Showers

A morning visit to the plot, I was hoping the rain would stop but it only seemed to get worse. The new daffodils are out around the plot number sign, I like the yellow and orange contrast against the green. The mild weather has bought the plants on quite well and the weeds too.

Second broad beans are just starting to poke through, not a uniform covering yet. The ground was too wet today to do anything. I could hear the commentary for the head of the Thames races that were taking part this morning.

The rhubarb is also catching up with where it should be by this time of year. I really need to start doing some more planting soon, we do need a bit of rain but it would be more helpful if it rained at night!

In bloom

A host of golden daffodils were waiting for me enjoying the early spring sun. A beautiful day to be on the plot and time to really start work on this years planting.

The rosemary has some small blue flowers on it as well, it's very pretty and I want to put some in the garden at home. I also bought some new flat leaf parsley plants and a peppermint plant to add to the herb collection.

Not to be left out my still very short first broad beans have a few flowers on them. One cold night will finish them off!

The garlic bed is doing well, completely recovered from the snow and freezing weather.

I'm glad to see the rhubarb beginning to grow, it seems to have been rather slow this year compared to last. It looks alien with it's crinkled red leaves pushing through bare soil.

The new daffodils by the sign aren't yet in flower but they will be soon. It's shadier here so I guess that's why they are later.

Although it's really very early I put in my first row of maincrop potatoes. The sandy soil warms up quickly on the plot so rather than leave them sitting in the shed I thought I'd get them underway. From now on it'll be plant something new every week well into the summer.

False spring

The sun was shining and the daffodils at the top of the plot are beginning to open. The trees have buds but we are forecast another period of cold weather and rain next week.

The new daffodils at the bottom of the plot have grown tall but the buds are a few weeks from opening still, they should be fine if the weather changes.

The first beans have recovered well although a few have died. The warm earlier winter made them much taller than this time last year. The second beans haven't poked through yet, it'll probably be another couple of weeks before I see them.

There were a couple of flowers on this plant, far too early! I don't know what it's thinking, the plants is only about 20cm tall.

at last I have the first signs of the rhubarb coming up. A lot slower than on some of the other plots, I don't know why? Perhaps I picked it too late into the autumn last year?

Tiny parsnips

My first visit in a couple of weeks. Not much happening at this time of year. I decided to pull a few more parsnips up but they haven't grown anymore, they look good but they're tiny.

The garlic is coming along well, some strange footprints through the bed they're in, who's been walking on my garden?

The broad beans are well beyond expectation for January, most plants have well over twelve leaves each already.

They make a very good double row and are just about the only new growth on the plot. I will plant some more at some point but it's still to early, we're expecting some frost this week.

Around the bottom of my plot sign the new daffodils are sprouting, these should look good when they come into flower.

The old daffodils are doing nicely as well, I gave some of the herbs a major trim to give them some room to grow. My rhubarb shows no signs of sprouting yet but I expect it'll come along eventually.

The last courgette

As you can see the cooler nights have finally finished off my last two courgette plants. If you look carefully there's one courgette left at the top. I picked the courgette and then dg up the plants and cleared the ground around them. I bought a few daffodil bulbs and planted them around the plot number sign, they should look pretty come the spring. It'll be time to start planting beans and garlic soon.

Despite the cold I found a strawberry and a handful of raspberries, but I'm pretty sure they'll be the last of the season as well. I cut back some of the raspberry canes, mainly where they were getting in the way. I picked another cabbage and gathered some potatoes and a squash to take home.

The nasturtiums are still in full bloom, I took a dozen flowers to decorate the cobnut squash soup I made for Sunday lunch. The plants won't last long now, my neighbour told me to pick the seeds and pickle them in white vinegar, 'taste better than capers' he told me before adding that i could pick the seeds on his plants too because he doesn't like them.

Springing

Spring is springing. A mild week with plenty of sunshine has seen the daffodils all open, a week earlier than last year. I cut a few more to take home, unlike last weeks they're already open. I wonder how long they'll last?

I've hurt my back somehow which made it very hard to do any work. I did a bit of weeding, I felt fine when doing it but was in agony trying to stand up again, so i decided to call it a day. Getting back on my bike was very hard work, lifting my leg over the crossbar was nearly impossible.

The second beans have only just started to poke through, if this warmer weather continues I'm sure they'll soon be racing away.

Hard work

I've started to dig the plot over and it's really hard work. My back aches and the dark soil is the only bit I did today. Although the north wind we've had all week has died down it's still quite cool at the moment but within five minutes of digging I had to take both coats off. I've now got to plan what to plant this year.

A little bit of weak sun shine made it quite pleasant and my first daffodil is almost in bloom!

This is my old rhubarb which is beginning to catch up the newer roots.

A couple of the artichokes died in the snow and frost but those that are left are also growing again.

Rain stopped play

A wet Saturday afternoon, a paid a short visit to plot 68. The rhubarb is going great guns, even the old root has sprouted now so it looks like crumble will be coming my way in a little while.

Those daffodils are getting ever closer to flowering which means spring can't be too far away now.

Not a peep out of the second beans yet, did I plant them when it was too cold? but as you can see the other beans and garlic are doing just fine.

It's the calm before the storm, the potatoes are sitting dormant and the soil is still to cold and wet but in a months time we should have much more in the ground for the new season. This time last year I was just beginning to clear the plot which took a lot of time and effort, this year all I need is a quick dig over and then I'm ready to plant.

Potato season

Time to collect your spuds. I bought some Charlotte and some Desiree potatoes for this season. Still a little early to plant them but I've put them out in the greenhouse standing up in a seed tray so they will sprout.

The new rhubarb plants are by far out performing the original ones on the plot, of which I can see only one nubby pink bud. Stalks are beginning to develop as you can see from the picture above, perhaps I'll get a crumble or two from them this year.

The mild weather has done the daffodils no end of good, they're standing about 10cm tall at the moment.

Green shoots

Not much new to report in the winter weather. Too wet to dig and too early to plant. The broad beans are looking happy in the chill weather. The site shop was open with a sign outside reminding you to collect your potato order, when I went in asked it turned out they hadn't yet arrived which is just as well because they don't need planting for another couple of months. I bought some new broad beans to plant later in February.

The garlic is shooting up, you can see the smaller later planted row in the background. Something had bitten off one of the garlic shoots and seemingly spat it out again, I do hope it doesn't try any further shoots.

not much of a meal but the daffodils are beginning to poke through as well. I picked a couple more cabbages and I still have parsnips from last week as well as more in the ground.

Frozen vegetables

The frost didn't lift all day but at least we haven't yet had snow. Here's a frosty cabbage, the centres are still quite small so I'm leaving them, I'm not sure when they'll be ready to pick.

There was a delivery of manure from the horse stables steaming away by the gate so I filled three sack full and put them in the old tool box for next season.

Six in there altogether, which is just about full. I also got another barrow load and spread it over the rhubarb and around the artichokes.

I dug up some parsnips, these two were so close they had grown around each other which will make for interesting peeling.

Despite the cold my daffodils have started to sprout, I hope they don't grow too quickly because it looks like there's more icy weather to come.

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.

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.