nice and stripy marigolds, because they're pretty.

Now all I need is a few dry days so that I can achieve some digging ready for the new planting season. At present it would be more like stirring the mud....

First gardening task of the year accomplished - I have ordered my seed potatoes :)

2.5kg of Pink Fir apples. Last year I left it too late and had to make do with a different variety, so I was keen to avoid that this time.

Next job is to sort out some seeds that don't cost an entire pair of limbs :)

Stopped off at the allotment on the way back from the shops, to check on my experimental winter carrots in the greenhouse, only to find that the wind had blown my greenhouse door off.

With the aid of copious swearing and a small blood sacrifice when one of my fingers got caught between the door and the greenhouse when the former twisted, I managed to get it back in its proper place.

The slug I found in the carrot patch was never going to survive my wrath after that.

On the upside, there appear to be a few carrot seedlings :)