Something has grown!

Remember those beans I planted? they've started to sprout! There was no evidence of them at all last week so I was surprised to see an almost full double row of little broad bean sprouts when I got to the plot today. I'm very happy as they were the first thing I've planted and they've started to grow. Also it seems the weeds are starting to grow, so I had to pull a few out already, it never looks like there are that many until you start pulling them up and you see more and more.
The weather wasn't so good today, I could hear the Head of the River race going on while I dug out a couple of the paths I had left between beds - I've decided I don't need them and the grass on them will just spread if I leave them.
As I was digging I had a visitor, a young asian guy who apparently used to garden the plot before me, he said he was very impressed with how much work I'd done. I quizzed him on the geometry of the plot when I first got it, it seems he was helping someone else who leased the plot and when they moved away he continued with their ground plan and that's why there were so many small beds and flowers, I also found out that he took the rhubarb. Then it started to rain so I called it a day.
My daffodil border is in full bloom now.

What a difference a day makes

A few more daffodils in bloom

A day later and a bit more sunshine and spring has sprung a little bit more as you can see.

A warm sunny afternoon so I planted some seed tapes - The seed tapes have ready spaced seeds on them so although I'll have to thin them a bit it'll be much easier than hand sown seeds. They were also very easy for planting, just make a shallow trench, roll out the seeds and cover them over. Today I've plant parsnips, radishes, leeks and perpetual spinach, they all came in 5m long tapes which is just short of one row on my plot, in fact the parsnips did fill a whole row either they were a longer 5m or the plot narrows at that point.

I also planted out some garlic cloves to finish off the onion set rows from yesterday, I just used a regular shop bought head of garlic split up - as the Vegetable And Herb Expert book suggests, it goes on to warn you about using your garlic very sparingly 'or you'll be put off forever', rubbing a salad bowl with one clove then discarding it is apparently enough to start with 'then if you have lost a little of your garlic fear, you can try using crushed garlic on meat as the Continentals do.'

I Wandered Lonely as a Daffodil...

As you can see spring has not quite sprung at FPMAA, I think there's just one daffodil that you could say is open but the others won't be far behind. Having moved all these daffs from the middle of the plot I think they're doing rather well and make a good boundary to the top of my site.
The big news of the day is that I have the necessary written approval to get a shed! The north corner is the text book place for a shed and most people have them here, I want to put my shed in the the east corner, this is because it's also shaded by the tall hedge and next to the main path, also my rhubarb is very happy in the north corner and I don't want to upset it.
Today I planted out my onion sets, three rows that consist of shallots and both red and normal onions. Then I dug out the pathway I had left between bed two and three as it was a bit of a waste of space, it was mostly grassed over because it was the remains of a path made by the previous plot holder and I didn't really want the grass to spread, speaking of which my neighbour pointed out that my plot is well within it's boundaries and I'm perhaps missing as much as 60cm width, this will have to be addressed next year now as I don't really need the extra room at the moment.

Steaming pile

There was a great big pile of manure by the gate when I got to the allotment today. I took seven wheelbarrows full and put them on the second and fourth beds, it was harder work raking it in than it was wheeling it over to the plot.  Once I had done it a passing gardener told me that you aren't supposed to use this until it has been sitting for a year, I can see other plots have used it straight away so I'm not too bothered and where am I going to keep a great big pile like that for a year?
The trading hut was closed so I went to the garden centre to see what they had instead, ending up buying lots of seeds and sets. I bought an early potato called Rocket and a main crop of Desiree, I have been told that you don't plant your potatoes until St Patrick's day or even until Easter but I went ahead and planted a row of both, I hope they will be alright. The packaging suggested you chit your earlies but I have no where to do this so they went direct into the ground, they had sprouts on them already anyway. One kilo of each planted March 13th, lets see what happens.
The other seeds can wait a bit, but I got parsnips, leeks and radishes all on tape ready to plant and some onion and shallot sets, if the weather stays good I'll start putting some of these out next week end.
There seemed to be a lot more action at the allotment than in past weeks and it's now more noticeable that other people have started work on their plots. The robin was hopping around as usual and a couple of black birds were joining in today, every minute or so I could hear a woodpecker hammering at a tree. My rhubarb has got the tiniest leaves starting to form on it, other peoples seems to already be forming stalks.

Beanz

Not just a picture of my finger, this is my double row of broad beans - no you can't see them yet but I hope to be able to show you them at a later date when they're full of pods ready to be picked. This sunshine is great after all the bad weather, I now need to start planning what else to put in the ground.

Transformed

So here's what my plot looks like now, with the afternoon sun streaming down on me. Notice the daffodils in the foreground, I dug them from the middle bed and replanted them in a line across the top of my plot, next to them is a line of raspberry canes and then the strawberries and rhubarb. The second bed was the weediest and was quite hard work to dig, I plan to use this for root vegetables. The third bed has wonderful soil and I have already put in a double row of broad beans. The fourth bed I dug today, clearing the old compost heap away, I didn't like where it was and it had many seedheads in it from all the flowers on the site, in fact it had allsorts in it, some half circle supports and netting that will come in handy at some point and rather a lot of crisp bags that won't.

While I worked the robin was hopping around me as usual picking out insects he wanted to eat when I noticed a fox coming down the path way toward me. I thought the fox might take fright and scurry away but it just trotted on right past me about two meters away and then walked through the middle of my plot. I tried to get my camera out but was too slow to get a picture of it.